The Flower Girl Who Knew His Dead Wife

CHAPTER 3 - THE WOMAN CALLED ANA

Daniel did not sleep that night.

He sat at his kitchen table with Claire's photograph on one side and Lila's drawing on the other. The "sad man in the ocean dream" haunted him more than Elena's story. Claire had loved the ocean. Their last trip together had been to the shore.

By morning, he was driving three hours north to Santa Rosa, the town Elena had written on a paper napkin before leaving the restaurant.

"Don't come to hurt her," she had said.

"I came eight years too late to hurt anyone," he answered.

The flower shop sat on a quiet corner between a laundromat and a pharmacy. Hand-painted pots lined the sidewalk. A brass bell rang when he opened the door.

A woman stood behind the counter trimming stems.

She looked up.

Daniel forgot how breathing worked.

Time had changed her in small ways. Softer lines around her mouth. A faint scar near her temple. Her hair was shorter now. But it was Claire.

Or someone so like her that the difference would have been crueler than death.

She stared at him with open confusion. "Can I help you?"

His voice barely came. "Claire."

Her shoulders stiffened. "I'm sorry. You have the wrong person. My name is Ana."

Lila emerged from the back room carrying ribbon. "Mommy, that's him. The man from the restaurant."

The scissors slipped from Ana's hand.

Daniel took one step forward. "It's me."

She backed away so suddenly she hit the worktable. "No."

Lila looked from one to the other, frightened now.

Elena came through the curtain behind the counter. "Lila, go upstairs."

"But—"

"Now."

When the child was gone, Ana gripped the edge of the table until her knuckles whitened. Daniel saw tears gather in her eyes before she angrily blinked them back.

"I know that face," she whispered. "I've seen you in dreams."

Daniel's chest ached.

"Then you remember me."

She shook her head. "No. I remember fear. Water. A voice shouting my name. Then nothing."

Elena spoke at last. "There is more you don't know."

Daniel turned toward her.

Elena looked at her daughter, then at him. "The crash didn't happen on a bus."

It had happened in Claire's car.

And Daniel had been driving.