“If I decide to host one, you’ll be on the invite list.”
“Right. Well, I guess I’ll see you around then.” Etienne bumped his fist against the prince’s and I gave a little weak wave, unwilling to touch him even with my fist out of fear of what I might feel.
When we got outside and the door was shut behind us by the security guy, I punched Etienne in the shoulder.
“Ow. What the hell, Addie?”
“What the hell you! What was that in there?”
“You were fidgeting and talking too much and then zoning out in the middle of conversations. Telling the prince you wouldn’t be at his beck and call. You needed to get your shit together.”
“I won’t be at his beck and call. My job is to make and deliver him baskets and help my uncle with his bookstore. That’s it.”
“Well, you looked like an idiot back there,” he said, and then started laughing.
“You’re an idiot.” I unlocked the door and let us in. “Go pack your bag for your stupid trip.”
“I’ll be done quickly.” He shook his head as he walked down the hall and disappeared into the guest room. “You really need to get a grip before you take that next basket.”
I walked toward the guest room he was in. Even though my parents hadn’t been here in a while and never rented it out, they set it up ready for rent. The only thing they left that was ours were some family photographs on the wall by the entrance, and I was sure my uncle would take those down if they ever decided to rent this out to anyone. Everything else was new. Absolutely no memory of my childhood or adolescence was left in here aside from whatever was stored in my brain.
“Why does he need so many baskets anyway?” I asked. “And so much champagne?”
“Maybe he’s having guests over.”
“Maybe.”
“So I guess it is true what they say about your first time.”
“I knew you were going to say that.” I groaned, covering my face with my hands. “I was over there acting like an idiot and he doesn’t even remember me.”
“Oh, he definitely remembers you.”
“What? No he doesn’t.” I sat on the bed as he continued packing the suitcase. “He didn’t act like he did.”
“Trust me, he remembers.”
“I really don’t think so.” I bit my lip. “I mean, maybe it’s best that he doesn’t.”
“It won’t erase the fact that it happened.” Etienne looked up from the suitcase he was packing. “But I know him. Eli has the memory of an elephant.”
“I guess he couldn’t very well say ‘Oh, hey, you’re that girl I fucked once’ in front of you.” I crossed my arms, fighting a shiver. “God, I just want the earth to swallow me whole and spit me back out in a few months.”
“You can just leave.” Etienne zipped up his suitcase and placed it on the floor. “You can go back home. I’m sure it’s blown over by now.”
“I’m not ready to do that. I’d rather deal with this embarrassment than that one.”
“You built a company, Addie. You’re missing out on all the events you dreamed of putting together because you’re scared of a little gossip.”
“It’s not a little gossip when everyone’s seen your vagina, Etienne.”
“So? Everyone saw Thomas’s penis.”
“Yeah, and celebrated its size. My vagina, unfortunately, wasn’t even talked about. The only thing people have said is what a whore I am.” I sighed. “I know I have to go back and deal with it, but I’m not ready.”
“Well, don’t hide out too long.” He started walking out of the room, rolling the suitcase along with him. I stood and followed. “Has Thomas been in touch?”
“Yeah. He feels bad.”
“You need to move past it.” He stopped walking and put a hand on my shoulder. “I know it’s easier said than done, but I’ve known you since you were born and I’ve never seen anything get you down like this. Not even those high school photos of you smoking out of that bong.”
“Oh, God.” I laughed weakly. “That’s because I was fully clothed.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, all of my friends think you look great naked.”
“Etienne!” I pushed him away as he laughed and shrugged before walking past me, to the front door.
“This too shall pass, Addie. This too shall pass.”
I said those words to myself as I drove back from the airport after dropping him off. This too shall pass. Maybe if I said it enough, I’d believe it. It wasn’t only the tabloids and having my business out there that bothered me. It was also the fact that I couldn’t look my father in the face after the fact. It was that every single man he knew had probably watched the sex tape and also judged him for it, even though he had nothing to do with his daughter’s poor decisions. My father was a proud man.
He’d moved mountains and went from anchor in the nightly news to part of the king’s cabinet. And then my ex-boyfriend and I became the news and I ran away from the problem, but where was he supposed to hide? If I was being honest with myself, my father was the reason I decided to take a break until everything blew over. I figured creating distance between us might help him move on from it and allow people to forget all about it.
Out of everything the scandal had done, the way it affected my loved ones was what bothered me most. Etienne hid his anger under humor because he wanted me to feel better, but I knew he’d lost his cool in front of his friends more than a few times. My assistant, Joss, who had become one of my closest friends, hated what the tabloids had printed about me. I’d been called a gold digger and prostitute more times than I could count at this point and just when another headline took over and ours was buried, Thomas went out for a night on the town and brought the naked photos of us back to the surface. It was just a matter of time and either this too would pass or I’d have to trample over it and take my life back, but right now I was perfectly content working at my uncle’s bookstore and providing baskets to the guests for the time being.
Chapter 3
I’d spent my morning on the phone with a book distributor, making sure they got the boxes I sent back to them. My uncle had entirely too many boring books in the store. Books that had been here for over ten years and not sold, but he’d been hesitant to send back. He said it was because he didn’t want them to destroy them. I told him he was destroying himself by keeping them here. It was no wonder in the week I’d been here only two people had walked in. I glanced over to the front door. I needed to do something about the storefront as well. I’d called a couple that flipped houses here to see if they could help me with this and they were due here any minute. I didn’t have a ton of money to spend on my uncle’s behalf, but I had enough saved up to hopefully make a difference around here. When the door opened, I stood and set the books in my hand down, passing my hands over my sundress to make sure it fell into place. The house-flipping couple came into view and I moved forward to greet them.
“Hi. I’m Adeline. Thank you so much for coming.” I smiled, shaking each of their hands.