She re-wrapped the broad scarf around her, in an effort to keep warm.  As she waited, she looked around her, noticing a relatively sparse crowd around the Ferris wheel tonight, but saw couples walking slowly past, some pausing to exchange a kiss, or share a laugh.  She bit her lip, and shook her head.   Mostly couples tonight, she thought to herself, very few families, or groups of friends or tourists.  Small wonder; it had been raining the past few days, and even today there had been intermittent rain, which introduced the chill in the air.  Besides, it was windy, too.  So only couples, “fools in love,” she thought, would probably take the time to drop by the Ferris wheel tonight.  Which made the atmosphere all the more romantic, she sighed, as she looked up, once again, at the giant wheel.

She was lost in thought when she heard the operator call out, “mademoiselle, please, your carriage is ready,” as he waved at her to come over.

Bette let out a deep sigh, and walked towards, him, forcing a smile directed his way.  He was being so nice, she chastised herself.  There was no reason to make him feel anything awkward or pull him into her difficulties with remembering a happy time in the past.

He opened the door to the carriage, and helped her get in.  Bette stepped through, sliding to the far end of the bench, instinctively wrapping herself even more tightly with the scarf, as if to ward off something more threatening than the cold wind.

The man shut the door, and she sat back as she waited for the carriage to start.  She leaned her head back, shut her eyes, and tried to think about something else.  Her mind wandered to a peaceful scene just a few weeks earlier, remembering the elements of it, such as the gentle lapping of waves, as she slept, half-naked on a private beach in the Maldives. She recalled the calming freshness of the sea breeze, the ebb and flow of warm ocean water underneath her chest, and hypnotic sound of waves crashing half a mile away against the undersea barrier, that protected the resort she was vacationing in.  The memory of it was almost enough to….