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Zach and I both spoke at the same time, making things extra awkward.

“Oh, right,” Becky said with a short chuckle before shooting me an apologetic glance. I felt Tristan’s gaze on me, dawning understanding in his expression, but I was too frazzled in that moment to look at him for very long.

“Well, I’d better leave you to deal with your car trouble,” I said, then quickly turned, almost tripping over my own feet as I speedily walked away.

I was uneasy about Zach working on Tristan’s car. Not because he wasn’t a good mechanic. He was actually pretty decent at his job and didn’t rip people off like a lot of places did. No, I was uneasy about them making conversation. If Tristan was in the mood to ask questions about me, then Zach might reveal something that could jog his memory. If he mentioned my brief stint living in Malahide as a teenager, then that could certainly help him remember.

I was on edge for the rest of the day and into the next morning, though thankfully, there was a lot to get done, so I didn’t have too much time to dwell. I was alone in my office when I got a text from Katy asking if I could come meet her upstairs so that we could take inventory of some supplies in the storage room.

Normally, I’d take the stairs since it was only three floors up, and I liked to get my exercise in where I could. But it had been an extra busy morning, and I hadn’t gotten a great night’s sleep, thanks to my fretting over what Tristan and Zach might’ve spoken about. More than likely they just discussed whatever was wrong with the car and didn’t mention me at all, but I still couldn’t help wondering.

The doors to the elevator slid open after I pushed the button, and I was about to step on when suddenly Tristan was there.

“Mind if we share?” he asked, and my heart stuttered at his sudden appearance.

“Oh, sure,” I said, a little awkward because I’d spent half the night thinking about him, and the confined space only seemed to punctuate everything that was normally so attractive about him to an even higher level.

I stepped aside to let him in, and then the doors slid closed, the two of us entirely alone in the silence. I reminded myself that it would take mere moments for us to reach the top floor. We’d barely even need to make small talk.

I found my gaze wandering to him as he stared down at his phone, and my breath caught because he was so handsome when he was unaware of being observed. It was such an odd feeling to be both resentful of all the unwelcome changes he’d brought about but at the same time drawn to him physically. I noted once again the differences in him from when he was younger. The laugh lines around his eyes, his hair shorter than it was when he was a teenager, his jaw squarer, neck thicker.

It was infuriating, truly, that he could affect me like this when I was still angry at him. I tried to remind myself that he was the reason Cooke no longer had a job. He was also the reason why the staff were stressed, everyone paranoid that they might be next on the chopping block. He was the reason why I hadn’t looked forward to coming to work this week, something I’d never felt back when my aunt and uncle were in charge.

I was still reminding myself of all these things when the lift came to an abrupt halt in between the second and third floor.

“That’s odd,” Tristan said, pocketing his phone and stepping forward to press a few buttons on the keypad.

I started to really panic because I’d been here before. Granted, this was a much larger, far safer elevator, but suddenly I was plunged into memories of being stuck on the old birdcage lift for hours, and the familiar sense of panic set in.

10.

Tristan

The elevator was stuck.

This shouldn’t really be happening, given that it was newly installed, but with the few days I’d been having, I wasn’t one bit surprised. First, there was the shitshow when the staff found out about Cooke, then my car wouldn’t start, and I’d had to call in a mechanic to tell me I had a faulty sensor—a mechanic who’d turned out to be Rinnie’s ex-boyfriend.

From the questions he’d asked, I suspected he still felt some sort of way about her. He hadn’t come right out with it, of course, but eventually, he’d casually queried if I knew if she were seeing anyone. I didn’t know the answer to that, but even if I did, I wouldn’t have told him. Rinnie was my employee first and foremost, and asking me about her personal life was inappropriate. I’d paid him for fixing the sensor but decided I’d find a different mechanic next time I had car trouble.

Well, it seemed these things came in threes because now the elevator that I’d paid an arm and a leg for had sputtered out between floors. Not only that, Rinnie was stuck in here with me.

She’d mentioned getting stuck on the old birdcage lift from before the renovations, and I knew by the shudder she’d given telling the story that it had been a traumatic experience. Now, it was happening to her all over again.

“Are we stuck?” Rinnie asked, a slight hitch in her voice that told me she was already panicking.

“It’s probably just a minor fault,” I said. “Let me call Damien.”

During normal service hours, we’d be able to press the emergency button and have someone come to our aid immediately, but since there weren’t any guests staying with us yet, there wasn’t anyone monitoring the elevators. I pulled up the number for our head of maintenance and hit call. Damien answered within a couple of rings.

“How can I help you, boss?”

“Damien. There seems to be a problem with the elevator in the lobby. Miss Hart and I were going up to the third floor when it got stuck in between two and three.”

“Ah, okay.” I could hear him scratching his stubble. “I’m actually out for lunch right now, but I’ll head back to take a look. Can you hang tight for twenty minutes until I get there?”

“Yes, that’s no problem. Thank you.”

I slid my phone back in my pocket. “He’s about twenty minutes away, but he’s coming back now, so it shouldn’t be too long,” I said, as I turned back around and found Rinnie standing in the corner, staring upward like she was contemplating climbing through the ceiling panels.