Maybe reading was just a way to make her feel less alone, to keep her company. When you read something you are stopped, the moment is stayed, you can sometimes be there more fully than you can in your real life.
The language of roses shifts under our feet. It blows in and out like the wind. It carries the fragrance of the flower and then it is gone…It is how we learn to speak about something that is disappearing as we say its name.