Catching up with her everyday life was easier than she expected, and that Friday she called on a ladies night to tell Pat's tale only once. When she was done with it, she said she'd also met somebody before leaving the US. She omitted Jim's name, and Paola had promised absolute silence, so it looked like just a casual comment on the sidelines. However, Silvia had to bear with a patient smile the well-earned dose of teases about her fixation with gringos.

Seeing they were all in an excellent mood, Silvia thought she could start filming for the video Jim had requested. She made sure she didn't look like the ultimate mess and tried an introduction.

Over that week she got used to shooting here and there, a couple of minutes each time, and by the end of the week, after a little editing with the easiest software she found, she thought she was satisfied with her five-minute video. So she followed Jim's instructions to upload it straight to the blog he had created, sent him the link in a direct message and forgot about it.

They hadn't written to each other again, and she was surprised to realize she didn't expect any kind of answer from him. Just like she hadn't even thought of writing any kind of reply to his video.

Meanwhile, days were getting shorter and the weather was harsher, foretelling a long cold winter on the way.

After several months of leading a rather secluded life, Silvia felt like socializing again. Her friends were glad to welcome her back to their get-togethers, and she found out she was actually enjoying her everyday life again.

The year before, as she'd gotten more involved with Pat, she'd lost her taste for those small things that spiced up her days. Her heart was somewhere else and she felt confined in her town. The world had become such an ambiguous place. The bus took almost an hour to go the four miles from her house to town in the rush hour, but she only needed twelve hours to fly thousands of miles across the world and see the man she loved. So when she looked out the window, the mountains drew the horizon so close that sometimes it felt like a prison.

But nobody waited for her out there anymore, so she was free to cut all of her bonds outside her small community. Well, save one, that was a tap and five galaxies away. And by the time she uploaded the video, she was glad with the outcome because she had enjoyed painting that simple portrait of her simple life. She honestly didn't care what Jim would think about it. If he ever bothered to watch the video. And she didn't care about that either. Not anymore.

Things were far more interesting at home.