I walked into the hotel feeling confused and a little nauseous. Whether the latter was because of the wine I’d drunk or something else, I couldn’t tell.

At the reception desk, I picked up my messages: one was from Mom, the other from my roommate Daisy (probably wanting to know where she’d put the remote or something equally ridiculous).

I decided to take a nice, long shower before returning their calls. The heat of the water cleared my head and soothed away the beginnings of the headache I always got after drinking red wine.

Toweling off my hair in the bathroom, I heard a knock at the door.

“Coming,” I called, wondering who it was. My thoughts went immediately to Sebastian. I slipped on a robe and went to open the door.

A hotel attendant stood there barely visible over a large bouquet of red roses.

“Meez Nichols? These are pour vous.”

I thanked him and took the roses. As I placed the vase on a table in my room, a card fell out from between the roses. I recognized the handwriting right away.