Grace was walking down the streets of Paris. She just went to the market to buy some bread and vegetables. It was a nice September day and she decided to walk to the market. She saw some children playing in the street and one kid was yelling to another one to keep up…at least Grace thought she was saying. She smiled to herself and kept walking. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind and threw her into an alley. The person had her pinned against a wall. Her eyes went wide as she saw Holland standing right in front of her.

“You think you could get away from me?!” before Grace could shout for help, Holland held her by the throat. Grace shot up from the bed gripping her throat screaming.

“Grace…Grace, it was just a dream.” Henri wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. Since the incident, Grace has been having nightmares about Holland.

“That still doesn’t make me feel safe. He was here this time. That asshole followed me all the way to Paris.”

“He’s not here. He will never hurt you again.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s six in the morning.”

“I’m sorry for waking you earlier than you had to.”

“Pas problème.(No problem.)” Henri kissed her cheek. “Hey, if you want, you can Skype your parents.”

“I’ll do it later. They are asleep.”

“How about I make you an American breakfast? Oui?”

“Oui.”

“Okay.” he gave her a quick peck on the lips. Henri got out of bed and ran towards the kitchen. “Ow! Merde!(Shit!)” he stubbed his toe on the couch.

“Don’t try to kill yourself trying to make me breakfast!”

Grace chuckled at her boyfriend. She didn’t like when those dreams came. It has been six months since the terror of Holland and Vernon. She got out of bed and walked to the kitchen where she saw Henri making breakfast. Henri knew it would never be the same as having breakfast in America but he was willing to try to make her happy. He was shirtless and Grace could see the scar from the knife wound. It hurt her knowing she was the cause of that scar on his abdomen. He turned his head and smiled at her and it made her forget that night ever happened.

“One American breakfast.” he placed the plates on the table.

“Thank you. So, how is the photo-shoot going to be like today?”

“Not bad. It will be a group shot…not just skinny women standing together. Is Gerard still bugging you about learning English?”

Henri was referring to Grace’s new job working in the flower shop she previously visited when she first came to Paris. It was complicated paperwork that needed to be filed and Grace is there on a work visa. Her boss, Gerard, loved Grace’s love of flowers and also her American accent. He would have her teach him English from time to time.

“Yes, he keeps saying it’s good business if you can speak both English and French. Don’t know why because the only people who have been at the flower shop have been French.”

“You never know, there might be some French people who want to practice their English…like me.”

“Oh, please. Your English is damn near perfect compared to my French.”

“I still have problems with English. I don’t know the difference between ‘word’ and ‘world’. See, I still can’t pronounce them right!”

“Aw, if it makes you feel better, I keep messing up on conjugating verbs by gender.”

“Don’t be upset…most French people have trouble with grammar.” he shoveled eggs into his mouth.

“Too bad I can’t tell the difference. Thank you for the breakfast.”

“Grace, I want to be serious for a minute.”

“Henri, please don’t bring up the nightmares. I know Holland’s somewhere in prison in Alabama hopefully getting violated, and he’s not anywhere in France.”

“I know, but I can’t forget what that bastard did to you…if I hadn’t stopped him….”

“I’m glad you were my hero. Now, please, can we talk about something else?”

“Okay.” he smiled and squeezed her hand.

Henri knew Grace was not completely over the trauma of what happened. She would always avoid talking about it and he knew it was not healthy for her to not talk about it. He could never forget. That scar on his abdomen is a constant reminder of the terror. They soon got on the topic of her parent’s upcoming visit to Paris. This will be Grace’s first time seeing them since the move. She was excited for them to be in Paris and wondered how her small town parents would handle busy Paris.

After breakfast, Grace showered and dressed for work. She walked outside and was glad to wear her cardigan because it turned chilly. Living there for six months, Grace learned how to use the metro. She almost laughed thinking about the time she got lost her first few times using the metro. She reached her stop and walked the rest of the way to work. She saw Gerard just opening up the shop.

“Ah, bonjour Grace.”

“Bonjour.” they both went inside.

“C'est un peu froid, n'est pas?(It’s a bit cold, is it not?)” Gerard went to turn up the thermostat. Grace was thankful they installed a air-conditioning/ heating system since most of France did not have one.

“Oui.”

“How are you in the morning?”

“I’m doing okay.” Grace knew what he meant. Gerard was still new at learning English and sometimes she would have to use her broken French to talk to him.

“Okay? Why?”

“I keep having nightmares.”

“Nightmares?”

“Cauchemars….”

“Oh. I get it. The Holland man?”

“Yes. Henri wants me to talk with my parents or a doctor about it.”

“You should. It would help.”

“I guess. I just don’t want to think about it again. I’m starting over, and I don’t want to live in the past.

Grace hated when everyone was right, but she knew it was necessary for her to move on. She stared outside and saw people walking by and going to work. Moving to Paris was the best decision to her. Unlike Heavenly Flowers, this shop was always busy with owners of restaurants wanting floral arrangements as decoration to everyday people wanting to surprise their lovers. Grace was upfront when she saw Miriam walking into the shop. She would visit her regularly and would often eat lunch with Grace.

“Grace, how are you holding up with this guy?”

“Hey!”

“I’m joking with you, Gerard. Anyway, I wanted to pickup an order.”

“Ooh, is this for Phillipe?”

“No, a co-worker is having a baby and we have this party for her.”

“That’s good. It happened again.”

“Oh non, what happened?”

“The nightmares.” Grace let out a humorless chuckle. It had become some sick running joke with everybody.

“Oh. Grace, he can’t hurt you. I hope he gets brutally raped in prison!”

“Maybe you can help me find someone who can help me with the nightmares. Preferably someone who’s fluent in English.”

“I will. How about tomorrow night you and Henri come over for dinner and we can help you then.”

“I don’t know…” she saw the look of disappointment forming on Miriam’s face. “Oh, alright. I’ll do it.”

After Miriam left, Grace continued working. She was nervous about seeing someone about the nightmares but thought it was time for her to finally talk about it. After work, Grace took the metro back home and entered seeing Henri was not home yet. She checked the time and saw it was mid-morning for her parents. She turned on her laptop and decided to Skype them. She saw her mother was online.

“Hey, momma.”

“Hey, sweetie. Can you see me? I swear I will never get the hang of this thing.”

“I see you just fine. How is your morning?”

“You know…same ole, same ole. Anyway, how are you?”

“I’ve been having the nightmares again. I want to not think about it, but there’s always this paranoia of him breaking out…him finding me….”

“Honey, have you talked to somebody about it?”

“Everyone keeps saying that. I guess I need to…Miriam is helping me find someone that can help me.”

“Besides that, how are you and Henri. Is Henri alright?’

“Yep, he’s still at work. They had a photo-shoot this afternoon. Are you excited that you get to visit me in a couple of weeks?”

“Girl, yeah. I really can’t wait to see you. Your daddy been buggin’ me about learning French…the man’s worried nobody will understand us.”

“I’m pretty sure they will. Well, I guess I’ll leave you to your day. Talk to you later.”

“Grace, don’t let that man rule your life. He’s in prison. Please take care of yourself.” Grace signed off feeling confident about what her mother told her.