RadicalRabit
Your other option worth considering if you are doing this for the love of flying is to buy a Cirrus single engine piston. Then once you have a FAA PPL single IR you and your lady friend can fly to the south of france in your time and enjoy the flying.
With the cirrus you also have the reassurance of an inbuilt ballistic parachute system its modern and comfortable and fairly quick and would be a good option for the first few years.
Then when you are competant with that look for something faster and more complex
Pace