Chapter 14 #3
“I grew up in the United States, Oscar,” Lauren said, trying to settle her nervous system. “They pretty much give you a gun
when you’re born. No assassination jokes, please.”
Oscar held up his hands in surrender. “Noted. All right, gotta get back to work. See you on the train, yeah?”
“Right behind you,” Lauren said. A few steps away Harriet was nodding at a young child who was talking to her like they were
old friends, all of them fielding gifts and flowers and notes meant for the royals.
“Your Highness,” one older woman piped up to the Prince of Strathearn. “How are your twins doing? Ready for uni yet?”
It was like someone had blown a whistle meant to summon reporters: Every single one of them within a ten-foot radius suddenly
closed in, Oscar included.
“Well, I imagine they’re taking their time to decide what’s next.” The prince chuckled, now passing a child’s drawing to Lauren,
who took care not to crease it. “Whatever they do, we’re always extremely proud.”
“I waited outside the hospital when they were born,” the woman said. “It was such a special day.”
The reporters were furiously tapping into their phones, and Lauren suspected that within fifteen minutes, she’d start receiving
news notifications on her phone about Prince Thomas’s and Princess Helena’s next moves.
It never failed to startle her, how fast the speed of news could be. And it blew her mind that no matter how many guards and
fences and walls protected the people she had worked for, they couldn’t stop the flow of information seeping into every corner
of the globe, wild as a weed, moving too fast for anyone to cut it back or rein it in.
At the end of the walk, Jasper came upon a woman who was holding a framed photo of the Queen, one of her portraits from when
she was a newly minted monarch thirty years ago, and she was visibly shaking, her eyes filled with tears. “This used to hang
in my mother’s house,” the woman said when the duke approached. “She passed in August, today would have meant the absolute
world to her.”
The duke nodded reverently before clasping the woman’s hand between both of his.
“I’m sure she was a wonderful woman,” he said, and Lauren had a sudden image of her own mother’s house, the framed baby and childhood photos of Lauren that lined the upstairs hallway, and almost four thousand miles away from home, away from her own mom, Lauren felt the homesickness burning her throat and eyes.
Lauren managed to escort him back to his waiting car. “Almost wish I could take the train with you lot instead,” he said.
“No snacks in the car.”
“Well, I would trade with you in a second,” Lauren said. “Trust me.”
He was turned away from the press and royal watchers so they couldn’t see his expression, but Lauren could, and she didn’t
miss the look of wanting that crossed his face. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, and Lauren
felt a tightness in her throat that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“Well,” he said. “Thank you again for a job well done, as always.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” she replied. “Safe travels back to London.”
The banal words they were saying to each other didn’t do a thing to cut the tension between them, and Lauren saw Jasper’s
knuckles turn white as he gripped the open car door. There was no room for mistakes or whispers or regrets or emotions, not
with the press pack steps away, and Lauren stood back as he climbed into the car and felt herself sag a little once the door
was firmly shut behind him.
By the time the crowds had dispersed, the metal barricades had been dismantled, and the pub the duke had visited earlier that
day found itself packed to the walls with revelers all wanting to take pictures with the two pints the royals had pulled,
Lauren and her team practically crawled onto the train, all too ready for a four-hour break from the hectic day. “I would
like a very strong drink,” Harriet announced. “But a tea will suffice.”
James made his way onto the train just minutes before it was scheduled to leave, breathing a little heavy from the exertion. “I take it all went well,” he said to Lauren, who gave him a thumbs-up in response.
“How was your mom?” she asked.
James hesitated. “Annoying,” he finally said, and laughed. “But I love her to bits.”
Lauren spent the first hour of her ride catching up on texts and emails as James and Harriet sat across from her, working
on a short press release summarizing the successful visit. Three rows down, Violet was slumped against a window as she sent
them links to all the trending social media posts, including a clip of Jasper jokingly waving to the sheep on the hill. “Hello,
old friends!” he boomed, which made the crowd chuckle.
As soon as the press release was updated and approved, Lauren sent it to the Buckingham Palace media list and then stood up
to stretch. Although she had been on her feet most of the day, she was restless, wanting to just move and let her brain slowly
unspool. If she had been back in the States, she would have driven home with the windows down, probably singing along with
some party playlist from her college days. She suspected such a thing would not be appreciated by the rest of the train’s
passengers, though, and instead got up to make her way into the aisle.
“Just going for a walk,” she told James when he glanced up at her, and he nodded. Even he looked a bit tired and rumpled,
not as neat and pressed as he normally did.
She recognized several of the reporters as she passed, all of whom nodded or gave a tired wave. “Does anyone have a Wi-Fi
hotspot?” one of them was muttering. “The train’s keeps going dead and I need to get this story filed now.”
“Violet does,” Lauren said, gesturing over her shoulder. “She might share if you ask nicely.”
The reporter looked dubious but stood up to go find her. “Better than nothing,” he said as he left.
Lauren kept moving, walking through two more cars, and as she went to open the door to step into a third, it suddenly opened
for her.
Or rather, Oscar had opened it.
“Oh, hi,” he said, freezing in place.
“Are those potato chips?” Lauren gasped, and he quickly slammed the door behind him, trapping them both in the small area.
“Shhh!” Oscar said. “Keep it down! This lot will go absolutely feral if they find out I have these.”
“I’m about to go feral!” Lauren said. “All I’ve had to eat today were Harriet’s mints.”
Oscar held them up just out of her reach. “Well, these are British-flavored, you know. You probably won’t like them.”
“I’m assuming by ‘British flavored,’ you mean they have no seasoning,” Lauren teased, trying to reach for the bag as he held
it farther away from her.
“I mean, these are cheese and onion,” Oscar said.
“That doesn’t exactly scare me off. Plus, if you don’t share, I’m going to tell the whole press pack that you’re hiding out
here with these.” She held up her phone. “One group WhatsApp text, and it’s all over for you.”
Oscar hesitated, then held out the bag with a grumble. “So good,” Lauren said as she took a handful. “Thanks. You saved a
life today. First coffee and now chips.”
“Crisps.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You fight dirty.”
“I do what I can to survive.” Lauren helped herself to another handful. “Hey, seriously, thanks again for the coffee. That
was sweet of you.”
Oscar shrugged then took more chips from the bag. “Not a problem. Anything for you.”
Lauren waited for the sarcastic follow-up, but he didn’t say anything, and after a minute, she leaned against him, grateful
for the warmth of him in the small space between the train cars as the two of them stood munching for a minute in silence.
“It really is quite wild, isn’t it?” Lauren finally said, standing up straight. “How excited people get. Like the woman with
the framed photo, it just meant so much to her.”
“Royal visits tend to bring out the sentimental nature in people.”
“Do they still do that for you?” she asked. “A veteran reporter like yourself?”
“Depends on the people I’m with,” he said, looking down at her before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. “You taste like
cheese and onion.”
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Lauren said, wanting to kiss him back for longer but not willing to do so
on a train filled with reporters. “By any chance, is your roommate out of town again this weekend?”
“Sadly, he is not,” Oscar said. “I imagine he’ll spend most of it at home watching Formula 1, screaming at the television.”
“Hmm,” Lauren said. “Then I guess you’re going to have to come to mine.”
“Guess so,” he said. “Should I bring more crisps?”
“Always,” she replied. His phone started buzzing. “Why does technology always kill the mood?” she said.
Oscar fished out his phone and squinted at the screen. “Oh shit,” he said. “I have to call my editor, I’m getting SOS messages from him.” He looked around before kissing Lauren again quickly. “I’ll text you tonight?”
“Of course,” she said. “Go report!”
After finishing the chips he left behind, she stepped into the restroom to wash the grease and salt from her hands. As she
made her way back to her seat, she did a quick social media scroll. “Great job today, Violet,” she said as she passed her
row, but Violet had balled up her jacket against the window and was snoozing peacefully.
It was possibly the first time Lauren had seen her without a phone in hand.
Back at her seat, Harriet was also asleep, but James was still awake, typing something on his iPad. Lauren sat across from
him, pulling out a Yuval Noah Harari book that she had been reading for the past five months, going so long in between reading
sessions that she had had to go back a couple of chapters each time she resumed.
“You know, Lauren,” James said, and Lauren braced herself. “I’m not one to give out compliments—”
Lauren looked up from her book.
“—but I have to tell you, I admire the work you’re doing at the Palace.”
Her book fell to the table.
“You took a risk just by coming here, after all, and you’ve risen to the occasion time and time again. I’m almost a little
bit envious, I have to admit. You don’t hesitate to go after what you want, to push for things even when they’re not the norm
and when most, including myself, would stick to the rules.”
Lauren wondered if he had had a drink at lunch. Or, given that his mother had been annoying, two. “Wow, James. I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Well, no need to speak up if you have nothing to say,” he replied. “God knows you Americans always have to ruin the silence.”
Lauren grinned. “We all have our gifts,” she said, then picked up her book and enjoyed the silence for the rest of the way
home.