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She nodded and his lips lifted.
“Good.”
“What are you in the mood for?” Trystan asked after Iris had curled up on one of the massive recliners in the cinema room. She’d crept out of her melancholy enough to appreciate the sheer magnificence of this room.
It was decadence pure and simple. The screen took up an entire wall and there were two rows of six comfortable recliners, each with a fold-away tray and a cup holder. And in the third row were three reclining love seats for couples to share.
There was a popcorn machine, already filled with freshly popped kernels, the smell of which made Iris’s mouth water. Now that she was out of that stifling locked room her appetite was returning with a vengeance.
Trystan was fussing around her for some reason, draping a plush blanket over her lap, bringing her a raspberry slushy and a carton of warm popcorn.
“It’s lightly salted. Would you prefer butter or another flavor?’
“No, thank you, this is perfect.”
Luna had sunk down to snooze directly in front of Iris’s seat, and Iris occasionally ran her socked foot over the dog’s flank.
“So, what would you like to watch? Miles has a great variety of movies and shows.”
“I’m not fussy, you choose.” She didn’t care what they watched, as long as it kept her here.
He sat down in the recliner next to hers, kicking off his trainers and going full sprawl. He lifted what looked like a tablet from a small side table and swiped the screen a few times. He made a soft sound of approval before glancing over at Iris.
“You okay with scary movies?”
“I like scary movies.”
He nodded and swiped again, before putting the tablet aside. The lights dimmed, and Iris curled her legs under her bum and snuggled cozily beneath the warm blanket as she stared at the screen.
She shoveled handfuls of popcorn at a time into her mouth, occasionally sharing with Luna, and happily washed it down with her slushy as she became invested in the story.
“Oh my God, she’s a moron,” she groaned out loud about forty minutes in when the female lead made the classic ‘hello, is anybody there’ blunder.
“Why do you say that?” Trystan—who’d been largely silent throughout the film—asked curiously.
“She lives alone. If you think someone is in your empty house, you don’t ask if anybody is there. You get the hell out.”
“Fair point. Although…” He left the word hanging, the sentence incomplete, and it was enough to distract her from the movie.
“Although what?”
“The other night when you snuck back into the house. I heard an anomalous noise, and—I’m sorry to say—I asked if someone was there.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth in horrified glee.
“You didn’t.”
“I totally did. I knew it wasn’t Luna.”
“How did you know that?”
“My dog is smart, but I’m pretty sure she can’t turn door handles.”
“I tried to be so quiet. How are your ears so crazy good? With the wind and rain and everything, it couldn’t have been that noticeable.”
“It wasn’t. But I was already on alert after our initial meeting.”
“And you really asked if someone was there?”
