CHAPTER 25

Elijah, I always thought we’d see the Eiffel Tower together…

Without any warning, the thought just popped into my head — an idea that he and I had mentioned during our very first casual date.

As I sat in front of my apartment window, I gazed up at the Eiffel Tower looming majestically in the distance, my mind wandering once again to memories of my ex-husband.

“Is that your painting?” he’d asked me upon approaching me after class way back during our college days. His eyes were glimmering as he glanced at the Eiffel Tower artwork that peeked out from the folder I was holding.

“Uh, yes.”

“Have you been to Paris?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, but I would love to visit someday. Or perhaps even study and work there.”

“I know a coffee shop nearby that has a beautiful mural of Paris…” he’d said. And that afternoon, the two of us got to know each other for the first time over coffee.

I forced myself to look at the book in my hand. I had been trying to focus on my studies, but I had not been