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My heart breaks. “I’ll never leave you. You know, your mommy had asthma when she was little, too.”
“She did?” Her eyes widened, and pulls her head out of my chest. “How do you know?”
I didn’t want to lie to her, so I just remained silent as I stroked her hair.
“I want Beebo.”
Beebo?
“What’s that, baby?”
“My teddy bear,” she says against my chest.
I pull away from her and lay her back on the couch. I fetch my coat from the hanger and cover her up with it. She snuggles it around herself and tries for a small smile. Her eyes are tired, and her breaths still come in weak puffs. Her fingers clutch her inhaler tightly in case she needs it again.
“Where last did you see Beebo, Ruby?”
“Daddy’s room.”
I guess I am going into Tristan’s room after all. I make sure Ruby is comfortable as I pull my coat tighter around her to protect her from the cold air, and then I head upstairs to Tristan’s bedroom. The stairs creak as I climb, and I hold onto the railing in case the old stairs collapse. I open the first door in the long hallway and stare into the room.
A giant treadmill by the window confirms it’s Tristan’s room.
The bedroom is a match of white walls and golden yellow curtains. A massive king-sized bed with four layers of sheets is at the center of the room, and a full-length mirror hangs in the corner like an afterthought. The room is clean and perfectly organized.
Again, there are no pictures of Deanna in sight.
Beebo is nowhere to be found at first glance from the doorway, so I step inside. The room smells like him, and I have that feeling of familiarity again—that niggling memory at the back of my mind that I just can’t reach. I drink in his scent, hoping to trigger a remembrance, but it fails.
My nipples tighten for some reason due to his smell. Ovulation is a bitch. I don’t find his scent attractive; it’s just my hormone-filled body, I convince myself.
“Beebo, where are you?” I say in a sing-song voice, mostly to distract myself from how I’m feeling.
The wooden floor creaks under my feet as I search the room for the teddy. It isn’t on the well-made bed. I check the floor, kneel, and under the bed, but the teddy is nowhere to be found.
I decided to return to Ruby. I’ve already spent too long away from her, which isn’t a good idea in her current state. I stop at the doorway and look back into the room. I notice an unopened drawer on his nightstand and walk towards it.
The drawer opens easily; the only thing in it is a small rectangular box with peculiar patterns.
“Well, that’s too small for Beebo, I guess.” My voice carries in the empty room.
What is in the box, though? I wondered.
Leave it, Layla. Get out of here.
My curiosity gets the better of me, and I push the cover off the box. I step back in shock, and my hand covers my mouth. I know the object in the box. The dark content of the box stares at me, a witness to unforgotten secrets. The mask that held me tight like I was a treasure was right there. In the box.
What the fuck? It can’t be.
I hear the sound of Tristan’s car out in the yard, and I hurriedly put everything back in its place and race out of the room. My heart pounds as I bound down the stairs, more from shock than from anything else.
It can’t be. It has to be a coincidence. What are the odds?
My mind floods with questions as I gaze at Ruby in the living room. She’s fast asleep, the inhaler still clutched in her fingers. The door opens, and Tristan walks in. He almost looks angry, but I can detect an undertone of sadness in his countenance. He has an envelope, and I can guess its content.
“Hey,” his voice reaches my ear as his smell reaches my nose simultaneously.
I look closely at his gaze and gasp. It is for real. It is him.
