Chapter 14
The gift shop has been busier than ever this morning. Tour bus after tour bus is coming through and people are here to spend.
I’ve already run to the back twice to restock our selection of socks. I don’t get it, but today’s crowd is really into socks.
At least the flurry is keeping me out of my head. I barely slept last night, replaying the kiss with Finn, followed by his
face when he received that text. He left so abruptly, and I don’t even know why. Eventually, I abandoned the idea of sleeping
and used the hours to write the first chapter of my book. Why waste my time overthinking an amazing kiss when I can overthink
every single word I write of a new manuscript?
At work, it’s particularly difficult keeping Finn off my mind.
I’m literally surrounded by his image. Finn in uniform!
Finn on horseback! Finn standing stoically between his parents and older siblings, his hand on his younger sister’s shoulder!
I swear to god the army of Finn bobbleheads is taunting me every time I walk by.
When we finally close up, my body is buzzing and I’m desperate to get outside.
“Hey, Caro, want to go for a walk or something? I’ve got a bit of cabin fever.”
“Aye, that happens to me when the shop is too crowded all day,” she says, setting the alarm for the shop’s security.
I take a deep breath of fresh air while she locks up. Afraid I’m being too needy, I ask, “Are you busy? Plans with Duffie?”
“Nah, I’d love to cut about.” She gives me a mischievous grin. “We could go nick a golf cart from the course.”
“There’s a golf course here?” It’s nuts to think about how much of the grounds I’ve covered on horseback, and yet I still
haven’t seen half of it.
“Aye.” Caro pockets the keys and slips her arm through mine. “The course is open to the public until five, which means by
now all the posh golfers have buggered off and we can go for a tear in the carts.”
That sounds exactly like what I need right now. “I’m in.”
Excited, we jog through gardens and past the greenhouse until we reach the perfectly maintained golf course.
It looks as though each blade of grass has been measured and cut precisely.
The greens around us are so vibrant, they almost hurt my eyes.
Caro pulls us around to the garage, where staff are hosing down the carts and refilling the tiny golf pencils and scorekeeping pads, the towels, and complimentary water bottles.
“This is Hannah, everyone,” Caro says. I say hello back to the chorus of people greeting me. “Can you believe this poor thing
has been working with me for days and days and she didn’t know about the course?”
“You’ve got to give her a tour,” a beefy guy with a bright ginger beard agrees. He leads us over to a spare cart and tells us to have
fun. “Just have the cart back in an hour or so, yeah?”
I let Caro drive, since she knows where she’s going. We start off along a path, Caro weaving recklessly until I’m laughing
and almost falling out of the open side. She takes us to the ninth hole because she says it’s her favorite, and I can see
why. The view from the tee is spectacular. Ahead of us a forest parts, giving us views of the sun behind rolling pastoral
hills.
She cracks open a water bottle and passes it to me before opening one for herself. We sip quietly and take in the beauty of
this place.
“So what happened to you last night?” Caro asks.
“What do you mean?” I ask, despite knowing precisely what she means.
I’m stalling. I want to tell someone about what happened with Finn, and I’d love that to be Caro.
But I’m also worried about castle gossip and making things difficult for him.
He’s in enough trouble with his family already.
It occurs to me that someone could’ve seen us last night.
I haven’t checked the castle employees’ group chat to see if anyone’s said anything.
“I mean, you dafty lass,” Caro says, furrowing her eyebrows. “You disappeared without saying goodbye.”
I hate that I’ve hurt Caro’s feelings when she’s been nothing but lovely to me. I hate that I can’t confide in her about what
really happened last night between me and Finn.
“I’m sorry. But I’m dying to find out what happened between you two after karaoke. Kissing you in front of everyone? That
was quite the grand gesture.”
Pink-cheeked and bright-eyed, Caro turns back into the bubbly person I’ve grown to adore as she rests her arm on the back
of the seat and pulls a leg up under her. “Can you believe he just laid it on thick in front of everyone? I mean, this is
a bloke who’s been dancing around our situationship for ages.”
I admit, I’ve been skeptical of Duffie and his fuckboy antics, but last night just might change my mind.
“Tell me what happened afterwards. Spare no detail.”
She tells me about how he drove her home and apologized for being too scared to do anything real with her—worried it would
ruin their sketch troupe with Leah. But he realized that only doing things halfway was worse, especially since he was in love
with her.
“He told you he loves you?” I say with a squeal. She nods, grinning hugely. “I’m so happy for you.”
And I am. But I’m also fighting the elation and confusion from my own evening. It must be written all over my face because Caro nudges me with her knee and says, “What about you? Are you going to tell me why you ghosted last night?”
Kissing and telling almost always comes with a bit of danger. That danger is magnified when the kiss involves the symbolic
leader of your friend’s country. I look up at Caro’s open, curious face. I may have lingering issues, thanks to what happened
with Dean and Gigi back home, but Caro is genuine. My instincts tell me I can trust her, so I take the risk.
“Finn came outside to find me last night,” I begin, watching her eyes widen. “He . . . kissed me.”
She claps a hand over her mouth, then removes it and yells, “I knew it!! How was the kiss?”
I close my eyes, remembering the way he cupped my jaw and held my body close to his. “Life-alteringly good.”
“Oh my days, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.” Caro stands up and points directly at my face. “There are sparks between you,
like, ohmygod sparks, and I absolutely knew you two had it bad.”
“You can’t tell anyone,” I warn her. She nods. I pull her back down to sit beside me, relieved to have someone to talk to about this. Holding it
in has been psychological torture. “Okay, but then he got a text, got all weird, and took off.”
Caro looks as confused as I feel. Slowly, something dawns on her. “Ohhhh . . . I wager I know what it was about. It’s in the email we got from Beverly this morning.”
“What email?” I turned off my notifications in case anything came in from Gigi or Dean and I haven’t checked my inbox today.
“The one about the castle being closed to the public tomorrow.” Caro pulls out her phone to show me and sees the time. “Ach,
we’ve got to head back.”
“What’s going on?” I say, pulling out my own phone to scan the email. Caro says the words at the same time I’m reading them.
“The royal family. They’re coming here.”
My stomach flips in a way that has nothing to do with the U-turn Caro has just performed at top speed.
Finn’s family will be at the castle. Those ones who expect him to get “unsuitable” girls like me out of his system before
he finds his next Beatrice. Some posh girl with three last names, who knows how to waltz and gracefully dismount a horse.
This isn’t good.
This really isn’t good.
“Thanks for the spin,” Caro says when we get back, parking the cart in front of the beefy ginger.
I think I say “thank you” as well, but my mind is another place. Is Finn going to sneak out to see me? Will he have to be
on his best behavior, given everything that went down before his family left for France?
Or will he go the other route and introduce me to his family?
I can’t decide what’d be worse: being treated like some shameful secret or being forced to interact with the literal king
and queen of England.
“Keep up,” Caro says as we walk back to the castle. “I don’t want to miss it.”
“Miss what?”
“Their entrance. I’m not sure if James and Amelia are coming too, or if it’s just Penelope. She’s got the best style. And
she and Finn seem really close. It’s adorable.”
Caro and I pause as two vintage Rolls-Royces come up the drive. They both have convertible tops, giving full view of the passengers.
The first one has King Augustus and Queen Charlotte in it, Princess Penelope between them. I note that Finn’s younger sister
has his same copper hair and high cheekbones.
I knew, logically, that Finn’s parents were the king and queen. I’ve come across countless images of them since I started
working in the gift shop. But seeing them in the flesh feels surreal.
The second car rolls up behind the first, and my heart lurches as I spot Finn. At first, I assume the poised woman beside
him must be Amelia, but when I get a closer look, the nervous excitement in my stomach turns to nausea.
There, looking regal and perfect, is Beatrice.
Caro smacks my leg with her hand, reminding me to curtsy as they drive by. I can’t help but raise my lowered head as Finn’s car slowly passes. He sees me and looks away, as though he has no idea who I am or what it’s like to make me laugh, to kiss me.
What are we to each other now that his family’s back? It’s the question I asked myself moments ago, and now I have my answer.
Nothing.
Whatever was growing between us is now over.