Stacy looked overCari’s shoulder to me and then said in a hushed tone, “Why is Brady O’Neil here?”
Carigave out an exasperated breath. “His sister is having a baby.” Then she looked at me with wide eyes. “Wait, is your sister Cassidy O’Neil?”
I nodded. Everyone in this town knew each other, so it didn’t surprise me that she knew Cassidy. It was odder that she hadn’t put together my name with my family’s earlier today than the fact that she knew Cassidy.
“Cassidy is an angel,” Stacy said before askingCari, “Is this how you know Brady?”
“No, my grandmother knew him.”
“Your grandmother taught me how to play four instruments,” I said, and both women turned wide eyes on me.
“Thanks for checking on me,”Carisaid, but her tone was dismissive as if she needed me gone as much as I needed to stay.
“Before I head out, can I ask what your real name is?” I asked.
Stacy was watching us, wide-eyed.Carilooked uncomfortable. “It’s Tristan. Only Grams called meCariño.”
“An endearment.” My voice was clogged with a sudden rush of emotion that came from nowhere.
Elana had loved this woman. As a teen, I’d been jealous of how much she’d loved her granddaughter. How much she’d looked forward to the weeksCarispent in Grand Orchard while I’d been away at camp. If I hadn’t loved music camp as much as I had, I would have refused to go just so I could see the infamousCariñoin person. Tristan. Her name was Tristan.
Saying her name in my brain had all the pieces suddenly falling together.
She was friends with Dani and Nash. I had vague recollections of them talking about her as if she lived somewhere in Delaware, though. They’d met her through Dani’s brother, Mac, and his friendship with Nash when Nash was still a SEAL. Tristan was Nash’s friend’s widow.
She was a widow.
Layers of emotions filled me. She’d lost more than her grandmother. She’d lost a husband. A SEAL. A hero.
“You’re friends with Dani and Nash,” I said.
“Yes.” It was a pained acknowledgment.
I understood her embarrassment a little more. It wasn’t just that I was some random celebrity she hadn’t recognized. Her friends were close to me. They were my friends. We’d likely seen each other at their wedding. We’d likely seen each other at other events Mac and Dani’s family had thrown over the years. How had I seen her and not been drawn to her before?
All I knew was I needed a piano in front of me so I could put down thearpeggioof fiery notes that were filling me. Notes that changed from fast and smooth to slow and choppy. Ones that twisted together,stringendo, tightening at the bottom of a vortex where everything suddenly came together…like us. Our universes smashing on top of each other, never to be the same again.
Tristan
JUST A FOOL
“Waited and waited so long
For someone who'd never come home.”
Performed by Christina Aguilera w/ Blake Shelton
Written by Robson / Hector / Kelly
Brady O’Neil was staring at meas if I were some strange creature he’d never encountered before. It was equal parts thrilling and terrifying. I didn’t want to be thrilled by him. I certainly didn’t want the energy that coursed through my body when his fingers had touched mine. A famous musician. A celebrity who would flit through town and be gone. Why would my body respond to his when it hadn’t responded to a single soul since my husband had died? His was a body I couldn’t have even if I was in a place to want one.
From the look on his face, he thought I was mad, and I was, but not so much at him as at myself for not realizing who he was sooner. But over the top of the aggravation of discovering who he was, I was worried about my girl.
That thought had me turning away, leaving him and Stacy in the corridor, unsure what to say to him, unsure if there was anything I could say.
I went to Hannah’s side. She had her eyes closed, and my heart lurched with panic just as it had when I’d found her at the bottom of the stairs.
The noise of her falling had jolted me from my restless sleep. Seeing her crumpled on the floor had almost broken me apart. I didn’t even remember rushing down the stairs to her. I barely remembered pushing Molly off as she’d licked Hannah's face and the blood gushing from her head wound. When I’d called Hannah’s name, she’d opened her eyes and groaned before saying, “I’m sorry I woke you.”
