Elizabeth had casually mentioned on the phone that she was coming to visit because she could use some fresh air and company. She’d gotten sick while working her summer live-in nanny job in a coastal town, and wasn’t completely recovered. She hadn’t intended to go into details, but since her favorite aunt was asking…

“I’m here because Mom couldn’t stand me moping around the house any longer when I came home from the hospital.

“Moping about what?”

“I broke up with Pete three weeks ago.”

Dot’s eyes widened.”Oh, Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. You told me how much you liked him.”

Elizabeth sniffled, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The wound of the breakup was fresh, but she did her best to hold it together so she could share her story.

“You know most of it. A pre-law student at Brown U., absolutely dreamy with his blond hair and blue eyes…He brought me a long-stemmed red rose in a Coke bottle every day like clockwork. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world.”

Elizabeth wasn’t the luckiest girl in the world. Pete had another girlfriend, Lacey, on the side, at Brown U. Elizabeth suspected something was up when Pete was antsy and barely looked at her lying in the hospital bed. Elizabeth confronted him about his abrupt standoffish behavior. He confessed, and she gave him an ultimatum, Lacey or her. He needed time to think about it, and could they talk about it later. Elizabeth’s heart sank. If he really did love her, he would have picked her in an instant. She told him they were through.

The long-stemmed red rose was a symbol of a lost love that broke Elizabeth’s heart. She was given a long-stemmed red rose a year later by another dreamy guy. Would she trust the love that came with it?