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“You called me Iris.”
“And you called me Trystan,” he reminded her with a half-smile. “Guess than makes us even.”
“I didn’t think you knew my first name.” She knew it was a silly thing to say.
“You literally told me when we first met. I even googled you, remember?”
Of course she did, but somehow hearing him use her first name was still a shock.
“You were so angry, I wasn’t sure you even heard me.”
“I heard you.” He didn’t elaborate, but inspected her face carefully. “Feeling better?”
She nodded, then immediately regretted it when he removed his warm hand from her elbow.
“Let’s check out the lake,” he suggested. “The water is choppy, angry, and cloudy with silt but it’s better than standing here staring at your pancaked rental.”
She moaned.
“Ugh, it’s a rental,” she repeated, cringing at the reminder. She’d have to call the rental agency in the morning and attempt to explain this crazy situation.
“They’ll have insurance against shit like this. Don’t worry about it.”
He started walking again. Luna led the way, a giant tree branch in her mouth. The dog didn’t seem to expect either of them to throw it—good thing too because it was longer than Iris’s arm and looked pretty heavy—she was just content to carry it around in her mouth.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Iris whispered in awe as they continued to walk. She could see the lake gleaming in the distance. She didn’t have a very good view of it from her room, so this would be the first time she would get a proper look at it.
“Why are you whispering?” Trystan whispered back, a mocking edge in his hissed question.
She threw him an appreciative grin and shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said in a normal, if still somewhat low, voice. “It feels like we’re the only people in the world out here. Just us three. There’s something reverential about it, like being in nature’s cathedral. Part of me feels like we should show it an appropriate amount of wonderment and respect. It just lends itself to hushed tones, don’t you think?”
“I get it.”
The reply was quiet, simple, and none of the mocking tone of before lingered in the three words.
When they reached the lake, they simply stood there, side by side, close enough to almost brush arms, but not touching at all. The strong wind tore at Iris’s clothes, sprayed a fine mist from the crests of the waves over her, stole her breath, and ruthlessly dallied with her riotous curls.
It was splendid.
“I love this,” she yelled into the wind, but it tore her words away.
“What?” She heard his faint question and looked at him with a wide grin, before cupping her hands around her mouth and repeating the words.
His wild grin likely matched hers and he nodded. She saw his mouth form the words me too, but the wind whipped his voice away.
They stood there for a long time until the spray from the white caps started to mix with a moderate drizzle and they both began to shiver.
At that point Trystan reached for her again, only this time he didn’t grab her upper arm or elbow, this time his hand closed around hers. The move was unconscious, as was Iris’s easy acceptance of it, and they slowly walked back to the house hand in hand.
It was only when they reached the kitchen door that they simultaneously became aware of the intimacy of the gesture. Trystan quickly released her hand and Iris shoved the offending appendage into her jacket pocket, trying not to dwell on the warm, pleasant tingling on her flesh where his palm had kissed hers. She watched him fumble with the door handle for a few seconds before he allowed her to precede him through the door. Then he blocked Luna’s way.
“No. Drop it,” he commanded the dog, referring to the tree branch she’d lugged all the way back to the house with her. She’d put it down only to do her business and occasionally sniff around shrubs, but had picked it up every time they’d continued on their walk.
Now she was staring up at Trystan with pleading eyes as he refused her entry into the house with her new best friend.
“Luna, drop it. It’s not coming into the house.” Iris watched from around Trystan’s arm as Luna whined plaintively. The dog finally heaved a long-suffering sigh and gently placed the branch on the welcome mat outside the door.
