Empty, with fresh white walls. A proverbial blank canvas.

We dance together across the freshly waxed hardwood floors to old jazz, trumpets and clarinets.

We drink a bottle of wine on the deck, the sun blazing, watching the happy revelry on the lawns and beach below.

I walk the two blocks over to the shopping street to pick up a pizza. Walking back through the loose crowds, at times walking down the middle of the road to have more space. Happy people asking for a slice. Walking up to the front door of the building feeling like a queen, having a fob to a building in such a dreamy location.

The sun sets. A sliver of moon and bright stars punctuating the navy canvas. The sky dark here, at the edge of the city.

I roll out a camping mat on the living room floor.

I lay down on the mat and lay on my side, head propped on my arm, looking out to the starry sky.

He lays behind me and runs his hand from my shoulder to waist to hips, kisses the back of my neck, and then we make love there, just as I’d imagined.