“We’re friends,” Alex and I said in unison. I chuckled weakly.
“Of course you are.” Cathy sat back in the booth with innocent eyes.
I felt queasy and I wasn’t sure if it was from all the food or the reminder of what life would be like if I did give in to Alex. We ended up leaving through the back door. There were too many people out front for us to be able to reach the cars. Luca had boxed up some of his chocolate mousse for us to take and apologized that our dessert had been interrupted.
“That wasn’t your fault!” I shook my head.
“I should have realized he was paparazzi.” Luca said the word like it was an insult.
“Thank you for watching out for us.” Alex followed his words with a few in Lilarian, which seemed to make Luca happy. We left, getting in the cars and zipping out into the streets.
We drove around for a little while, Alex and Cathy giving instructions to the driver so that I could see a bit more of the city. We never stopped and got out, but I didn’t complain. It was cold and I was tired. Not to mention, I didn’t want to deal with the press again. When we got back to the palace, I took my little box of chocolate mousse and dragged my sorry tail inside.
“Do you remember how to get to your room?” Cathy asked, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “Alex can you show you. His room is down that way too.”
“I’m heading to bed anyway. I have to be up early tomorrow for a meeting.” Alex kissed Cathy’s cheek.
“Thanks for showing me around,” I said to Cathy.
“No problem. When things calm down we’ll do some more.” Cathy reached out and hugged me. “It’s nice to have another girl here.”
“Looks like there are lots of girls.” I frowned, thinking of her mother, aunt, and the women I’d seen working earlier that day.
“It’s not the same thing.” Cathy looked at me with shimmery eyes. I handed her my mousse and she instantly brightened up. “You don’t want it?”
“Nah. Your puppy-dog eyes just broke my heart a little. Take it.”
“Thanks!” Cathy took off in a flash and I stood there with my mouth open.
“C’mon.” Alex chuckled beside me. He placed his hand on my back and I almost sighed with relief. Just a few days ago I had thought it was silly when he did it, now I had come to look forward to it. “You better build up a tolerance to Cathy’s anime eyes or you’ll never get another dessert.”
“Ha! They did look like a pathetic anime waif. She’s got it down pat.”
“You have no idea. She has four dogs and two cats. Dad couldn’t tell her no. They’re all incredibly old now and the staff is always having to clean up behind them.” Alex chuckled.
“She must’ve been very young when you lost him.” I watched him out of the corner of my eye. We hadn’t talked about it, but I knew that the king had died from an aneurysm almost ten years ago.
“She was, but Mother has made sure she never felt neglected.”
We turned onto the hallway my room was on and I stopped at my door. I pulled the key out of my pocket and played with it for a minute. “Thanks for taking me out to see a bit of the city.”
“You’re welcome. It was nice to get to relax.” Alex smiled at me. “I don’t get to spend as much time with Cathy as I used to.”
“She’s great.” I bit my lip. I was making small talk because I didn’t want to say good night yet. And I sucked at it.
“We can do it again sometime.” He was watching me closely.
“That would be fun.” I sighed. “I really suck at this.”
“At what, exactly?” He smiled his devil smile.
“This whole small-talk thing. I’m not good at it.” I motioned between us. “But I want to be. I don’t want stuff to be weird between us.”
“I think you’re doing just fine. I don’t seem to recall you having a hard time in Minnesota.”
“I’m out of my element here. And I tend to blab whatever I’m thinking when I’m nervous.”
“I’ve noticed.” Alex lowered his voice. “It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite things about you.”
“Why is that?”
“Because when you blab whatever you’re thinking, I find out you’re thinking about me.”
“You get all that from me being worried about small talk?” I shot him a skeptical look.
“You don’t worry about it with anyone but me.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “Good night, Samantha.”
“Good night, Alex.”
In my room one of the new nightgowns was laid out with a robe. I looked at it for a minute before picking it up. I stuck it in the top drawer next to my big T-shirts and grabbed a tank top and pair of shorts instead. On my desk was a stack of papers, including a schedule for the next day. I had to okay shots that the royal photographer had taken, sign a form detailing how much it would cost to fly my father over, and there was paperwork from my college to terminate my classes.
I glanced at the pictures and initialed the paper, agreed to whatever it cost to get my father over safely, and stared at the paperwork from school. It was all so bland and boring; nothing in the wording pointed out how I was giving up a lifelong ambition or how much I already missed my birds. I squeezed the pen in my hand and flipped through the pages again. There were no personal notes, nothing telling me they cared that I’d left the program. Just a blank line waiting for my signature.