The first card Castle receives from her surprises him. In a very good way. For it to arrive so early, she must have sent it as soon as her plane touched down. It's Big Ben, so she's in London. What she wrote is something silly about weird accents, strange food, "mind the gap please" and problems with Oyster cards. It makes him laugh. He puts the card on his fridge's door. His mother points it out later because he has never, ever, pinned anything to the fridge before. Even Alexis' drawings (those went to his office, framed). Castle shrugs and Martha rolls her eyes.

"Whipped", she mumbles.

"What ?"

"Nothing, darling", she says, louder, opening the fridge.

The second card comes a few days later. It's from Paris, a view of Saint-Germain. And he wishes he was there with her. Because Paris is Paris. Even if he knows from experience it's not as glamourous as one might think. It's still Paris, city of love. Or is that Venice in Italy ? She writes about bikes for rent at every corner called velib, some "bateau-mouche" and le café de Flore. "You would love it. Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Aragon did !", she wrote. He knows, he's been there already. But he loves that she thought of him and pictures her sitting at the "terrasse". The card joins the first one on the fridge. This time, Martha doesn't comment. She just smiles.

The third card comes from Barcelona. It pictures the Sagrada Familia. Apparently she's in awe of Gaudi, the architect. He's never been there (he was more a Ibiza kind of guy) but wants to go because she wrote about walks in this crazy Guel Park, going to a wonderful soccer game and beaches. So, okay, maybe it's more the beaches that appeal to him. He's only a man. A man who knows what she looks like in a swim suit. The card also goes to the fridge. Martha just gives it a quick glance.

"Oh Barcelona !", is all she says.

Everyday, he rips through the mail. He nearly misses the fourth card, from Napoli. It's actually from Mount Vesuvius. The ascension was apparently long, hot, tiring and not smelling good. "But amazing : the thing's still smoking ! And Pompeii is quite chilling... until it's midday and we're rotting in the sun again..." He laughs. She seems to have a good time. He's both glad she does and upset it's not with him. He's rereading it for the tenth time when his mother snatches the card from his hand and sticks it next to the others.

The next one is a view of a beautiful mountain lake. She apparently went sailing on Lake Léman and is eating too much chocolate. He's never been to Geneva and wonders why. It looks gorgeous. He makes a mental note to ask Paula if his books sell well in Switzerland. The card also goes on the fridge.

The last one is an e-mail. He's disappointed until he realizes she's been gone two weeks and five days. She's coming back soon. She sent a picture of the Brandenburg Gate. She says she went to some awesome concerts. She dragged her dad to a techno one. He didn't like it. He didn't appreciate the shopping around Alexanderplatz either. "He's really difficult", she wrote. He hits the reply button and types : "Hey. Why aren't you in the picture ?" He adds :"Miss you" but then erases it, just signing R.C. and sending it. He prints her e-mail/card.

When he comes back from the kitchen, he has her answer. "I was taking the picture !", he reads. He chuckles and clicks on reply. He refrains from mentioning the sickening amount of exclamation points and just writes : "Jim could have taken it. I just want to see if you really ate too much chocolate in Geneva." He quickly sends it, hoping to have another quick answer. It's nearly instantaneous.

"Ha ha ! I danced it off in Berlin. For the pic, Dad was sulking at the hotel by this point. Gotta go. See you soon."

Soon ? He can't wait to see her.


To be continued...