“And you?” I asked. “I’m assuming that’s a British accent I’m hearing. What part of England are you from?”
“Accent? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theo teased. I wasn’t sure if it was said accent or his raspy voice that made him even more attractive. “Faversham. It’s about fifty miles or so southeast of London, so I guess you could say I’m a bit of a country…or town bumpkin if you will.”
“I’ve never heard of that town. I’ve been to London and took a day trip to Brighton and another to the Cotswolds.”
“Never to Canterbury?”
“No, but it actually was on my list.” I wasn’t lying, I had gone to London with Evan on one of his many business trips there that we parlayed into a mini vacation. Our time was limited, so we had to scale back on some of our adventures. Vowing that we’d hit all the places we missed “next time.” Little did we know at the time, there would never be a “next time.”
“Well, if you had gone to Canterbury, you would have passed right by my neck of the woods. I’m only about ten miles from there.” Theo paused, diverting his attention from our conversation as he gazed over my shoulder. The playful expression on his face morphed into one of concern. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I turned around to find the strawberry-blond-haired woman who had entered the bathroom while I was in there. As she stood there now, looking at her minus the reflection in the mirror, she didn’t seem as put together as I had thought just a few moments ago. Her wool powder blue coat was unbuttoned as she held her hat and scarf in her hand. Her skin was pale and the dark circles under her eyes actually gave mine a run for their money. Theo walked past me and took her backpack from her, tending to her so sweetly, reminding me so much of how Evan would have cared for me.
“Sit down for a moment.” Theo motioned toward the love seat.
“I’m fine,” she replied in the same British accent as Theo, instantly making her sound so sophisticated. “I just need to grab a bite to eat, that’s all. I’m Kate, by the way.” She introduced herself to DeAndre and me, shaking both our hands. She held on to mine a little longer, settling her eyes into mine and smiling, making me feel instantly at ease with her.
“Well, we were going to venture out and grab some breakfast,” DeAndre announced. “Would you two care to join us?”
Theo looked at Kate and she nodded. They made such a nice couple. He appeared to be a little older than her. I had him pegged to be in his late thirties or early forties and her in her late twenties, but you could tell he was in tune with her feelings. A lot like Evan was with me before life got in the way and pulled us in two different directions.
“Jilly Doodle Dandy, how are you feeling?”
“Evan! I thought you had that big meeting today,” I sat up in bed and exclaimed upon seeing him standing in the doorway of our bedroom with a bouquet of daisies cradled in his arm and a brown paper bag in the other hand.
“I did, but I was able to escape a little early.” He walked in farther and then took a seat on the bed. “I come with flowers and chicken soup. The perfect antidote for what ails you.”
“Please, don’t get too close. Trust me, you do not want to catch this.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, loosening his tie and then resting his lips on my forehead. “You’re burning up. When was the last time you took some Tylenol?”
I shrugged. “It was at least four hours ago.”
“I’ll be right back.” He placed the bag on the nightstand along with the flowers before standing up and exiting the bedroom. I picked up the bouquet and smiled. Daisies were my favorites. Oddly, I detested the smell of roses, also the fact that they were so clichéd. Daisies were my favorites, so whimsical, yet pretty without being overstated. Evan knew so many of my little quirks, so I was certain there were no traces of carrots in that chicken soup inside the bag. It was little things like that he just understood, silly little things that no man would ever know about me. Things I would never care to let any man know about me ever again.
CHAPTER 4
I AWOKE FROM my nap feeling somewhat refreshed, but if given the choice, I would fall back into bed and sleep for a full eight hours. I had forced breakfast down my throat, experienced my first Christmas market in Munich, and tried my first glühwein, which I wasn’t really impressed with. I held out until two and then parted ways with DeAndre and Theo when they were venturing off to Hofbrauhaus to sample their first German beer.
Kate and I headed back to the hotel, and together we were able to navigate the Munich subway system that the guys seemed to have mastered so well on the way there. Over breakfast, I had learned a little more about Kate and Theo. Turned out they weren’t husband and wife after all, they were brother and sister. We all got a good laugh over it when I had revealed my assumptions, the same way we had gotten a chuckle at Theo’s over DeAndre and me.
Theo worked for a telecommunications company and Kate was an architectural assistant. A pain shot through my heart, knowing she shared a career that closely mirrored my late husband’s, a fact I kept to myself in order to avoid a subject I didn’t want to talk about. To these people I was just a woman on vacation by herself. Not one who had lost her husband tragically. Not one who hated her life
