EIGHT

Sam

I’m almost certain it’s her. I’m almost certain that she’s the girl from the orphanage. I’m also, almost certain, that she blinked out of existence in front of me – just for a moment.

Almost certain.

But not certain enough.

I sigh as I open the front door to my apartment. On autopilot, I hang up my coat and take off my shoes when I see another pair of shoes already tossed carelessly to the side.

I know those shoes.

“Vic!” I shout.

But there’s no reply – not that I expect one. I groan and take a few more steps inside where, sure enough, my cousin Vic is sprawled across the sofa, with a magazine held up in front of his face.

My apartment is open plan – one room seamlessly running into the next. Kitchen and living room and bedroom as one large open space. Only the bathroom is separated by a door – a space cut off from everything else.

Despite this, the apartment is… well, cozy. Cluttered, even. Bookshelves line almost every wall, and books fill every nook and cranny. Both my sofa and my bed are covered in blankets. Currently, Vic is curled into the corner of my sofa, blankets tangled around his feet.

“Vic!” I all but snap.

Vic holds up a finger. “One moment, I’m about to find out which star sign suits me best romantically…” he keeps his finger aloft for a moment. “Apparently, I’m most compatible with a Leo… who knew!”

I snort.

“How’s your working day been?” Vic asks, still holding the magazine aloft in a way that seems more performative than practical.

“Why do you want to know?” I ask, popping on the coffee machine.

“Oh, just to live vicariously through you,” Vic says, grinning.

I shake my head. “Layabout.”

Vic grins. “So, how was your day?”

I slowly pour two cups of coffee. I’ve never had a working day so memorable before… I’ve never left work with my mind spinning the way it is now.

I think back to the moment again, that moment when Dani fell down the stairs in a too-graceful leap. How her hair flared out behind her and how – for a moment so brief it may not have even been a moment at all – she vanished completely.

Before landing somewhat less gracefully into my arms.

Her face was pressed against my chest, and her head lolled just beneath my chin – I can still remember the scent of her hair - vanilla and soap.

The room suddenly feels too warm and I’m overwhelmed by the need to adjust my collar. I can hardly tell Vic any of that.

“Would you say that Dani is a common name?” I ask instead.

My cousin looks up from his magazine and nods. “Fairly common, I’d say… why?”

I clear my throat and sit down on the sofa opposite him, offering a cup of the coffee to Vic and taking a sip of my own. “Do you… uhh. Do you remember me telling you about the girl in the orphanage?”

Victor sits up straight, his eyes gleaming with sheer, unfiltered glee. “Do I remember her? The girl you wouldn’t stop talking about for a solid year? The girl who basically changed the trajectory of your life? The famous Dani with the gap in her teeth? Oh yeah, I remember her.” He pauses, a frown appearing between his brows. “What about her?”

“I think she’s the new starter at my company,” I say gruffly, trying not to meet his eyes.

“No, frickin’ way!” the magazine is suddenly rolled up in Vic’s hands, and I’m all but fending off his attack. “That’s amazing! What did she say when she saw you?”

I take another sip of the coffee only to find it more bitter than usual. “Nothing. I’m not sure it is her. Besides, she didn’t recognize me.”

“Well, it has been, what, sixteen, seventeen years? You look quite different as well,” Vic says, unbothered. “What’s this Dani like then?”

I think to my conversation with her this morning, I have books with dragons in them, men pale in comparison. Then my mind flits to her silhouette running away from me and up the stairs.

My lip quirks. “Chaotic.”

Vic lets out a whistle. “Sounds promising.”

I school my face into an expression of calm disinterest. “Why are you here anyway?” I ask gruffly.

Immediately, Vic’s entire demeanour shifts. He stops slouching, he places his feet on the floor and meets my eyes. Gone is Vic the carefree cousin looking at star signs. I’m now talking with Victor, the family lawyer.

“Uncle asked me to speak with you,” Victor says quietly. “He’s impressed with how your company is going, he wants it to become a part of the family assets.”

I take a large gulp of my coffee – allowing the bitterness to burn its way down my throat.

“He didn’t consider it an asset when I decided to start it,” I say coolly. “A useless waste of talent and money, I believe, were his exact words.”

“I figured you wouldn’t take kindly to the proposal,” Victor says. “I told him as much. But I do think it’s worth my pointing out what you could gain if you were to merge with King Conglomerate. You’d have so many resources – funds, connections. Your publishing house could double, even triple in size.”

I pause. Trying to find the best way to frame my words without flying completely off the handle. “He didn’t offer me these resources when I needed them, I have no issue turning them down now. The company is growing at a steady pace, and we’re gaining recognition in our field. I don’t want or need his help.”

Victor lets out a long-suffering sigh. “I know that you and your dad don’t get on. But this could be an olive branch, this could be–”

“–I don’t want an olive branch,” I snap. A thousand doors slamming shut in my mind. “I want nothing from him, and I want to give nothing to him. Any of them, in fact. If it weren’t for you Vic, I would quite happily never see any of them again.”

Victor taps his fingers on his thigh, clearly thinking, finally he lets out a breath. “Okay. I’ll pass along the message.”

For a moment, an awkward silence punctures the air between us. Finally, I look at the clock – it’s getting late.

“Do you want to order in some food?”

Vic grins, and suddenly the lawyer is gone. “Thank god you asked, for a minute I thought you were planning on letting me starve.”

I roll my eyes. “So dramatic.”

I get up to get the take-out menus from one of the kitchen drawers, when my eyes fall on a stack of manuscripts on the countertop that I haven’t yet gotten around to reading. I think of Dani and wonder whether she’s pouring over her own manuscripts. I think of the girl reading her fairy tales in the orphanage and wonder if it really is possible that they are the same person after all…