“By yourself?”
“Yes.”
Robert smiled.
“Good for you.”
There was no pity in his voice.
No surprise.
He meant it.
Linda admitted it was the first major thing she had done alone since Paul died.
Robert nodded.
“It took me three years after my wife died before I went anywhere except the grocery store.”
Linda smiled sadly.
“I barely left my town.”
“What finally changed?”
She thought about Hannah’s phone call.
“I was told to stay home for Christmas.”
Robert studied her.
“By somebody who should have known better?”
“My daughter-in-law.”
He paused.
“And instead?”
Linda looked toward the airplane window.
“And instead, I’m going to Europe.”
Robert smiled.
That was all.
They didn’t exchange numbers.
They didn’t promise to stay in contact.
At Frankfurt Airport, they wished each other well and walked in opposite directions.
And somehow, that brief conversation was exactly enough.
Linda’s tour group gathered at eight the next morning.
Twenty-four travelers stood around a sign held by their guide, Greta, an energetic thirty-five-year-old woman who seemed to genuinely enjoy meeting people.
Linda found herself walking beside Patricia, a sixty-nine-year-old retired attorney from Atlanta.
“What brings you here?” Patricia asked.
Linda answered without thinking.
“My daughter-in-law told me to stay home for Christmas.”
Patricia blinked.
“So you booked a European vacation?”
“Yes.”
Patricia smiled.
“Good.”
Then she added:
