We fled Flatonia, Texas, like it could pursue us. We’d be back home in the Pacific Northwest in just a few days and, we hoped, bed-bug-less. Once on the road, my sweetheart read to me about Flatonia, which boasts 8,000 people and a proud melting pot history.  We sped over San Antonio on I-10, a pretty city of light-colored architecture we want to explore some day when we recover from traveling. The more I see of America, the more I want to see.

A little over 14 years ago, I met and fell in love with Roco. He was handsome, kind, caring, and hardworking. He was a pastry chef, and every day he would bring me one of the pastries he had made that morning.