Chapter 7: A Life of My Own

Three months passed.

Wildflower slowly became part of my new life.

Every morning, I unlocked the front door before sunrise, watered the flowers, swept the sidewalk, and arranged fresh bouquets in the window.

I learned the names of my regular customers.

I learned which flowers they bought for anniversaries and which ones they chose when they didn't know what to say.

For the first time, my days were peaceful.

There were no missions.

No secret phone calls.

No waiting for someone who might or might not come home.

And, most importantly, there was no Zane.

I thought I had finally escaped the past.

Then one afternoon, a familiar military envelope arrived in my mailbox.

My hands froze when I saw the return address.

San Diego.

I almost threw it away unopened.

Instead, I carried it into the shop and placed it beneath the counter.

I told myself I wouldn't read it.

I lasted exactly ten minutes.

Inside was a single photograph.

Zane stood in his dress uniform, expression unreadable.

Beside him was Sofia.

The picture had been taken at their wedding.

I stared at it for a long time.

There was something strange about Zane's expression.

He didn't look like a groom.

He looked like a man standing at his own funeral.

I turned the photograph over.

There was a handwritten message.

“Elara, I know you don't want to hear from me. But you deserve to know the truth.”

I stopped breathing for a moment.

The next line was even worse.

“Sofia lied about her father's condition.”

I read it again.

Then again.

Before I could continue, the bell above my shop door rang.

I quickly folded the photograph and slipped it into my pocket.

A man walked in carrying a stack of moving boxes.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and unfamiliar.

“Sorry,” he said with an easy smile. “Are you the owner?”

“Yes.”

“I'm Mateo. I just moved into the apartment above the bakery next door.”

He pointed toward the boxes.

“My sister said there was a flower shop here. She wanted me to buy something before I went home.”

I smiled despite myself.

“What occasion?”

He thought for a second.

“I forgot her birthday.”

I laughed.

“Then you'd better buy the biggest bouquet I have.”

His smile widened.

“I think I'm going to like this place.”

For the first time in months, I laughed without forcing it.

After he left, I looked at the photograph still hidden in my pocket.

I didn't know whether to believe Zane.

But one thing was certain.

If Sofia had lied about her father's condition, then the marriage that had destroyed everything might have been built on a lie from the beginning.

And I wasn't sure I wanted to know the truth.

Because sometimes, the truth didn't set you free.

Sometimes, it only reopened wounds you had finally learned to live with.