He nodded. They looked at each other a long minute. “Can I have your phone number?” he asked, and she patted her apron for a pen, found one and wrote it down on a napkin. Very old-fashioned of her.

“Okay, then,” she said. “It was . . . yeah. It was very nice to see you, Joshua.”

“It was very nice to see you, too, Rose.”

He should go now. Another minute, and he’d lose the cool factor. But somehow, he suspected Rose Connelly wouldn’t mind.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said.

“I’ll be glad when you do,” she answered.

Get out before you ruin it, he told himself, so he left, feeling . . . well, feeling a little . . . elated. He forgot where he’d parked the car, and just walked for a while in the soft summer air, the sounds of music and people and sirens all blending together like a song.

Rose Connelly. Rose.

If a person believed in that kind of thing, a person might wonder at how many times Josh had run into Rose Connelly in the past year and a half. The vet’s office that first time. The mall, the first night he’d met Radley when he’d punched the rude customer, unknowingly defending her honor. The marathon, where she’d helped him. Last Christmas, when she’d literally been right in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

Gertie the psychic had mentioned roses, too.

Josh stopped walking.

Holy shit.

And now, the first time he’d ever considered dating anyone other than Lauren, Rose was here again.

A person—a husband—might read into that. He might think his wife worked in mysterious ways to take care of the man she had loved so much.

“Thank you,” he said, looking upward. Those had been her last words to him. “Thank you,” he repeated. He knew, he knew tonight had made her happy.

Which was all he’d ever wanted.

EPILOGUE

Joshua

Fifty-four years left

LAUREN’S GARDEN AT the Hope Center had become Josh’s favorite place in Providence. He walked past it almost every day, in fact, and most days stopped in for at least a few minutes.

But today was special. On this sunny spring day, they were planting Lauren’s tree, and the May weather couldn’t have approved more. The carefully planned garden was bursting with color and life, from the pink crab apple blossoms to the pale purple of the lilacs.