Escape

Chapter 4

The next day, Vanessa was awake early. Well, the days she would sleep in were rare anyway. She couldn't stay in bed for too long when there were guests. She had to prepare breakfast for them. Humming, she was now standing in the small kitchen of the house and making some pancakes.

Vanessa placed the pancakes on the table, together with biscuits, fruits, juices and coffee. Then she greeted the couple, who would leave again today, before she went back to bring out butter and the jelly she and her grandma had made by themselves.

She wanted to get everything done as soon as possible. Last evening, she had asked Spencer if he would like to spend today with her, so she could show him a bit more of her beloved peninsula. Spencer's eyes had lit up immediately and he had said how much he'd loved to see more. So, they had decided to leave after breakfast, as soon as the two guests that were here would have checked out.

Almost all night long Vanessa had thought about what she would want to show Spencer. She was excited, she couldn't hide that. For the first time since forever, there was finally a person who was really interested in what she loved and wanted to know more about this place. And she was more than happy to show him her favorite places.

"Good morning." A voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked up from the table.

"Oh, hi Spencer," she smiled as she watched him sitting down at one of the tables.

"The breakfast looks amazing, as always," he said before he put some pancakes on his plate and grabbed a glass of orange juice. Vanessa's smile grew even wider at his words. She had started to love his smile and there had been no chance to stop those growing feelings towards this young man.

"Are you ready for today?" she asked and sat down on the other chair at the table.

Spencer nodded while he was chewing on a pancake. "Of course. I can't wait for you to show me your hometown."

"Alright, tell me when you're ready and we'll leave!" Vanessa exclaimed excitedly before she jumped from her chair again to go over and ask the couple if everything was alright. Much to her delight, the couple was all fine and wanted to leave after breakfast. Which meant, the Bed & Breakfast would be empty for at least two days – except for Spencer, of course.

"So...what would you say to exploring the place by bike?" Vanessa asked an hour later, when she and Spencer met outside the house.

"I...haven't rode a bike since...I don't know...but it must have been years. That should be fun," he chuckled and Vanessa laughed.

"Alright, follow me. There are two bikes over there," she said and walked around the house. At the back of it, there was something like a garage, in which were a car and the two bikes. They grabbed them and the journey could start.

Driving through Provincetown, Vanessa brought Spencer to some of her favorite places. First, she brought him to the Commercial Street, the most crowded and bustling street in whole Provincetown. A lot of stores and restaurants were here and tourists wandered up and down that street every day. The owners of restaurants and shops made good deals at a place like this.

"We're lucky it isn't peak season. During that time, the street is so crowded it isn't fun anymore," Vanessa said while she and Spencer strolled down the street, looking at some of the shops and eventually deciding to sit in a restaurant and have something to drink.

"It is lovely," Spencer said. "Yes it may be a bit crowded even now for a town like this, but...it has its own charm." Vanessa beamed at him. He seemed to start liking this place as much as she did. She loved everything about Provincetown and seeing Spencer being excited about this place made her happy somehow.

"What have you planned next?" Spencer asked after he had paid for their lemonades.

Vanessa grinned at him. "We'll go to MacMillian Wharf."

"What's that?" Spencer curiously asked while they walked back to their bikes.

"Well, it's a...wharf. And they have some pretty galleries there. Do you like art, Spencer?" She examined him, trying to find out what he was thinking right now. She knew, not everyone liked art. But she would have loved if Spencer did. When he nodded, her heart jumped in her chest. Once again, something they had in common.

"I actually do. I'm not a huge fancier, but I enjoy looking at pictures that don't make sense at first and then slowly interpreting what it could mean."

"That's good, because the paintings you'll see really don't make sense when you look at them for the first time," Vanessa smiled as she put a foot on the pedal and started to drive. Spencer followed her, trying to get in as much of the town as he could while they made their way towards the sea again.

At MacMillan Wharf, Vanessa and Spencer spent at least one hour visiting the galleries and looking at paintings that were fascinating, they both thought. But except for the galleries, the Wharf wasn't something that special, Spencer realized. He could understand that Vanessa liked it here because of the galleries, though.

Until the late afternoon, they drove over the peninsula and Vanessa showed Spencer some of the lighthouses before she finally brought him to one of the loneliest beaches on Cape Cod: The Race Point Beach. There was literally nothing. No restaurants, no deck chairs, no sunshades and only a handful of people that were taking a stroll in the sand.

The only sounds that could be heard were the screams from the sea gulls and the swooshing from the waves that crashed on the beach. "It's beautiful here," Spencer whispered and Vanessa just nodded. It really was. This beach wasn't far away from her Bed & Breakfast as well and she loved to come here as often as she could.

While Vanessa was looking at the water, Spencer couldn't resist to examine her. The wind was blowing a strand of hair into her face and sometimes she brushed it back behind her ears. The smile on her face showed how much she loved it to be here. She was just beautiful and Spencer had a hard time taking his eyes off her again.

"Spencer, look!", she suddenly exclaimed and pointed towards the ocean. Spencer turned his head to look at the ocean and then, he could see it too: a whale! His eyes widened. The animal was about fifty meters away, but he could still recognize that it was a finback.

"Wow," he murmured while they witnessed how the whale came out of the water every few minutes to catch some air.

"I've never seen a whale in the wild," he quietly said.

Vanessa smiled. "There's a huge chance to see some when you come to that beach. Sometimes, there are also seals in the water close to the beach or they even take a sunbath laying in the sand," she explained.

"I guess I'll come here more often now," Spencer admitted.

"You totally should," Vanessa replied.