“Yes! She liked yellow roses. Always yellow.”
My throat tightened.
Yellow roses. Friendship. Warmth. Joy.
“She came with someone sometimes,” he added, arranging stems. “Tall man. Very quiet. Carried flowers for her.”
My pulse skipped.
Tall. Quiet. Carrying flowers.
An image formed without permission—strong hands holding delicate blooms. A man content to let Rose shine while he watched.
My chest ached with sudden affection for a version of my sister I’d never met.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
I bought a small bouquet without thinking, carrying them with me as I walked. A ridiculous thing to do, maybe, but the flowers felt like proof.
Proof she’d been happy.
I wandered afterward without direction, letting the city pull me where it wanted. Crossing bridges, ducking into quiet streets, watching couples kiss openly without apology.
The sensuality of Paris wasn’t loud. It was casual. Built into everything.
Touch here didn’t seem transactional or hurried. People lingered. Looked at each other.
Wanted openly.
By late afternoon, exhaustion set in, the emotional weight of the day catching up to me. I sat on a bench overlooking the river, bouquet resting beside me, and closed my eyes.
Again, my mind drifted to desire.
To the idea of someone looking at me the way Rose’s mystery man must have looked at her. Wanting not politeness or companionship, but her. All of her.
Heat unfurled, subtle but undeniable. A reminder that grief hadn’t erased my body’s needs.
I shifted, embarrassed even alone, and let the feeling pass.
Still, the thought lingered.
Maybe Rose hadn’t just escaped something.
Maybe she’d run toward something.
Toward passion. Toward risk. Toward a life that felt larger than safe choices and predictable love.
Toward something alive.
The sun dipped lower, shadows lengthening, and reality slowly crept back in.
Hopeful things first.
But not only hopeful things.
The practical tasks waited. The ones I couldn’t avoid forever.
Rose’s death wasn’t just an emotional mystery. There were answers somewhere. Records. People who’d seen her last alive.
