Chapter 28 Sebastian #2
He sighed. “Your heart is made of stone, Brynn Cornell.” She laughed and pulled away enough to grab her melba toast and start
munching. “Regardless, the reason I asked is I’m sort of wondering if Adelaide Springs is the penny.”
She had just stuffed an entire piece of the crunchy snack into her mouth, so she covered it with her hand to prevent crumbs
from flying out as she asked, “What penny?”
“Remember? Richard pulled the 1979 penny from his pocket—”
“Oh my gosh, you know his name?”
Sebastian continued, undeterred. “He pulled the 1979 penny from his pocket and the spell was broken—”
“Because that’s how time travel works.”
“—and he went back to 1980... or whatever—”
“Oh, it’s too late to act like you’re not sure.”
“—and Elise”—Brynn raised her eyebrow and he indulged her—“Dr. Quinn was left in the past. Remember?”
She scrunched up her face. “Yeah.”
Sebastian shifted in his seat and then shrugged. “The spell’s going to be broken, you know. You’re going to pull the penny
out of your pocket, and you’re going to remember you don’t live in 1912. You’re going to go back to 1980 where you actually
belong.”
Brynn stared at him and nibbled with her front teeth. “Okay... that’s sort of a valid comparison. Except Superman—sorry,
Richard— didn’t belong in 1980. Not really. I mean, after he stepped out of the DeLorean in 1980, didn’t he sort of just wander around for
a while until he starved to death and got to reunite with Dr. Quinn and Jack and Rose on the Titanic version of heaven, where long-lost loves wait decades for their soulmates to die?”
He groaned and jumped up from his seat. “Brynn!”
“What?” She laughed and stood to join him. “I thought we were doing a funny little banter bit.”
“But I’m being serious now.”
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realize.” She set the box on the couch, cleared her throat, and straightened up to look at him face-to-face.
A comically serious expression overtook her features. “How about this? I will only use my debit card from here on out. No
cash. Definitely no coins.”
He rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. “Forget it.” He grabbed his jacket from the counter. “Still want to grab some
dinner, or are the crackers enough for you?”
“Hang on.” She walked up behind him, grabbed his arm, and forced him to turn around. “You’re actually worried about this.”
“No. I’m not. I’m not worried.”
Brynn knocked the jacket from his arms and then jumped into them and kissed him.
“You are. Because you like me. You don’t just like me. You like me like me.” Her lips brushed softly against his, daring him not to kiss her back. “You like me!” She sang the words more
than said them, and he rolled his eyes in response to her childishness—even as he lost her dare time and time again.
It was his turn to feign solemnity. “I haven’t even decided if I like you yet, much less like you like you.”
“Oh really?” she whispered against his lips before calling his bluff.
“I mean... you’re okay, at times,” he finally muttered in surrender against her jawline. “There are certainly aspects of
you that—”
“Hang on.” He was perfectly content retracing his steps along a trail of kisses he had left on her neck until she clasped
his face between her hands and raised his eyes to meet hers. “We should talk about this.”
“About what?” he managed to ask through squeezed lips and cheeks.
“About what happens now.”
“No, see, I wanted to talk about it, and you made fun. Now I’m not interested in talking anymore.” He smiled and pushed against
her hands in an attempt to get back to her lips, but she was resolute.
“What do you think this is to me?”
“What? This ?”
“Yeah. You and me.”
He exhaled. “I don’t have any idea. And that’s okay. I know that you think less of me now, in light of the Somewhere in Time conversation, but I don’t mean to come across as needy or clingy.” He pulled away and leaned against the wall. If they were
really going to talk, he needed a little distance. “I’m not those things. I am fully aware that what happens in Adelaide Springs
tends to stay in Adelaide Springs—”
“Ah.” She nodded and stepped back, gaining a little additional space of her own. “I see.”
“What do you see?”
“You think we are a thing that could only happen in Adelaide Springs.”
He tilted his head. “Don’t you ?”
Brynn shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
“And that’s okay. It really is. I get it. I guess...” His fingers attempted to run through his hair but got caught in the
curls. He groaned and looked around for his cap, which he found on the floor and returned to his head. “I guess I just need
you to know...” What? What did he need her to know? “I don’t talk about Myanmar. I don’t let people know that Murrow used
to have to go into town with me every single time, not because I was training him to be around people as I pretended. Are
you kidding? He’s better trained than I am. I had to take him with me everywhere because if a helicopter flew overhead, there
was a pretty good chance I would black out or forget how to get home. And I really don’t go from not trusting someone to telling
them all of this in a day or two.”
She kept her distance, physically, but the warmth in her eyes brought them closer. “Well, for the record, I don’t go around
kissing random guys I hardly know who aren’t even members of 1D.” He chuckled, but she rolled her eyes. “I do go around making jokes to actively avoid genuine emotion, though. Sorry about that.”
“I think it’s safe to say we’re both damaged goods. Emotionally, you know?” She nodded. “And I need you to know I’m not scared
off by that if you’re not.”
“I’m not.” Her wet eyes locked with his. “I’m really not.”
“Good. Now, here’s what I really need you to know. I’m not convinced you hate your job. You hate aspects of your job, sure, but I’m pretty confident what
you actually hate is not being able to be who you really are.” Brynn opened her mouth to protest, and he raised his hand.
“Just let me say this, if that’s okay. And then you can feel free to tell me how wrong I am.” She closed her mouth and nodded
slowly. “I think you feel this need to be respected, and that makes all the sense in the world. We all need that, but you ? After growing up the way you did? Of course that matters to you. But I think you’re walking this tightrope between feeling
like you have to earn your keep—lay low and stay out of trouble—and just wishing that for once in your life you could feel
like your value didn’t have as much to do with what you do as who you are.”
He took a hesitant step toward her. There was more to say before he could reach out and dry those tears. Once he touched her,
it was anyone’s guess as to whether or not he’d remember how to speak.
“See, here’s the thing, Brynn. I have a hunch—a pretty strong one, actually—that if you go back to New York or LA or wherever
you want to be and combine the strength and ambition and talent that got you to Sunup with the brave, tenderhearted, hilarious woman I spent the day with today—the Brynn Cornell who’s sharp as a tack and doesn’t
need anyone writing her lines for her; the Brynn Cornell who blows that stuffed-shirt Mark Irvine out of the water and never should have been number two to him; the Brynn Cornell who isn’t ashamed of where she came from, because every wonderful thing about her is either because of or in spite of what she’s been through—well, let’s just say you need to be figuring out what you want to do next, because it’s yours for the taking.
” He took a deep breath and let it out, hoping he hadn’t overstepped but knowing she shouldn’t have to wait any longer for someone to tell her how remarkable she was.
“Okay. I’m done now. Let the arguing commence. ”
She laughed self-consciously through her escalating tears, then lifted her arms and rushed toward him. And Sebastian welcomed
her in. He’d said what he needed to say. The rest was up to her.