Chapter 4
Spring was slowly starting to come to life in Wexstone as March came to an end, but the wind was still cold, especially in the evenings. I pulled my scarf up around my neck and wrapped my cognac wool coat tightly around my body.
If Theo and I had still been together, I would have been on a plane to Seychelles right now, ready to spend spring break laying on white sand beaches and sipping Mai Tais.
Instead, I was navigating icy sidewalks and spending my week lost in fantasy romances between picking up extra work hours helping the professors who remained on campus.
I had expected it to hurt more when I had heard that Theo had already lined up another girl to take on vacation with him. But I mostly felt relief that I would never again be the one under his mother’s scrutiny or have to pretend to laugh at his friends’ jokes.
I had spent no small amount of time over the past few weeks examining what had made me spend so long in what I could now so clearly see was an unhealthy relationship.
It made me think of when we had studied pointillism in an art history class my first semester at RCW and how you could only see the image perfectly when you were several paces away.
It had taken getting out of the relationship for me to see things with clarity.
I knew now what I deserved and what I was—and was not—willing to put up with in a future partnership.
I passed the bar where I had played trivia with Oliver and his friends after the breakup, pausing on the memory of the way his bicep had flexed when he brought his beer to his full lips.
The corner of my mouth tipped upward as I remembered the warmth of his brief hug after we won and the spark that had danced up my arm at the end of the evening when he grasped my hand.
I shook my head. Nope. Stop that. He’s one of your students. We don’t go there.
But it was hard to ignore the fact that hanging out with him was the most fun I’d had in a long time.
We hadn’t spent any time with each other outside of our regularly scheduled sessions since then, though we had reworked our schedule so Oliver could go back to trivia on Tuesdays, and he had made it clear that I had an open invitation to join them anytime.
I kept finding other things to do on Tuesday evenings, despite my desire to say “fuck it” and give in to the attraction I felt toward him.
He is a prince for God’s sake. There is not a reality in which the two of you actually date. Just put all of this right out of your mind, Adelaide, I chided myself.
I opened the red Dutch door of Whispering Words and hurried inside to escape the chill.
The smell of leatherbound books and crisp, printed pages hit my nose, and I delighted in the emotional and physical warmth of the bookstore.
This little shop was a balm to my soul. Books were one of my greatest pleasures, but this shop also gave me a place to come when the rest of the world felt too loud.
“Good evening, Enid!” I waved to the owner, a woman in her late fifties, behind the counter.
“Adelaide! How are you? Looking for anything in particular tonight?”
“There are two fantasy romances I’ve had my eye on, but we’ll see where the night takes me.” I circled the table at the front of the store that held all the new releases.
“Sounds great. Let me know if you can’t find what you’re looking for.”
“I definitely will. Thank you.”
Starting my way down one aisle, I skimmed the shelves to see if anything caught my eye. Before I knew it, I was halfway down the fourth aisle and already had five books stacked in my arms.
Oops.
I meandered toward the fantasy section, knowing I’d be lucky to walk out with fewer than ten books. I tilted my head to the side so I could read the titles on the spines as I stepped backward—right into someone.
“Oh!” I exclaimed, tightening my grip on the stack of books in my arms. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” I said as I turned around, only to be met with a pair of piercing silver eyes.
“Adelaide!” Oliver smiled broadly. He was holding a picture book and a stuffed rabbit and looked incredible in a cream cable-knit sweater under his navy coat.
“Oliver. Hi!” I answered, my voice about an octave higher than it needed to be.
Did I conjure him here? I glanced around and, sure enough, spotted a black-clad security guard—one I recognized from our first tutoring session at the library and our night at the bar—several paces away.
Oliver chuckled. “Fancy seeing you here. Looks like you’re doing some damage.” He nodded toward the books I was still clutching tight to my chest.
“Oh,” I chuffed. “Yeah, well my spring break plans were cancelled so I thought I'd grab some books and hole up in my flat.”
“Really?” He ran his hand over the back of his head, resting it on his neck before looking back at me. “My plans actually got cancelled as well.”
“Oh!” I responded oh-so intelligently. The idea of a prince having cancelled plans seemed so…human.
“Yeah, my family was meant to go over to the States for Knox’s birthday—I told you about him, right?
” I nodded. “But the whole lot of them came down with the flu. Even my mum’s assistant and my parents’ driver are ill.
I love them all very much and as much as I wanted to spend the week with them, I decided I’d rather not get sick, too.
” He paused, his cheeks growing pink. “Does that make me an awful person?”
I let out a soft laugh and shook my head. “Definitely not.”
“So, since I can’t be there, I decided to look around for a book or two to send to Knox for his birthday. And then I found this book and stuffed animal in the children’s section and figured my sister would like them. She’s three and a half and very into woodland creatures right now.”
My heart swelled a little at the thought of Oliver buying presents for his family. I could only imagine how cute he’d be playing with his baby sister or reading her a bedtime story.
Adelaide, girl, you have got to stop letting your mind wander.
I cleared my throat. “So, um, have you found something for Knox?”
“He really likes Tolkien. They have a leatherbound collector’s set up front that I think I’m going to ask about.”
I knew that set. Enid had been trying to sell it for as long as I’d been coming here. She would be positively ecstatic if Oliver bought it.
“I love that.” I bit my lip before I continued, “Can I make one suggestion?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Don’t buy your sister that.” I pointed at the copy of The Velveteen Rabbit and the tan stuffed bunny in his hands. “Here, follow me.”
I walked up over to the children's section on the other side of the bookstore and reached for a package that held a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, complete with a soft sand-colored bear.
I nodded, indicating the book he was currently holding.
“The little boy comes down with scarlet fever, and his favorite stuffed rabbit almost gets incinerated. It’s…
traumatizing. And I don’t think you want to emotionally scar your sister, especially if she’s in a woodland creature phase. ” I chuckled.
“Oh my God!” Oliver exclaimed, placing the book and rabbit back on the shelf as if they were infected. “No, definitely not. Thank you so much.”
“You can’t go wrong with Pooh Bear.” I grinned as I handed him the box.
“God, I would have never heard the end of it from my mother or grandmother. Seriously, thank you for saving me.”
“It’s no problem.”
We stood there for a moment in silence. I couldn’t help the way my eyes roamed over his body, which still managed to look muscular, even in a sweater and coat. The scent of his cologne hit my nose and made my brain feel fuzzy.
Pulling myself out of the trance, I muttered, “So, uh, let me go get Enid so she can grab those Tolkien books for you.”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and tucked his free hand into his coat pocket. “Thanks.”
As we approached the counter, I mentally chastised myself. I was Oliver’s tutor; this couldn’t go anywhere. We had to stay friends. That was all this could be.
“Here, let me get those for you.” He took the books out of my hands and placed them on the wooden counter next to the register. “Hi, Enid?”
“Yes, Your Highness. How can I help you?” She smiled broadly, the same maternal welcome that I saw her give to all her customers. Enid was a special soul and had suffused her exceptional warmth into every nook and cranny of this store.
Oliver gave her one of his award-winning smiles. “Please, call me Oliver. I’d love to buy that collector’s edition of The Lord of the Rings over there.” He pointed to the green-and-gold leather set on the shelf behind the counter.
I’m pretty sure I heard Enid choke back a squeal. “Yes, absolutely.” She spun and lifted the set from the shelf, placing in on the counter in front of Oliver.
“You can ring this all up together,” he said as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket.
“Oh! No, no, no,” I protested as Enid started ringing up my books along with Oliver’s. “Enid, please don’t ring those up together. Those books are mine.”
“Adelaide.” Oliver placed his hand on top of the one I had reached out as I tried to grab my books. “Please let me do this. You really saved me from traumatizing my sister.” His voice was serious, but he winked and the corner of his mouth lifted in a grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my gosh. It was no big deal. Seriously, please let me buy my own books.”
“Adelaide, I insist.”
I tried to ignore the fact that his large, warm hand still rested on my own. “And I insist you let me buy my own books.”
“Then have dinner with me.”
“What?” I jerked back, surprised.
Oliver grinned and met my gaze. “Let me buy you dinner for helping me.”
I hesitated, quickly debating the ethics of going to dinner with one of my students versus letting him buy my stack of romance novels. You can go to dinner as friends. Friends eat food together. That’s a perfectly normal thing to do.
“Fine. We can go to dinner.”