She had dyed her hair pink when he had broken up with her. She wasn't sure about the reason which had led her to take that decision. Maybe it was because she needed a change to compensate something. Maybe she appreciated the joke, "I want to die/dye". The one thing she was sure of was that she loved her new hair more than she loved her new life.
In fact, she had made another change when Brian had told her, "I don't love you anymore". She had decided to leave for a while. She had packed her luggage and she had taken an airplane to the first place she could think of: Italy. She had always dreamed of going there. That country simply inspired her. But now she wasn't so happy, because she knew nobody or nothing about that country. She felt like an intruder, even though people were very friendly to her.  
She stayed in a bed and breakfast in a small Tuscany town on the sea. Her hosts - a thirty-yeras-old man and his mother - were always very kind and nice. They even tried to get into conversations despite their terrible English. They had bought some biscuits for her, just because she had asked if they had some. She didn't really wanted biscuits, but she included them in her breakfast and appreciated her hosts' action very much. It was heartwarming, really.
On that morning, she was trying to figure out what she could do there. On the first days she had went to the beach she hadn't had much fun, as she just kept thinking about Brian. So she looked for museums and monuments to keep her mind busy.
It was April, so the town was pretty lifeless. She thought she'd liked a more lively place, to watch others and better forget about her own life. The sky was cloudy, too, and it was very cold. She was shivering, and she already had a jumper on. So, first thing in the morning, she reached the closest open shop she could find: she entered into a small bookshop to feel warmer and started to observe the covers. No-one was inside, except for a young saleswoman wearing a jeans salopette.
"Ciao! Come posso aiutarti?"
Gaynor didn't understand a word. "Good morning. I'm just curious."
The saleswoman smiled and answered, "Ok, don't worry. If you need help you can ask me." And she went behind the counter. She opened a book; putting her feet on a chair, she started reading. Gaynor was going to laugh at that unusual scene but she pulled herself together and kept looking at the bookshelves. There was a wonderful flavour all around.
Gaynor turned to her speaker and asked, "Do you have any English books?"
"Of course" replied the Italian girl, mimicking a British accent. She put a bookmark where she had stopped reading and stood up.
"Sorry for the interruption" said Gaynor, while the girl came towards her.
"Don't worry. I'm not sure whether I could be reading while at work" smiled the girl back, with such a conspiratory look that Gaynor was informed she actually couldn't. She wondered how her boss was. Then the Italian girl added, "I swear I bought it", raising her hands to show she hadn't crossed her fingers. Then she made a gesture which meant, 'follow me'. Gaynor wore a big smile while they moved to another area of the bookstore.
"This is one of my favourite sections" showed the saleswoman. Shelves full of very different books were standing in front of them. "There are bilingual texts, too, if you're interested in translations" she added. Suddenly she asked, as though she couldn't stop it, "are you an Erasmus student?"
Gaynor replied, "Not exactly. I'm a university student, but I came here just as a tourist."
"I'm a student too! What do you study?"
"Economics. What about you?"
"I study... Foreign Languages and Literatures, I would say... I don't know whether it's correct."
"I see, it makes sense. A friend of mine studies at the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures."
"And why did you choose Italy?"
"I like it, I suppose" the English girl shrugged. She wondered if the other one was ever going to let her examine titles. Nevertheless, she liked talking to her, she was funny and nice.
"I won't bother you any longer" said the saleswoman. "If I can give you a slice of advice, you can call me. My name's Lucia."
"Gaynor", and they shook their hands. Lucia went back to her book, in the other section of the bookshop and Gaynor thought she would never pronounce that name correctly. She touched the books while reading their titles and authors, and she could see there were both classics and new releases. She spotted Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which she had always wanted to read... and it only cost three euros! She widened her eyes and found out it was the price of almost all of the books of the same series. Her greed grew strong in her and she selected four of them. Then, an idea came to her mind.
"Lusia?"
The Italian girl arrived, with a big smile while she asked, "Yes?"
"Do you have Harry Potter in Italian?"
"Of course. I wouldn't work here if they had none! Which one did you want to buy? Or would you follow me?" she replied. The English girl was undecided, so she suggested she could lead her where the whole saga was.
"Here it is" said Lucia. "This is the new edition, so the names of the characters are the same (or almost all of them) as the original ones. And you can have a beautiful sight of Hogwarts if you buy them all."
"I just have a little problem..." started Gaynor.
"You'd really like to buy all of them but it would be incompatible with your life?"
"What?" Gaynor asked, and she laughed a lot. "No, the problem is I don't know a single Italian word. Do you think that reading these books, as I already know them, might help me learn it?"
"I see. Well, the first book is written in a much simpler way. But I would say you could buy it only if you have read it a hundred times." She sounded a bit skeptical.
"What if I've read it ten times?"
Lucia looked at her customer as though she was in love. "I love it too, you know!"
Gaynor smiled again. Her cheeks were starting to hurt.
"Anyway, let's pretend I'm a saleswoman!" The girl shook her head and spoke in a very pretentious way, "I suggest you buy them all, because if you know them by heart you will understand them easily. And my shop will earn a lot, but that's not the reason I'm saying so, I assure you."
Gaynor laughed.
"No, I'm just kidding, of course you need to know something about italian before you dive into its reading, or you'll be frustrated" added Lucia in her normal voice. "Maybe I could help" she suggested.
"What do you mean?" asked the pink-haired girl.
"I was wondering... maybe you could hang out with my friends and me tonight." Lucia suddenly seemed a bit shy: she looked at her sneakers, all of her dark hair covering her face.
Gaynor found it was a sweet proposal. She also felt a bit afraid of it, because she didn't know those people. But Lucia seemed a very nice person and she felt she could trust her. Also, the idea of meeting and maybe becoming friends with a group of italian peers excited her a lot.
So, she answered, "I'd love it."
Lucia looked up at her and smiled. "So, what are you going to buy?"
"These ones and Harry Potter e la... Pietra Filosofale?"
Lucia laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't help it! Sorry!"
"Don't worry, I can imagine the sensation" Gaynor shrugged.
"So... this is the receipt... and this is my number, if you need any information for tonight. Nothing extraordinary, I don't drink alcohol and my friends drink very little. I can give you a... a... ride, if you need."
"Thank you" the British girl smiled.
"Thank you! It will be nice to have you with us!"
While she closed the door, Gaynor felt much warmer than before. And she realised she hadn't thought about Brian at all, while in the shop.