Page 32 of Only You
Danielle scowled at him and took a sip of her coffee. ‘Okay. So, clearly we share that memory. But I have others like—’
‘Sarah, David, Selene, Demir, Shayla, Donovan, Sienna and Devlin,’ he rattled off. ‘I remember them, too.’ Danielle’s jaw dropped before quickly closing, and she turned her attention to the mug of coffee warming her hands.
‘Okay. I— okay…’ Danielle tapped her hands on the table before leaning forward. ‘Let’s say that it’s real. All the memories are real. That ring—’ He felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered the emerald ring in the display. Had he known it was there, he would never have led her into that building. ‘I mean, I remember them but it’s like now things are coming into focus.’
‘That’s how it started for me, too,’ he revealed, leaning towards her. ‘It’ll take some time but eventually everything will come back.’
‘Everything?’ She looked at him in panic and he couldn’t help but place his hands over hers, trying his best to comfort her. She let the touch linger but slipped her hands away as she worried her bottom lip. He sighed, sitting back.
‘Danielle—’
‘Dani,’ she corrected quickly.
‘Dani,’ he repeated. ‘I know you want me to tell you the ins and outs, but this is new to me too. I wasn’t even sure if everything was real until that day I saw you.’
‘And what about me was so familiar?’
Jones’s mind went back to the lecture a couple weeks ago. He had been instantly attracted to her, wanted to talk to her about music before she bolted out the door. He was surprised to see her the next day. He was happy to see she was better and even wondered if he should try visiting Dr Allen’s class again. It was all attraction until…
‘You said you knew me. Something about how you said it… it just made sense.’ Her expression fell, and she looked at the table.
Jones frowned, feeling helpless. He wished he knew the right thing to say to her. There was a feeling of familiarity but also hesitation. It was like meeting a friend after years apart – which, in a way, was true. There was uncertainty, wondering which parts of them were the same, which had changed.
‘Jones,’ she said. ‘Or…’
‘Stephen,’ he filled in. ‘But Jones is fine.’
‘Jones, we can’t do this,’ she said. ‘You know why we can’t do this.’
‘Dani—’
‘It doesn’t end well,’ she interrupted. ‘I may not remember everything, but I do remember that. And I may not remember all the details, but I know, whatever it is, I don’t want a repeat. I’m sorry.’
She stood up quickly and practically ran out the cafe. Jones put his elbows on the table and leaned into his hands. Her reaction was reasonable, and she was right; they couldn’t be together. Several lifetimes had proven that.
It didn’t hurt any less to watch her walk away. And he knew there was no way to tell her he was dying already.
Chapter Thirteen
Paris
May 1896
Damien watched the recruit shift nervously, his eyes constantly roaming, giving away where he planned to strike, but the captain didn’t move. He stayed still, large and intimidating, while the recruit decided on his next move. He shifted to the left.
Easy, Damien thought right as the man lunged. He sidestepped the move, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling. Damien chuckled as he stepped over him.
‘Again,’ he commanded. The recruit, Leo, got up with a huff. This time he didn’t take as long to decide his next move, but the result was the same. Meanwhile, Damien assessed his skills. Leo had only been training with the Republican Guard for a few days since transferring from the cavalry. He was a good soldier but had room for improvement with his hand-to-hand combat. His stance was too open and he still looked terrified. Yet, there was a doggedness in him every now and then that reassured Damien. Even though the moves were sloppy, they were decisive.I can work with that.
So, he told the recruit to try again and again for hours. Every time Leo got up, his legs got shakier. Damien waited patiently, letting the recruit attack first but still outmanoeuvring him easily. Leo groaned and Damien crouched down to pat his shoulder.
‘Not the worst,’ he commented before stepping over him while the crowd of soldiers around them whooped excitedly. They pulled Leo up from the cobblestone streets in front of their favourite tavern.
Usually, they would go a few times a week but with him splitting his time between the estate and the caserns, it had been much longer since he had spent time like this with the other soldiers. Even with the underlying desire to see Sabine as soon as possible, he loved being back home.
One soldier handed Damien a cup of cider and he sat at a table where Roulet watched the rowdy group with the tiniest of smiles.
‘That was quite tame for you,’ he commented. ‘Usually, you rush in there like a Spanish bull.’
