The hottest day of the year found an early end in rain. Vapour rose from the streets and pavements, blurring the fat drops, and the few people who had enjoyed the sun had fled the deluge.
Veronica, however, walked slowly. She kept her head down, not to protect her face, but because she loved the feeling of raindrops landing on her back and shoulders.
With the spray rising from the ground tickling her ankles, heavy drops drumming beats on her knees and head, and water mingling with sweat running down her back and her temples, she felt alive head to toe.
She gave an older couple huddling under a big, dark umbrella a bright grin, which did nothing to stop them goggling.
As if there was a reason to. She had put on her bathing suit before leaving the house, after all, even though she would have preferred not to.