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Internally freaking out, I nodded, then fled the room. “What did he say to you?” Lisa asked, catching up to me. “He was talking so quietly I barely heard.”
“Just some folklore stuff. He thinks I have the Sight because of my eye colour or something. Can you make sure Samara gets home safe? I just remembered I left a window open, and I don’t want Rua to get out.”
“Of course, I’ll make sure she gets home, but—”
“Thanks, Lisa,” I said, walking away before she could finish. I’d barely gotten a few steps down the street when I heard my name being called.
“Rinnie!”
“I’m going home,” I called back, not stopping. “See you at work.”
“Hey, Rinnie, hold up a minute,” Tristan said, easily catching up with me.
“I have to get home. I left a window open.”
Out the corner of my eye, I could see him frowning at me. “What he said back there, why did it freak you out so much? He was obviously just trying to get money out of us by saying some vague mystical stuff. It’s no big deal, right?”
A faint wave of relief swept over me. Tristan had been sceptical about the Cure being able to heal Barry, and he was sceptical about what he said about us too. This was good.
“It didn’t freak me out. I just didn’t expect to speak about my father, and it brought up some old grief.”
His expression softened. “Your father passed?”
“Yes, when I was young. I used to think I could see his ghost, but it was obviously just my child’s mind working through the loss, and I …” Lifting my gaze, I realised that Tristan was studying me closely again, just like he’d been doing all night, and my heart gave a swift jolt.
“What age were you when he died?”
“I’d prefer not to talk about it.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Can I walk you home? It’s late, and you shouldn’t be out here on your own.”
“I’ll be fine. My apartment isn’t far.”
“Please. It would give me peace of mind.”
I glanced at him, seeing he wasn’t going to give up, and sighed. “All right, then.”
We walked a few moments in silence before Tristan said, “He was right about your eyes though. They are very unique. The amber colour, I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever …” He trailed off, and I didn’t think much of it until he came to an abrupt halt. He looked away towards the harbour, his gaze searching like he’d suddenly been struck by a revelation, an epiphany he thought would never come. He flexed his hands, his eyebrows drawn together, and something in the tension of his shoulders had my pulse spiking. What was happening?
“Tristan?”
I’d stopped walking too, an intense swirl of anxiety creating a cyclone in my belly when he turned back around but didn’t respond, only stared at me under the dim light of a streetlamp. He took a measured step closer, then another, his eyes on mine before his attention went to my other features, my nose, lips, chin, even my eyebrows. His gaze trailed over my hair, almost adoringly, like everything about me suddenly made so much more sense. He studied every inch of me like he was seeing it all for the first time, and it was in that moment that I knew.
He’d finally remembered.
My skin tingled with the gravity of the moment. Fear and apprehension mingling together with the intensity of his gaze to create a heady cocktail in my veins. Tristan blinked, his expression a mix of confusion and dawning comprehension as he finally said my name.
My real name.
“Erin?”
A second later a car horn beeped, and I turned to find Lisa with her head stuck out the window of a cab. “Need a lift, Rinnie? Your place is on our way.”
I glanced back at Tristan, swallowing thickly, my feet glued to the ground. The offer of a lift was so starkly mundane, given what had just transpired. In my fear and anxiety of what came next, I latched onto the mundanity with both hands, eager for an escape, a delay to the conversation that needed to be had and the inevitable questions.
“Yes, a lift would be great,” I replied, not meeting Tristan’s gaze as I said, “Goodnight, see you Monday.”
Then I jumped into the back seat of the cab and forced my gaze ahead as we drove away and it was official. I was the biggest coward in all of history.
