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landed at Marco Polo a few hours later. After taking the water bus from the airport and wandering the city for a couple of hours, Lewis knew he had made the right choice in coming.
    It was 26 ° C which was unusually warm for May in Venice , and it felt even warmer when spending the day walking around the maze of streets. Lewis felt a throbbing ache in his legs. He had been walking for almost five straight hours, and as he looked over to a small caf é bar which had tables positioned outside, he decided he needed some refreshment. He folded the map as he walked over, ordered a lemonade then sat down at one of the tables as he sipped slowly, savouring the cool drink. The bar was next to one of the smaller canals and the occasional boat hummed by with tanned, smiling faces glancing at Lewis as they passed. He stretched out his legs, closed his eyes and relaxed while the sounds of the city washed over him.
    As he sat there, his mind became peaceful and his thoughts drifted. He thought of what awaited him on his return home. He was flying back home in a few days and would begin searching for a job immediately. He wasn't short of cash, but didn't want to put it off any longer. He was ready to get back into full time work. He'd had enough time off now; had gotten the travelling bug out of his system and longed to get back to some kind of normality. He could survive for a few more months on his savings and could even sell his car until the right position arose. It was time for his degree to start paying for itself.
    Lewis was contemplating all of this when the image of Hannah suddenly surfaced in his mind. He smiled as he thought about her and couldn't wait to see her again. They had spoken intermittently by e-mail while Lewis had been away, but they had both been too busy to keep in regular contact. She had also seemed a little distant on the last couple of e-mails; almost as if there was something she was skirting around - something she wanted to say but couldn't quite bring herself to.
    He wished she had come with him on his trip. It would have been something neither of them would ever forget and Lewis felt sad that she hadn't experienced everything he had in the past few months. It hit him especially hard here in Venice , which seemed to be a city designed for two; dining alone in one of the thousands of restaurants just didn't feel right.
    Lewis sipped his drink again, glancing at the sunlight which was reflecting in the water of the canal, and it suddenly reminded him of one of his favourite memories.
    It had been four years earlier and Lewis was on a summer break from university, so had returned home for a few weeks. He had caught up with all his friends and enjoyed some great times that summer, but it was one day in particular that Lewis thought about the most.
    Hannah had woken him early one Saturday morning by throwing pebbles at the window of his flat. Lewis had checked his clock and saw it was
8.30am
which was no time for a student to be awake, especially a student on his summer break. But he had put on his dressing gown and met Hannah downstairs.
    "Wakey, wakey," she said with purposely annoying over-enthusiasm.
    "What do you want? I thought we were meeting for lunch later?"
    "I can do better than that," Hannah replied going over to her car which was parked by the side of the road. Lewis followed her as she opened the boot. "Ta da!" she said, waving her hand over a picnic basket half-filled with sandwiches, drinks and cakes. "We're going on a picnic. Come on, get dressed and we'll go."
    "Where are we going?" Lewis asked, rubbing his eyes.
    "It's a surprise, I'm driving."
    After he had dressed, Hannah drove them out of town and down towards the coast. Lewis had no idea of where they were going, but Hannah seemed to know the way by heart. After over an hour of driving, she parked the car in a small car park close to the sea front, then they walked up a narrow gravel path towards the cliff face.
    It had been a bright,