27. Cian
Chapter 27
Cian
“ I ’m glad your first day went well,” Ruby says from the other end of the island where she’s chopping vegetables for the salad.
“Thanks,” I tell her. “Now that Scarlett has met the Landry boys she can probably tell you that it’s no surprise why I get along with teenagers just fine.”
Ruby and Scarlett both laugh.
“The Landrys are all so great,” Scarlett tells her sister. “We had the best time.” She bends to take the casserole pan out of the oven. “You would like them so much.”
Ruby grins at me behind Scarlett’s back. “Yes, you’ve mentioned that.”
Yes, she has. In different ways. About five times while we’ve been making dinner.
I love it.
I’m so fucking happy that she’s happy. I knew that’s what I wanted, but until now, seeing it and hearing it happening, I’m not sure I realized how it would affect me.
Things feel like they’re on the right track. This is working. We have eleven and a half days left of our nineteen days and things are going great.
“Well, this is a shit show!”
We all turn toward the back door where Mariah just came in.
Or maybe not.
“What’s a shit show?” Scarlett asks, frowning and crossing the floor to Mariah.
“Having him as a teacher,” Mariah says, pointing at me.
Yeah… not .
I haven’t seen her since fifth period. Her history class.
After stopping by the garage, Scarlett and I had come home—yes, I’m aware that I’m thinking of Scarlett’s house as home—and taken the last of Diane’s casseroles out of the freezer and put it in the oven for dinner.
Ruby was here and we’ve been filling her in on the weekend’s activities, including telling her about Scarlett Park and the foundation.
Ruby’s very interested and impressed and I have to admit that having her approval feels almost as good as having my own siblings and grandfather congratulating me. I’ve spent so much time admiring the people in my life and the things they do that I hadn’t realized how incredible it would feel to have that admiration in return.
I’ve been flying high since Friday when Scarlett and I landed in New Orleans.
Everything about the weekend was perfect and I am one hundred percent madly in love with her.
Even my first day at school had gone amazingly well.
Or so I thought.
“What happened?” Scarlett asks Mariah. “You knew last week that was going to happen. You and Greta both thought it sounded fun.”
Mariah tosses her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs.
“It’s weird! I had to call him by a different name. And then, when Leah brought up the podcast, I did have to flat out lie .”
Mariah presses her lips together, and I think for a moment she might cry.
“I hate that,” she says. “Before when she accused me of lying, she was wrong. I was telling the whole truth. But today, I did have to lie. She was right calling me a liar. Because I couldn’t tell her that Cian was right down the hall in the history room. Then I had to walk into class and I could barely look at him. I was afraid I was going to call him the wrong name or stand up on my chair and yell that’s him! I know more than even the podcast does! ”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Scarlett says, glancing at me. “Leah brought Cian up again today just randomly? Why?”
Mariah stares at her. “Because of today’s podcast. Because of you guys!”
Cold trickles down my spine. This doesn’t sound good. I scowl and stomp to the counter where my phone is charging. “What did they say?”
I don’t know who feeds the podcast all of the information about the royal family. We’ve all wondered at different times. It seems that it must be a mix of people. But I don’t know anyone who would have known we were in Autre this weekend who would’ve told the podcast already.
I start tapping and scrolling trying to find the most recent episode.
Scarlett and Ruby are doing the same.
I suppose we didn’t specifically tell anyone that Scarlett needed to be a secret. Because why would they think that? I was clearly over-the-moon in love with her. Why would they think for a second I wanted to keep that under wraps?
Because I don’t.
Fuck.
Lindsey: If you haven’t seen the latest photos that Lady Linnea posted from their honeymoon trip, be sure to go to her social media pages.
Jen: Definitely. She and Jonah are so hot and so sweet together. And how we all missed that there was something between the two of them, I will never know.
Lindsey: Well, it seems that maybe the royal family and their close friends are better at keeping secrets than we thought.
Jen: laughs You have a point. We have some juicy news to share, listeners. You know how Prince Cian and his bodyguard Henry jumped on a plane and supposedly disappeared after the wedding?
Lindsey: And then everyone said never mind, there’s no story here, just a miscommunication. They’re back safe in the US. No worries. Move on with your lives.
Jen: Well, they did head back to the US and they are safe, but there was a reason for that sudden pre-dawn flight.
Lindsey: Can I say, I love that there’s always more to the story with this family? It certainly makes our show popular.
Jen: That. Plus, it’s just fun. And romantic. It makes my little romance-loving heart swoon.
Lindsey: I’m rolling my eyes for everyone who can’t see me. I mean, of course it has to have something to do with romance, right?
Jen: laughs Some of us love love!
Lindsey: These people are a little over the top though.
Jen: Well… yes. And Cian is no exception.
Lindsey: That’s for sure. Tell everyone what’s up.
Jen: Turns out that Cian jetted back to the US for a woman .
Lindsey: groans
Jen: laughs But wait…it gets better . He’s been looking for this woman. They met almost two years ago! And suddenly he found out where she is and just had to go see her.
Lindsey: What? What do you mean he just suddenly found out where she was? They didn’t exchange numbers or anything?
Jen: Those details are a little fuzzy. I guess she moved right after they met. Anyway! He found her and immediately had to go see her. And that’s where he’s been. He hasn’t been back in Louisiana. He’s been hanging out with his new love. They call her his Cinderella. happy sigh
Lindsey: Well, that is interesting. I guess that explains why we haven’t seen Prince Cian with any girlfriends for a while. But you’re telling me that our favorite playboy prince has been hung up on a woman for almost two years ? Hey news flash, Prince Cian…you could have any woman you want! What are you doing?
Jen: No! I mean, yes, he could. Obviously. But this is so great! Pining for her. Obsessed with her. Fell in love in a weekend and then lost track of her. Isn’t that amazing ?
Lindsey: Do they have a royal therapist on staff?
Jen: laughing Stop. I’m sure they do and I’m sure he or she would simply say this is love ! You should try it!
Lindsey: laughing Uh, I’m good. So, who is this woman? Where is she?
Jen: We don’t have all of those details. Our source is kind of a tease.
Lindsey: Well, I guess we’ll have to keep digging. We will definitely keep you updated! Just wait ’til we tell ye!
I look up and meet Scarlett’s gaze. Her eyes are wide and she has her hand covering her mouth.
Ruby jumps in. “They didn’t really say anything about you . No one knows who you are. They didn’t say where you are. This is…nothing.”
“This is all true, though,” Scarlett says. She looks at me.
“I don’t know who shared this,” I assure her. “I will see if someone can find out.”
She shakes her head. “What good will that do? It’s already out there. It’s not like you can punish them or get them to take this down. People have already seen and heard it.”
I walk over to her and take her upper arms in my hands. I stroke my hands up and down her arms and lean in until she’s looking directly in my eyes. “This isn’t a big deal. No one knows your name or where you are. Besides, even if they did, what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is, that you’re here ,” Mariah answers, clearly frustrated.
We turn to face her.
“And you’re lying to the entire town about who you are. And if they find out, that means all of us are lying to this whole town. My friends, Greta’s parents, my teachers!” Mariah throws her arms wide. “Leah confronted me today in the lunchroom. She said obviously you are not in love with my mom because you’re off with some other woman.” She stands staring at us for a moment. “ You are supposedly Dean Brady. A professor who is teaching us history. And my mom is here. Single as always. But the podcast says that Prince Cian is somewhere with the woman he’s in love with. The woman he fell in love with two years ago and has been looking for. So to Leah, and everyone else, that is obviously not my mom which makes me a liar when I say that you two dated.”
Right.
All of that makes sense now. And Mariah is correct, if this ever comes out, we have lied to the entire town.
“So, I am completely right. I haven’t lied about any of it. Until now.” Again, Mariah presses her lips together. “You all have turned me into what my nemesis has said I am all along.”
She turns and stomps out of the room, up the stairs, and a few seconds later we hear her bedroom door slam.
“Well…this is kind of a shit show,” Ruby says.
Scarlett blows out a breath. “Mariah is almost always right.”
We eat dinner, discussing the women’s community and getting the foundation started, avoiding the real subject which is: we kind of fucked up.
My spontaneous move to hide my identity and stay in town has gotten complicated and it’s involved Mariah.
Scarlett had said she didn’t want the town to know she was dating a prince. So, I’d reacted. I’d taken that factor out of the equation. I’d focused on us and why we were so good together. I’d tried to make it simpler.
I hadn’t realized that could actually muddle things. I especially hadn’t realized it would affect Mariah.
Because we figure she blames us the most, Scarlett and I stay in the kitchen to clean up while Ruby takes a plate up to Mariah.
She comes back down empty-handed which we assume means Mariah will at least eat.
“You should just leave her alone for tonight,” Ruby says. “You can’t really put this toothpaste back in the tube, you know? But,” she adds. “You two probably need to figure out what you’re going to do going forward. Mariah has a point. If the town ever figures out who you really are, they’re going to realize we all lied to them. That could really be problematic for Mariah and me with our friends. Not to mention your hope of ever getting back on the good side of anyone,” she says, looking at Scarlett. Then she heads out the door for work.
Scarlett sets down the dish she’s holding and looks up at me. “What are we going to do?”
“About Mariah? Or the town?” I ask. I don’t actually have an answer for either of those.
“Mariah is on our side. She’ll be okay. Though I’m glad lying bothers her so much,” Scarlett says. “But I guess, if this turns into something long-term?—”
I step right in front of her and look down at her, meeting her gaze. “This is something long-term.”
“Then we’re in trouble. You’ve been a royal in hiding for twelve years. But you’ve been using your real name. You’ve still been Cian O’Grady. Just no one here really knew who Cian O’Grady was. If you stay here, do we come clean? And, just live with the fact that the whole town thinks we’re liars? Or do you continue to live with a fake name? Which then compromises what we want to do with the foundation. I want your name on that. I think you do too. And that’s how you fundraise. That’s how you’ll get the word out. It’s something you should be proud of.”
“You definitely want to stay here?” I ask her. I love that she’s talking about the future, but yes, we now have a problem. “Or would you let me take you somewhere else? Somewhere that you don’t have to worry about what these people think? Where you don’t have a history? Where you can start fresh?” I lift my hand and run it through her hair. “We could go back to New Orleans. And you liked Autre.”
“I do like Autre,” she says with a smile. “But the thing is, they don’t need us. They’ve got all the people they could possibly need pitching in and helping out and keeping things running. We should be somewhere that needs us .”
“There’s probably a hundred places like that. Thousands.”
She nods. “Yeah. I guess we should think about that. Ruby would probably be okay leaving. She does have friends here, but she’s left before. But I do hate that she always has to leave because of me. Mariah is different. She has friends here and especially Greta. That would be hard. But I hate to drag her into all of this.”
“We don’t have to solve this tonight. For now, no one knows who the woman is that Cian O’Grady is chasing. None of this has exposed either of us. Let’s just…think about it.”
I wish I could tell her we have time to figure this all out. I wish we did have time. That would make all of this so much easier.
But even though Scarlett hasn’t brought up the fact that we only have eleven days left, I’m aware of it.
And even if we extended that deadline, my grandfather still has one for me.
And I’m not sure I can solve all of Scarlett Gale’s problems in two and a half months.