Chapter 7

Eliza’s eyes flicked between my outstretched hand and my face while I waited for her answer, unsure what to expect. She twirled the flower I’d given her in her hands while storms brewed in the consuming, endless blue of her eyes. I held my breath while I waited.

I wasn’t sure where I’d take her, or why, but it genuinely felt like I would die if she denied me.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at my dramatics. I’d never been the casual, subtle type; I was forever sincere, forever fearless—a fatal flaw, if I said so myself.

Eliza drew in a breath. The world seemed to move in slow motion as she slipped her hand into mine. My heart stuttered at the feeling of the calluses on her fingertips and palms, and part of me resented how easy it felt to have her hand in mine.

“You better not take me to the Eiffel Tower or some lame tourist attraction.” Even if her eyes had softened, her words remained critical.

“Fine,” I said with a grin.

I waited while Eliza rolled her blanket tightly and shoved it into her pink backpack. Once the blanket was off her, I noticed a spattering of blood at the hem of the shirt she wore again, like she’d been wiping her eyes. I pretended not to fixate on the blood while she tucked the note I’d written her in an e-reader and pushed that into her backpack too. She stood, slinging the backpack over her shoulders and motioning for me to lead the way.

Obviously, I noticed she still held the flower I’d given her.

“Do you need to drop off your stuff somewhere?” Eliza asked, arching a brow.

I looked between her and my full arms. “Yes, my apartment is around the corner. It’ll only take a minute.”

She said nothing, but followed me when I walked out of the gardens. Her footsteps fell in unison with mine, and neither of us said anything while walking to my apartment. I opened my mouth a few times but felt like I couldn’t find anything worthy of voicing. Nothing seemed good enough to burden her with.

Eliza waited outside while I jogged up the stairs. I quickly placed the baguette on the counter and put the flowers in a vase before rushing back down the stairs, terrified she would be gone.

She wasn’t.

She leaned against the building, looking at pictures on her phone. I caught sight of a little, redheaded toddler before she blacked out her phone and shoved it back in her backpack.

“Are you ready?” I squeaked out.

Eliza dragged her tongue along her bottom lip; I watched as it disappeared back into her mouth. “Yes,” she said. “Show me your world, blondie.”

The day was so beautiful that it seemed like a waste to spend it inside, so I took Eliza to my favorite park in the city. Most tourists spent their time in places like the Tuileries and the Luxembourg Gardens, but Parc Monceau was ten times as spectacular.

I watched Eliza as we walked through the enormous black and gold gates; her lips parted in shock and she tilted her head back to stare at them as long as she could before we were entirely inside the park.

She’d been quiet for the metro ride across town and remained quiet now, though her eyes took in everything around us. I led the way along the path with my hands clasped behind my back.

“I’ve never seen anything this magnificent. There aren’t places like this back home,” Eliza said.

“Where’s home?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she bolted away to admire a crumbling, arched structure around a green pond. I followed and let out a long breath, deciding that personal questions were off the table—at least for now.

A few minutes later, it seemed like she’d forgotten my question and skipped ahead of me curiously. Every little dog she saw walking excited her. Once, she smiled at a French bulldog, and I had to clear my throat to hide my shock at how dazzling her smile was. Eliza raised her eyebrow at my surprise, then led the way through the rest of the park.

“Can we go on the carousel?” She asked.

“I don’t see why not,” I hummed in response. Warmth blossomed in my chest as I watched her clasp her hands in front of her chest in joy.

Eliza skipped up to the line, grinning like a kid at the candy store. I followed and dropped a few euros into the ticket agent’s hands. He grunted in acknowledgment, dissatisfied that two grown women were getting on the kid’s ride. I didn’t care. I wanted to see Eliza smile again.

She bolted onto the carousel first, pulling herself into the saddle of the first horse she saw. I mounted the one next to her with a smile.

“Giddy up!” she whooped, tossing her arms in the air.

“If I told my horse to ‘giddy up,’ he would throw me off,” I laughed. I thought throwing a personal detail into the conversation might work better than asking her questions.

It did. Eliza’s head tilted toward me, curiosity filling her eyes. “You have a horse?”

I nodded with a smile. “His name’s Ghost.” Before the carousel started, I pulled out my phone and showed her the lock screen, which was a picture of me with my arms around Ghost’s neck. A blue ribbon hung from his reins.

“He’s gorgeous,” Eliza said, though her smile seemed forced.

Thankfully, that’s when the carousel moved. Eliza whooped and cheered, excitedly flinging her fake reins while we rode around and around. I grinned and watched her contagious happiness; it sank into me and refused to let me go.

I didn’t know her, but I thought I would do anything to get her to laugh like that forever.

The carousel ride ended, and Eliza was exuberant as she stepped next to me. I gaped at the way the sun glittered in her endless blue eyes, highlighting little flecks of gold that were invisible to the human eye.

“This might be my new favorite place in the world,” she said, clutching her hands to her chest. Her eyes met mine. “What’s next?”

I smiled. “I have a few ideas.”

Dramatically, she motioned for me to walk first. “Lead the way!”

When I started walking, she fell into perfect step beside me, and her fingers brushed against mine every couple steps.

The Aquarium de Paris was across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and situated beneath the Trocadéro, out of sight and out of mind. I’d discovered it on one of my first days in the city and spent hours inside ogling at every little fish. It was quiet inside—the perfect escape.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure Eliza would care about an aquarium. I’d tried to bring Addie and Willa here once, and they weren’t nearly as enthused by all the creatures of the sea as I was. But Eliza’s words about tourist attractions echoed through my mind, and her sad eyes were permanently imprinted on my mind. I was determined to show her somewhere unique—somewhere beautiful.

I barely knew her, I reminded myself. I knew nothing about her, or what troubled her beneath the surface.

But I wanted to.

“An aquarium?” Eliza paused outside and tilted her head. I held my breath in anticipation of her rejection, already planning how to extend this day and make her see that whatever hurt her could be eased within this city. She looked between me and the front of the building, wide eyes blinking slowly. I held my breath. Then, she smiled. “Are there jellyfish?”

I nodded eagerly, winded by the dimples on her cheeks and the sudden sparkle in her eyes. “So many jellyfish.”

“Let’s go, then!” She bolted ahead of me.

I followed breathlessly. Eliza didn’t know where she was going, so she fell back into step with me a moment later. Her smile hadn’t faded; in fact, it had grown larger. When her pinky finger brushed against mine, it sent static electricity straight to my heart, and I had to remind myself to breathe.

“I love jellyfish,” she said. “Even though I was stung by one in Rocky Point when I was sixteen, I think they’re the coolest little creatures.”

“Rocky Point?” I asked in confusion.

“Mexico,” she clarified. “Sorry, I forgot you’re not from America. A lot of Americans like to vacation there because it’s gorgeous and easily accessible.”

“The last time I was in the States was 1926,” I admitted, though I left out that was the year I killed my best friend’s boyfriend. “And I lived in Virginia.”

Eliza nodded. “So, you’re like… old, old.”

My jaw dropped with her teasing. “I am not! I’m young and spritely.”

Eliza laughed, her head leaning back to amplify the sound. I watched her while we walked, noting how the afternoon sun glittered across her cheeks. There was a blush on her face now, and it spread down to her neck as she continued to laugh. For the briefest moments, the sad girl from the Louvre disappeared, and this was someone else entirely.

I wondered if this was the real Eliza, the one hidden beneath an iron fortress she had built for herself. I didn’t know why she hid or what she’d been through, but this version of her was utterly intoxicating.

All it had taken to bring her out was a park and an aquarium. There was someone else behind the tear stains on her shirt and her quick goodbyes. Someone who maybe—just maybe—wanted to be seen.

When Eliza finished laughing, she looked at me and her eyes were soft. “Take me to see these jellyfish.”

Inside, the aquarium was dim, most of the lights coming in shades of purple and blue. It felt like time stood still, and the only thing I had to worry about was watching sharks swim overhead.

Eliza had fallen somewhat quiet, though she didn’t seem angry. She seemed… content. We walked side-by-side and stared at fish of every shape and size.

I had a thousand questions for her.

I wanted to know where she was from, how old she was, and what she loved. I wanted to smell the lavender shampoo she wore and feel the heat of the blush beneath her cheeks.

I always moved too fast for other people and felt too much. If I told her what I was thinking after barely knowing her for a day, she would run.

I took a deep breath and clasped my hands behind my back, trying to convince myself that finding her attractive was dangerous. I was still recovering from my last goodbye; the last thing I needed was to step headfirst into a new one.

I was so tired of having my heart broken over and over again.

I decided this was just a crush. Eliza was breathtakingly beautiful, and my mind was running wild with that knowledge. In a day or seven, it would stop—and everything would be as it should.

“There they are!” Eliza exclaimed, pointing to the tanks full of pink jellyfish.

There it was again, that damned smile.

Eliza bolted across the room, moving faster than any human. She appeared before one of the jelly tanks, placing her hands on the glass. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

“What is it about jellyfish that makes them so cool?” I asked as I joined her.

She shrugged. “Did you know they only have one hole that serves as their mouth and their butt?”

I couldn’t help it; I laughed at the absurdity of her fun fact. She seemed so proud of it, eyeing me as I clutched my chest to keep my heart rate even. “I’m sorry,” I gasped. “I didn’t know jellies were such complex creatures.”

Eliza chuckled. “There’s a species called the Benjamin Button jellyfish that’s capable of reversing its life cycle until it reverts to a polyp, only to start the entire aging process over again.”

“Can it do that forever?” I asked as I caught my breath.

“Some scientists believe that, by aging backward to escape death, it”s unlocked the key to immortality,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

I hummed. “Spoiler alert, so have I.”

Eliza laughed at that. “Vampires and jellyfish. A perfect match.”

I grinned. She returned to looking at the jellyfish, and I asked the question that had been on my mind since I saw her beneath the Louvre pyramid, “Why are you in Paris?”

“I’m running away,” she answered without looking at me. She placed her hand back on the glass, tracing the movement of one of the smallest jellyfish. For a long time, she said nothing while I waited, silently hoping she would say more.

“Me too,” I breathed when I couldn’t stand the silence.

Eliza drew in a breath. “I should go.”

She was gone before I could stop her, leaving nothing but a lavender-scented breeze in her wake.