Accidental meeting Stories

._. Day One ._. The door lock clicked as my key card skimmed the sensor, and I pushed into a room that could have belonged to any hotel in any city. Generic art, neutral carpet, and the faint smell of air freshener. After twenty-four hours of travel across eight time zones, three airports, and a rental car driven on the wrong side of the road, I was bone-tired. Local time said 4 pm; my body insisted it was eight hours ear...

When we first met it was entirely by accident. Even now I remember it clearly, although almost four decades have passed by since then. It was one of those lovely bright sunny days that are so typical of Paris in the springtime. I was strolling along the Boulevard Haussmann, just outside the Magasin au Printemps where the pretty girls were selling their bunches of lily of the valley as they traditionally used to do on the...