New Beginnings in Spain by Sarah Barkley (early reader books TXT) 📕

He has been very kind to me and came to my rescue at the Bar Simpatia.”

Ofelia’s dark eyes brightened and she laughed outloud. “Darling, I am teasing you! And why did you need rescuing? He didn’t get you to try the house specialty, did he?”

“Yes, your Pepe and a few of his friends got a good laugh on my behalf”, she said as she gave Pepe a mean look, “but I handled it like any strong, sophisticated, world traveling American would handle such a situation...I bolted to the restroom and through up!”

Ofelia smiled and gave her husband a little pinch. “Yes, he’s always such a gentleman, my Pepe.” She then turned to Molly and offered her one of her signature Fiesta de San Mateo hats. “Here, my dear, it’s on the house.” With that, Ofelia placed what reminded Molly of the old Barbershop Quartet hats she'd seen in shows back home.

“Oh, I couldn’t”, replied Molly. “Here let me pay you.”

“Nonsense!”, Pepe boomed. “I don’t even know why she sells those silly hats. Only the
foreigners buy them, and as I told you earlier, we get very few of those in this town.”

“Well, at least working here keeps me out here in the open where I can keep an eye on you”, she told him then reached over to give him a tight squeeze and a kiss. “It’s about time you showed up to give your hard-working wife a little help.”

“I’d be honored to wear this hat”, Molly said as she placed it on her head. “There, how do I look?”

“Like a foreigner, my dear, but that part is obvious anyway”, beamed Pepe.

“Don’t listen to him, Molly, you look marvelous! Now go have some fun dancing in the streets with nice young men, and not old goats like my Pepe!”

“Old goat? Speak for yourself. I think Miss Molly here fancies me, she does.”

Molly laughed, gave them both a quick peck on the cheek, thanked them, and headed out towards the music. She really DID feel safe, here, and happy. The whole town, both young and old, seemed to be out tonight, singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and laughing. Feeling just a little tipsy, and a lot brave, she decided to head right up to the front where the band was to get a closer look at everything. Just as she reached the front of the crowd where everybody seemed to be dancing, a large hand reached out from nowhere, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out into the dance area.

“Hello, senorita, will you dance with me?” Boomed a middle-aged, handsome man with graying hair, and one of those mustaches that curve up on the sides. She was startled at first, but then relaxed when she saw the sweet, harmless expression on his face when he feared she may turn him down.

“Why not? I’d love to dance with you” she told him and allowed her to lead her around.

“You are American, yes?”

“Yes”, she sighed, “why is it so obvious to everybody that I am American?”

“You should be happy, we get so few Americans here, so they’re pretty easy to spot. Don’t get me wrong, but you DO have a look that is different from most Spanish women, and that goes the same for most European women, too. Now what is so wrong about your looking “American”. We all look “Spanish” to you, don’t we? We are who we are!”

He seemed to be yelling over the music, but Molly could barely hear him. She just smiled and kept dancing. Moments later another gentleman cut in, took her hand from the first guy, smiled down at her, and said something about it being his turn to dance. Molly found herself being pulled into this second guy’s arms and being led around in another dance. As soon as that dance ended, ANOTHER guy cut it, took her hand, and led her in a dance. This was crazy. She lasted about 20 minutes being passed around back and forth, and finally had to stop. Now, they really all were perfect gentlemen, for the most part, and didn’t attempt to do anything with her except
dance, but enough was enough. After all the tapas and red wines and walking around and dancing, she felt like she was about to collapse. She was finally able to ease herself away from the last guy with an excuse of locating a restroom somewhere, then fled from the dancing and loud music.

Molly found a little stand off to the side selling hot drinks. She purchased churros con leche, then headed for a little table away from everything where she slumped down to rest and have a drink. This was perfect and delicious. Churros are basically long fritters made with flour, water and sugar. You dunk them in a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

Sitting back, relaxing and sipping her drink, Molly relected on her evening, so far, and laughed outloud to herself. As exhausted as she was, she really was having a wonderful time. This was the first time she felt this happy since, well, since before Rick died. She closed her eyes, listened to the sounds of the far off music, and thought of Rick.

Suddenly, Molly felt a type of commotion around her. She looked up and found she was surrounded by about 10 angry Spanish women. They were all screaming at her, and pointing to her hat, and calling her names. One thing she WAS able to make out from all the mayhem is that they kept saying something about “stay away from our men!” Then it hit her. These women must be the wives or girlfriends of some of those men she was dancing with.

Molly desparately tried to explain that it was nothing, but that just seemed to make them angrier. Finally, she jumped up and ran up the street, pushing her way through the crowd. She had to get away from them before she made things worse. Luckily, she was just a few blocks from her hotel. She made it back in just 10 minutes, ran up the stairs to her room, went inside, and collapsed on the bed in exhaustion and laughter!

So this is Spain, she thought. Wow! Nothing like this back in Atlanta. And to think she thought all those bars in Buckhead had all the action. Man oh man. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.


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Chapter 3

Molly awoke at 7:00 AM. She had a fitful night sleep, with all that partying going on all night outside her window. As she lay in bed, she went over the events of her first real night in Spain. As tired as she was, she couldn't help but smile as she remembered little tidbits from the night before. Now, even the crazy jealous wives episode already seemed funny to her. Man, the last thing she wanted was to take some husband away from his wife! Heck, she wasn't interested in hooking up with any guy at this time. This trip was all about Molly. She wants to have this experience for a year or so, and THEN, maybe, after she gets back to Atlanta, she'll be ready to start dating again. She wondered if she really ever would be ready to go out with another man. That thought was so far out of her mind that to even toy with the idea now seemed absurd.

Slowly, Molly got out of bed, showered, dressed in her Levis and boots, and donned her favorite t-shirt. She threw her jean jacket and camera into her backpack and headed downstairs. Molly figured that tonight would probably be kind of a repeat of last night: A crazy night in Spain, where anything could happen. What she craved right now was a good workout. Wondering if there is a place she can rent a bike, she decided to ask the Senora.

Molly was greeted with a warm and affectionate smile. "Good Morning Molly O'Leary! I hope you slept well. Is your room comfortable?"

"Oh, yes, Senora, everything is just wonderful. However, I think I would like to switch to a room that's in the back of the inn, if one's available. I'm more of a morning person, and I'm not able to stay up partying quite as late as the locals around here."

"Hmmm, I think the couple in room 18 will be checking out today. I'll switch you to that room as soon as we get it cleaned up. Anything else, my dear?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you know of a place around here that rents bikes. I feel like taking a ride in the countryside, maybe taking some pictures of the scenery."

"Well, yes, my cousin has a shop just two blocks from here. It's a sporting good's store, and I'm sure he rents bikes. Just turn left out of here, and head 2 blocks. It's called ¡Sólo Hágalo! You can't miss it."

"Thank you so much, Senora. I'll go check it out after I grab a bite to eat. See you later!"

"Adios, Molly! Have fun!"

Molly left the inn, stopped at La Copa for a quick coffee and croissant, then headed for her cousin's store: ¡Sólo Hágalo! Just Do It! Perfect! It was right where the Senora said it would be. They had all sorts of bikes, so Molly chose a mountain bike to rent. Molly told the boy at the counter that she was looking for a good workout, and he knew of just the place. He recommended a 10 kilometer trail just south of town towards the town of Clavijo. It's pretty much all uphill to Clavijo, so she would get all the exercise she wanted. He told her that most of the trip is along bike paths, and not on the main freeway, so he handed her a printout of directions of his favorite route to Clavijo.

Molly was