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After sipping his Negroni, Quint wholeheartedly agreed.
They sat in a companiable silence, their breathing in tandem with each other, both not feeling the need for words.
Leo took another sip of his Martini, then finally spoke. “So, you’re psychic. Oh shit, I’m not dying, am I? Is that why you’ve come into my life?”
Quint laughed. “Not again, no,” he said with a slip of the tongue.
“Again?”
Quint pushed his Negroni aside, conscious of making another slip-up. “Sorry, I meant, no. You’re not dying. I mean we’re all technically dying, I suppose.” He was starting to babble somewhat.
“You say some weird stuff,” said Leo with a chuckle.
Quint leaned forward and lowered his voice. “This is going to sound even weirder. Or maybe it won’t. Listen, Leo, I’m getting the vibe that you’re quite an open-minded person.”
“I am, what is it? Tell me, I promise I won’t leg it. Unless I am dying, then I can’t guarantee I won’t be running for the hills, not that that’d do me any good. Che serà, serà and all that.”
“I told you, you’re not, I promise. Look, it’s about us. When I first saw you, I think I recognised you.”
Leo leaned forward to hear him better over the noise of the bar as Quint inhaled the deepest of breaths. This was it, the crunch time he had been preparing for all of his life, yet was so unprepared for in this moment. He contemplated holding back, thoughts of this sounding stupid and far-fetched peppering his mind.
But it was time to let go. Now felt like the time to offer him a candid view through the window of their past.
“I recognised you from... well, from a previous life. I told you it was going to sound weird.”
Leo softened his expression and moved closer to Quint. “If I’m honest, it doesn’t really sound weird. I believe in reincarnation, so if anything, it sounds pretty normal to me. But I have to say, I’ve never met anyone who actuallyrecognisesme from a previous life. I have to ask though, how did you recognise me?”
Quint leant back in his seat, suddenly feeling more relaxed about pouring his soul out to Leo. It felt like a weight that he’d been carrying for the whole of this lifetime had finally been lifted from his shoulders. “The things you said, the way you moved, your mannerisms, your smells. This is going to sound even more odd, but somehow, you’ve even got the same Christian name as you had before. Don’t ask me how.”
“Wow, really? What was your name before, then?”
Quint smiled coquettishly. “Quint, actually. I was born Charles, but I hated it. I changed it by Deed Poll when my parents died. I didn’t want to do it while they were alive, didn’t want to hurt their feelings, I guess. They were good people, and it would have upset them so much if I had changed it while they were alive.” They had given him everything to ensure his happiness. His knowledge that they were just ‘temporary’ parents, acting as a kind of catalyst to bring him into this life meant that his connection to them had been distant from the moment he was born.
They gave him all the love they had, and Quint had certainly loved them back. He just didn’t have that parental bond that is so strong betweenReboot families. They were more like best friends or acquaintances that he had grown to love.
“You changed your name to your past-life name? Whoa, you’re really invested in, well… yourself,” said Leo. He took a sip of his Martini and seemed to shiver at the aftertaste.
“That’s the stuff, eh?” said Quint.
“I needed it, believe me. So, this past life of ours. How much do you know? Do you know what we did for a living? Were we soldiers? Druids? Clerics? Please don’t say we were baddies.”
Quint tried to bury a smile and failed miserably. There was definitely a lighter side to Leo in this life. But Quint could never reveal theabsolute truth. Telling him that they hailed from a far-away planet that even he didn’t know the location of in relation to wherever they were now in the universe would be way too much for Leo to take on board after the day he had. Not to mention it could be dangerously closer to breakingtherule.
“Actually, I was a simple farmer and you were a kind of architect, I suppose,” said Quint, biting on his lip, desperate to reveal more.
Leo. The stranger who had turned up at their settlement one hot day, who became one of the most popular members of their community with his architecture and building skills. Pictures of him putting the finishing touches to their home, attaching the final pieces of cornices to the ceiling, half naked and sweating made Quint smile.
Pretty hot for an old guy,he had thought back then, and the memory still made his spine tingle today.
“Oh, I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed,” said Leo, looking disgruntled at the loss of music to his life, “but I’m sort of glad we weren’t baddies.” He downed the rest of his Martini and stared at Quint before continuing. “So, a simple life, eh? Sounds like bliss compared to the rat race we live in now. I have no skills like that now. The only thing I can build is a sick beat loop.”
Quint smiled gently and meant this. “That’s not a bad thing. It’s still creating something wonderful for people to enjoy. I guess that’s part of your true spirit.”
Leo pushed his empty glass away and turned his attention to the bar. “I think we’re going to need another round here.”
ChapterEighteen
“So, how did we meet? Do you know that much?” asked Leo with a sip of his drink and looking hungry for more, or maybe just as content to feel whatever Quint kept picking up from them being close to each other.
