2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Bri
Some people said home was wherever they were with the person they loved, but Bri felt the most at home whenever she was exploring the world.
She stood dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. With her arms outstretched, she took in a deep breath of the cool mountain air, and a smile settled on her lips. Finding new places made her feel alive. What was the point of having the entire world out there if not to explore it?
Bri tugged at the sleeves of her pullover before she swiveled on the heels of her hiking shoes and stepped forward, immediately slipping on a frost-covered rock. Her arms flailed as she lost her balance and started to careen backward toward the cliff’s edge. She heard her bodyguard’s footsteps nearing, and a strong grasp took hold of her forearm, pulling her to safety.
She turned to the side and smiled at her bodyguard as he towered over her with a scowl on his face. “Thanks, Bastian.”
He shook his head and rubbed his temples before shooting her a stern look, forcing the wrinkle lines on his face to deepen. “You’re going to send me to an early grave, Your Highness.”
Bri swatted his arm. “You know you love me.”
Bastian grunted in response, crossing his large arms across his chest. Only his gray-peppered black hair waved slightly in the breeze. He was as immovable as a tree trunk with his stocky build and stoic expressions. But Bri knew who he truly was on the inside…a big old softie.
She briefly checked the time on her phone. “I should probably head back.” Bastian gave a slight dip of his chin before she started walking, more careful of her steps.
He broke the silence as they walked. “Where do you want to travel next, Your Highness?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I need to look at my favorite travel blogger’s page, but I’m thinking somewhere near the water.”
“Do you think this trip is the one that will satisfy your adventurous spirit?”
She sighed. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but if Italy, America, New Zealand, Spain, and Australia didn’t do it, I’m not sure anywhere will.”
As a princess, she had been blessed with the opportunity to visit many of the places on her bucket list. Yet, no matter how many places she visited, she was always left with the feeling of wanting more . She just didn’t know what it was quite yet.
When they neared the palace, Bri pulled her phone out of her pocket. A smile tugged at her lips when she saw a message notification from her best friend, Drew.
Drew : Did you know Neptune has only completed one orbit around the Sun since its discovery?
Every morning, without fail, he texted her a random space fact. He had been obsessed with the solar system for as long as she’d known him. While she wasn’t an avid space lover like him, Bri looked forward to his daily texts.
Bri : *exploding head emoji* I don’t know how I lived my whole life without knowing this!
Drew : Sarcasm has never been your forte.
Bri : How do you know I was being sarcastic? What if my life is forever changed by learning Neptune moves slower than molasses?
Drew : *gif of Jim from The Office giving the camera ‘the look’*
Bri : Okay, you got me. This fact was at least more interesting than yesterday’s.
Drew : You didn’t like learning you could survive for about two minutes in a leaky spacesuit? I thought that was cool. I mean, you would pass out after a few seconds, but you could say you lived for two minutes IN SPACE.
Bri : Except, there wouldn’t be anyone to tell…
Bri : Because you would be dead…
Bri : *skull emoji*
Drew : Fine, fine. I concede.
Bri’s brow furrowed. Drew typically put up more of a fight in their daily discussions, and he’d texted her five minutes later than usual this morning, according to the timestamp above the text message. His texts to her were never late, not even by a minute. He was the person who put everyone else first. He was the person who knew her better than anyone. Like how he waited to text her until nine every morning when he knew she would be awake, even when he was always up at the crack of dawn.
Bri : What’re you up to today?
Drew : Just a few meetings here and there.
Drew : I have to go, sorry.
She stopped walking as she read his response. Drew usually told her what he was doing for the day in a bullet-point list. He never evaded her questions.
Bri shoved her phone back into her pocket, trying to push aside her worries. She continued her walk back home with Bastian trailing at a reasonable distance behind her to allow for privacy.
But the closer she got to the palace, the more her mind wandered to Drew. She’d thought maybe he was just busy this week and that was why he seemed more distant than usual, but Bri was concerned there was something he wasn’t telling her.
He’d still sent her his usual morning texts, but she knew him well enough to recognize something felt off. Earlier in the week, Drew had told her Clarissa’s family was visiting, and ever since, he’d been acting strangely. After today’s response, she was certain something was up. He’d been secretive about whatever paper he was holding at Rosalie’s wedding last weekend too. All her thoughts left Bri with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She forced a smile onto her face as she stepped back into the palace.
“Welcome back, Your Highness,” the palace’s head butler greeted her, his disposition cheerful. He extended a glass of iced tea to her, which she gladly accepted. “How was your walk today?”
She took a sip of the drink, savoring the sweetened black tea with a hint of peach puree. Bri let out a contented sigh. Sweet tea had been her favorite since she was a little girl sneaking it up to her treehouse with Drew.
“The spring air made the hike perfect.”
Bastian scoffed from behind her.
She shot him a sassy smile over her shoulder. “Fine, perfect minus the one time I slipped.” Bri held up a hand when the butler’s eyes went wide. “I’m good. Bastian was there to save me. You know, since it’s his job ?” She could practically feel her bodyguard roll his eyes behind her.
“If you say so, Your Highness,” the butler said warily.
Bri stood taller and nodded. “I’m going to head down to the kitchen to see if—”
“I’ve already had a bowl of watermelon sent to your room.”
She might have a slight— major —obsession with watermelon. The palace staff knew this and imported it from other countries year-round to ensure it was always fresh and ripe.
“You’re the best.” Bri headed toward her room, offering a quick shout of thanks over her shoulder.
Upon reaching her bedroom, she immediately took a big bite out of a slice of watermelon. Bri did a little dance with her shoulders as the refreshing flavor hit her tastebuds.
She took another sip of her peach tea before plopping down on the blush-pink settee in the sitting area. Pulling out her phone, Bri began scrolling through her favorite travel blogger’s feed, dreaming about where she would travel next. When she clicked on a photo of a gorgeous mountain view along with a crystal-blue lake, she immediately knew Banff would be her next destination.
Maybe Drew could go with her and row her around in one of the cute rowboats in the pictures the travel blogger had shared. But that would mean she would have to persuade her best friend to be spontaneous and leave work behind for a week.
A dry laugh escaped her lips at the thought of Drew being spontaneous.
She finished her sweet tea and watermelon before popping up off the couch. Checking the time on her phone, she realized she was late for her scheduled meeting with her father. Bri rushed to one of the palace’s conference rooms. She always looked forward to their weekly standing meeting. She felt awful whenever she was late, which happened more often than she cared to admit.
Bri stepped into the small conference room just as a figure jumped out from behind the doorway, yelling, “Boo!”
“Phillip!” she squealed, holding a hand to her racing heart. Her brother was only three years younger than her, but Phillip had never gotten over his teenage pranking phase. “You’re the worst.” She swatted at his arm, and he jumped away, laughing.
“At least you didn’t have a drink this time.” Phillip raised his pointer finger in the air, a wry grin on his lips.
Bri shoved her brother’s shoulder. “You deserve another drink to the face.”
“Drinks don’t mix well with my devilishly handsome features.”
She rolled her eyes and walked over to her usual chair, falling back into it with an exasperated sigh. When she heard retreating footsteps, she called out, “Make sure you duck, or your enlarged ego might hit the doorframe on the way out.”
“You think you’re so funny—” Her brother’s voice was cut off by a tsk sound.
Her father’s warm, deep baritone voice filled the room. “Are you still pulling pranks, Phillip?”
“It’s not my fault people don’t know how to take a joke,” Phillip mumbled from the door.
Her father released a humorless laugh, but she saw the smile he attempted to hide behind his hand. Even though he was now a king, Bri would bet all the watermelon in the world that her father had acted a lot like her younger brother back in his youth.
The door gently clicked shut, and her father came and placed a kiss on the top of her head before taking the seat across from her.
“Sorry, my last meeting ran a few minutes late. How’s my girl doing?”
“Great. I hiked a new trail this morning.”
Her father rubbed his short beard. “I heard about your little adventure from Bastian.”
She sighed. “I promise, I was perfectly safe.”
“As long as you’re being careful.”
Bri nodded. “How did your surprise date with Mom go?”
A warm smile pulled at his lips. “It was wonderful. She loved the symphony.”
The look on her father’s face reminded her that true love was still alive and well in the world. She hoped to have a love like theirs in the future—one that was sacrificial and all-consuming. But for now, Bri liked not being tethered to one person or place, which gave her the freedom to travel the world as she pleased.
“I’m glad you had such a good time.”
He leaned forward. “Do you have any updates on your initiatives?”
Bri ran her fingers through her long blonde waves as she thought through everything she wanted to share with her dad. Every week, he set aside time to meet individually with her, her brother, and her mother to talk about projects they were working on in the community. He wanted to hear how his people were doing and what the royal family could do to better the lives of all the citizens of Westridge.
She placed her hand on the table, reaching for her notebook, but quickly realized she’d forgotten it in her rush to get there. Bri ran through the list of projects she’d been working on, but with how full her week had been, it seemed impossible to convey the details. She decided to focus on one initiative in particular.
“Our new family center is thriving. They have more visitors each week, and citizens are responding well to all the activities offered. I’d like to start exploring the possibility of offering grants and scholarships to patrons. Things like grant money for Christmas gifts and scholarships to fund study abroad for high school and college-aged students.”
“That’s a brilliant idea. I’ll need you to draw up a full proposal about how to fund an initiative like that—and how we could sustain it into the future.”
Yet another thing she loved about her father: he truly listened to her ideas and supported them. “Thanks, Dad. I already have some ideas.”
“What else?”
“Um…” Bri bit the inside of her lip, trying to think of other local initiatives on her plate, but her thoughts kept wandering back to her concerns about Drew.
He leaned back in his seat, rubbing the scruff on his chin. “You seem distracted today. Is there something else you want to discuss? Work can always wait. I care more about how my daughter is doing.”
She sighed. “I’m worried about Drew. He’s seemed off all week. Has his father said anything to you?”
“I haven’t heard anything of concern from Max. How exactly has Drew seemed off ?”
“He’s been short in his text conversations with me all week. It’s not like him.”
His lips pulled to the side, looking like he was processing what she’d said. “I’m sure he’s busy with work after traveling for Rosalie’s vow renewal last weekend. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Plus, you can ask him how he’s doing tonight when his family is here.”
A smile covered Bri’s face. She’d forgotten Drew’s family was visiting for their monthly game night tonight.
“You’re right. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Good.” He stood and walked over to her, helping her rise from her seat. “I hope you don’t mind if I cut our meeting short today. Your mother will never let me forget it if I’m late tonight, and I have a lot of work to get done before then.”
“Of course not. I’ll see you then. And I’ll have the proposal for the family center to you in the next few weeks.”
Her father led her out of the room to the hallway, their shoes echoing on the wood flooring with each step. “Sounds good.”
Her smile never left her face as she walked back to her room. This was just the kind of evening she needed. Hopefully, time with Drew would help them get past whatever was feeling off this week.
“You’re going down tonight.” Bri narrowed her eyes at her younger brother as she pointed at him and then the ground.
Phillip smirked. “Lucky for me, it’s my night to pick the game.”
“It’s Drew’s turn to pick.”
Her brother walked over to the game cabinet and perused the options. “Drew said his family isn’t coming.”
She whipped her head to the side to face him. “What? Why?”
Phillip shrugged. “Didn’t say. But it was my turn to pick next month, so we switched.” He turned around with a wry grin on his face. “Which means tonight we’re playing Ticket to Ride.”
“You always win that game.”
“Exactly.” His smile widened as she chucked a pillow at him. He easily swatted it away, carrying the game box over.
As Phillip set up the board game on the table, her parents walked in, hand in hand, a glow on their faces.
Her mother came and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, gently squeezing before she sat down. “I’m so sad the Whitakers can’t make it.”
“Did they tell you why they aren’t coming?”
“Lily said they had a busy week.” Her mother shot her a sympathetic glance.
She didn’t understand what could be keeping them. Yes, it’s a two-hour drive one way, but our families always make time for our monthly game nights. Unless it’s for the same reason Drew has been distant.
Bri swallowed hard and remained silent throughout the game. She played whenever it was her turn, but she didn’t care about the moves she made. Her mind was focused on Drew. By the time Phillip won the game, her stomach was in knots. She was relieved when everyone decided to retire for the evening, rushing back to her room and grabbing her phone off the marble coffee table.
She clicked on the text conversation with Drew, her stomach plummeting even more when she realized she had no new texts from him.
Why did Drew tell Phillip he wasn’t coming, but not me?
When Bri couldn’t stand it any longer, she sent a few rapid-fire texts to him.
Bri : Is everything okay?
Bri : You’ve seemed distant this week.
Bri : And then you didn’t show up for game night.
Bri : I’m worried about you.
Bri sank back into the settee cushions, running her hands across her face. She closed her eyes, hoping a response would come faster if she wasn’t staring at her phone screen. After a few minutes, the text notification sound dinged, and she scrambled to grab her phone.
Drew : Can we talk tomorrow morning? In person? I can come to you.
Bri pressed her lips together as she fidgeted with her phone. She let out a long, slow breath, trying not to read too much into his message.
Bri : Of course. I’ll meet you at our spot.
Drew : *thumbs up emoji* See you at nine.
Bri : Can you at least give me a hint of what’s going on? You’re freaking me out.
Drew : Everything’s fine. I’d just rather share with you in person. Please don’t freak out.
She was typing out another question when words she’d never seen before popped up at the bottom of their text thread. Drew has notifications silenced.
He put on Do Not Disturb. In all the years she’d known him, he’d never ignored her messages.
Knowing there was nothing more she could do right now, Bri went through the motions of getting ready for bed. Her mind raced through all the worst-case scenarios of what could be so important that he would want to tell her in person.
His country is going to war. One of his parents is sick. Drew is dating someone, and she doesn’t want him to talk to me or see me anymore.
She hoped it was none of the above, because all the reasons she could think of would pull Drew away from her, and she couldn’t dream of life without him in it.
When she finally lay down, Bri told herself that no matter what Drew said tomorrow, she wouldn’t let it affect their relationship. Because she was determined not to lose her best friend.