He looked out the window and there was burnt debris in the street. Cars were smashed and blackened, empty hulls, and there was a carpet of glass in the street. It looked like snow. It would cost millions or even billions to repair the damage that had been done. He saw the graffiti on the buildings. It seemed like a sacrilege to him in a city like Paris. When he turned, he saw that Theo was awake and watching him. He smiled and came to sit next to her on the bed.

“They’re gone, but they left a hell of a mess,” he reported to her.

“That’s what they do,” she said, and stretched, smiling up at him. “Did I dream yesterday, or did it really happen?”

“Something tells me this is for real,” he said with a serious expression.

“I think so too. What do you want to do today?” she asked him. He was going home the next day, and she wanted their last day together to be memorable. She didn’t know when she’d see him again. He was about to disappear like a mirage, back to his life in New York.

“Can we take a walk? I love this city, although it looks badly beaten up today.”

“We can go for a walk in the Bois de Boulogne, but I have to take one of the guards with me.” He was relieved to see that she was good about it and accepted it as a necessity in her life.

They were both shocked by the damage they saw when they went out a little while later. There were already cleaning crews picking things up and throwing them into garbage trucks. They were driven to the Bois de Boulogne and had lunch at a neighborhood bistro afterwards, where they sat in the sun on the terrace. The air was cool, but the sun felt good on their faces, and then they went back to her apartment and made love again.

He checked out of his hotel late that afternoon, brought his things to her apartment, and spent his last night with her there. He had to leave for the airport at five to be there at six o’clock the next morning. She got up with him at four, made breakfast for him while he showered, and then sat with him while he ate it.

“What am I going to do without you now? I won’t be able to sleep without you,” she said wistfully. Having him there had begun to seem normal, in a surprisingly short time.