NOLAN His mother ended their dinner quickly after Yena’s unexpected announcement. It might have come as just as much of a shock to Nolan as it did to Luna, when Yena said what she said. Yes, she had brought up the possibility of her wanting to study abroad… but just the one time.Since then, Nolan had been bracing himself for the next time the princess might circle back to the awful idea. He did not expect that time to come up in front of his mother. Sometimes Yena was… clueless.Nolan looked around to be sure no one was in earshot, and let out a sort of half-sigh, half-growl of frustration. He met his mother’s secretary in her office and learned that he would not be seeing the queen again tonight. She was now otherwise occupied. There was no doubt that Nolan’s mother expected him to rush back to speak with her after the icy look she shot him on his way out of her dining room. And her secretary would report he had done so. But it also did not
I left Nolan panting in bed and took another, very quick shower to rinse off all the sweat once we were done with our workout. I put on a comfy nightgown and was brushing my teeth when he came in behind me, looking cheerful. He kissed the top of my head before heading back into the shower himself. Our bed was a mess. The satin sheets were half off the mattress already, so it was easy to pull them aside. Not quite so easy was the task of putting new sheets on, but I got it done. Nolan was still in the bathroom when I slid under the covers a few minutes later. I closed my eyes for just a second, then remembered my phone was still in my purse. I got back up and went to get it. Nolan’s phone was in there too. I took it over to his side of the bed and plugged it in to charge. I was just settling back into bed when Nolan’s phone started going crazy. It turned itself back on when it got enough power, I guess, and all the notifications were now going
YENALucy called me in the morning and asked if I wanted to hang out. Nolan was busy so I invited her over to spend the day with me. We had brunch in the dining room, complete with mimosas and chocolate pastries.I didn’t really mean to, but I started spilling my guts to Lucy. It started with the Gina thing. It felt really good to see her reaction when I told her about the texts, because she was appalled.“So you don’t think I’m overreacting?” I asked.“Not at all,” Lucy said. “I don’t understand why he would be talking to her. Do you think you can… confront him?”She grimaced, like she knew how unpleasant that would be. She wasn’t really recommending I do it.“I wish he would bring it up to me,” I admitted. “If I do it, I come across sounding jealous and desperate, or like I tried to spy on him. If there’s really nothing going on with her, I feel like he could just tell me whatever else it’s really about.”Maybe it was the drinks, the stress of the night before, or both. I told her e
ADAN “Let me take you somewhere special,” Adan said. He smiled and stole a glance at Lucy before returning his eyes to the road. She beamed, making her pink lipgloss shimmer in the sunlight.Lucy had her right arm extended out the passenger window. It was cold out, but dry and sunny. Pretty much as pleasant as weather got in this small college town under the shadow of the mountain. “Did you have somewhere specific in mind?” she asked. Adan shrugged playfully. “Maybe. It’s a surprise.” He shifted his weight so he could drive with his left hand and slip the other one over onto Lucy’s thigh. She looked over at him and he knew that she was smiling. He didn’t offer her the satisfaction of eye contact. Just gave a quick squeeze on her leg, making her laugh and squirm. When they got to his place, he opened Lucy’s door to let her out of the car and walked arm in arm with her to the door. They had a catered meal and a couple bottles of Lu
NOLAN He deleted Gina’s texts without reading them and called her again the next day. “Nolan.” Her greeting was a little more cautious this time. “Just stop,” Nolan replied. “Stop with the texting. I don’t want to have to block your number.” “Then just meet up with me, please,” Gina said. “I have absolutely no interest in doing that.” “Well, maybe you should do it anyway,” she argued stupidly. “I am trying to make something very clear to you,” Nolan said, keeping his voice even. “Do not contact me. You are embarrassing yourself, trying to interfere in my marriage.” Gina was quiet. For a second Nolan thought she might have hung up. But then she said, with a cold tone of voice, “So you do love her, don’t you.” Nolan wrung his face in his hands. He was starting to remember something he wished he had not let slip his mind. It was impossible to win an argument against Gina. She was like a badger. Tiny but vicious,
YENA “Sorry I couldn’t come over yesterday,” Lucy was saying. “No problem,” I told her. “Everything okay?” “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Just this thing I had to go to with my family, out of town.” “Oh, that sounds fun. Where was it?” Lucy looked away and squinted. “Hmm,” she said. “I don’t remember the name of the town. We stayed at a little place on the mountainside. It was very cold.” “Huh.” I couldn’t tell why, but it seemed like she didn’t really want to talk about it. “Anyway, you want to try some stuff on?” Lucy gleefully accepted this invitation, and the work I needed to get done with her kept us very busy for quite a while.The big windows at the short end of my studio parlor were always helpful for telling the time. I watched the shadows move across the room and decided we should call it a day when it started looking like late afternoon. We had some snacks before Lucy got a ride home, and then it looked like she had s
YENA I got so relaxed in my lavender-scented bubble bath that I could’ve fallen asleep in there.I’d picked up a design book from the school bookstore last time I was on campus, and I’d been enjoying it. But tonight it was putting me to sleep. I decided to let myself get into bed early. Nolan said he’d be working for just a couple hours, but that was probably a lie anyway.Not an intentional lie. He was just always running at least an hour later than he planned. And if he wanted to wake me up when he got to bed, he could. He probably wouldn’t, though. I passed out pretty quickly and slept for most of the night.When I woke up it was dark, and Nolan was asleep beside me. I might have laid there for hours. Just thinking. I didn’t look at my phone to check the time. I didn’t want to move at all, because Nolan would wake up if I did.So I stayed very still, lost in my thoughts. Watching the silhouette of my husband’s big chest rising
NOLAN “The party tomorrow is very important,” Luna said. Nolan nodded. “You can use some good publicity,” she continued. “And not any more of that secret altruism nonsense. We need an image of you looking like a proper prince, and we need it in the minds of the public as soon as possible.” “I understand,” Nolan said. “Do you?” Luna arched one of her dark, thick eyebrows at him. That was a question that did not invite an answer. Nolan scooted to the edge of the couch and rested his elbows on his knees, putting his hands in a lazy sort of prayer position. “I have invited some associates of your father to the party,” she continued. “People that you could stand to get on your side.” Nolan nodded again. “The time is now to establish allies. Everywhere that you can.” “I agree,” Nolan said, feeling some relief. Finally, she was acknowledging the impending conflict. “These associates…?” Nolan asked, letting Luna fill