Page 101 of Starstruck

Tristan nodded down at me, his eyes dipping to the snow before gazing back atme. He sent a squeeze through our locked hands as his lips popped open. “Come on.” He said, nodding his head to the house, softly tugging me in his footsteps until we reached Addy and Nate.

We jogged over to the car and grabbed our bags, lugging them the best wecould through the snow until we reached the porch, lit by lanterns that hung above us. The front door, which was carved with intricate drawings of the wildlife that resided here, opened before any of us could pull on the knocker, and in seconds the warm light from inside the house flooded the porch.

“Oh, you guys made it!” Mom beamed as she opened her arms and came forme first, wrapping her chunky sweater-covered arms around me, and I did the same. As I inhaled as she hugged me, I realised she didn’t smell like tanning oil and salt air anymore, instead, she smelled like something homemade that had been made with every autumnal spice she could find.

I smiled as she pulled away from me, her auburn curls gliding back over herarms. ‘Mom, this place is… how did you find this place?”

She giggled as she ran a hand through my braid, playing the tuft of hair at theend of it. “It found us, I think, honey.”

I smiled up at her, before the commotion of happy greetings burst through themoment. I turned around to see my Dad and Nate shaking hands, before he pulled him in for a hug and clapped him on the back. I looked over at Addy and smiled, so beyond happy that things between them, between all of us, were finally looking better.

My dad caught a glimpse of me as he leaned over Nate, breaking free fromtheir embrace when he saw me, and scrambling over like I was about to disappear.

“Marigold,” he sighed, as he wrapped his arms around me. “How ya doing,kiddo?”

I blinked as I embraced my dad, trying to remember if he’d ever called mekiddo in my life. I decided, though, that trying to remember the person he was was only going to take away from the person he was trying to become. So I smiled and said, “I’m doing good, Dad. Thank you.”

He ran his hand up and down my back a few times, before letting me go anddropping his warm hands onto my shoulders. But right then his smile faded into a sad one. “Oh, where’s your locket, Goldie?”

My locket?

My locket.

My soul slipped from its holding place, my face dropped, and my eyes heldmy dad’s so intently that I’m sure he could read every word racing through my mind.

I’d tried my best to forget what happened that night, the bad parts of it anyway,and losing the necklace was just one of those moments. The grief I felt after it happened was horrible; regardless of how long the dainty thing had lived around my neck, it was what it meant to me, what it meant for me, why I was so stricken down by it.

But up until now, I’d forgotten all about it, and what felt like the guilt that hadstrangled me the nights after it happened began to tighten its grip around my throat.

I flashed my eyes to my mom, then back to dad, before clearing my throat.

“Oh, I… um—”

“It’s here, Gold’s,” Tristan called from behind me, pulling a satinchain from deep within his jacket, the gold heart glistening as he lifted it to the light. “You gave it to me when we went through security, at the airport?” Tristan eyed me, telling me to go along with whatever he was saying.

I shook my head, before stepping forward and grabbing the locket from hishands. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

I barely had any time to look down at my missing locket before allthe attention fell onto him.

My dad nodded his chin at him. “You must be Tristan.”

Tristan nodded, strands of his hair falling over his forehead. “Yes, sir. Thank you so much for letting me bombard your holiday—”

“Oh, enough of that, son,” Dad chuckled. “When Goldie told me you’d bestuck in those dorms on your first Thanksgiving, we couldn’t say no. Didn’t want to, either.”

I watched as Tristan smiled up at my dad before running a hand through hishair. “I really appreciate it.”

Addy cleared her throat. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’mfreezing, so let’s get in before we get stuck out here.”

Everyone shuffled into the grand hallway then, the warmth from the firethawing out my cold cheeks. But once everyone was inside, I closed the door, only letting a slither of light sneak out, leaving me and Tristan out on the porch.

I sucked in a breath, deep enough for the amount of questions that had stackedup on my tongue the second he handed me the locket, but before I could even ask him to explain, his mouth fell open.

“I got a call from the police department the other day, and they told me that theguys who attacked you got arrested for something more… serious.” My head pulled back. “And when they were searching their apartment, they found the locket, and whoever found it must have remembered that we’d reported it as stolen, so I went down there to get it back.” He shrugged, like all of this was nothing. “I meant to give it to you before dinner, but your dad beat me to it.”

“Tristan.” I sighed, reaching up to cup his chin—

“Come on, Golds, otherwise we will freeze out here.” He chuckled,but my hand was now in his after he’d caught it and locked our fingers.

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