Chapter Fifteen #2
“Hey.” Dex leaned over and gripped her shoulder hard.
“You’re gonna do great.” She gave a nervous little shake of her head, and he bent down to give her an emphatic kiss on top of her head.
His grip became a massage, his strong fingers kneading the spot where her neck met her shoulder.
“You’re gonna do great,” he said again, a little more firmly.
She looked up at him then, a watery smile chasing away a little of her gloom. “I can do this.”
“Of course you can do this.” Mitch didn’t seem to have a single doubt as he got to his feet, but there was worry in his eyes as they met mine. “We should probably get there early,” he said to me. “You know, I’m moving slow and all that. You okay to drive?”
Well, that woke me up faster than the coffee I was working on. “I’m driving your truck?”
Mitch snorted. “I’m sure as hell not folding myself into that little hatchback of yours.”
I finished my coffee and headed for my room to get ready.
I knew what he was doing. Moving slowly or not, there was no need for Mitch to get to the site early.
He had nothing to get ready for; he was literally just going to be there for show.
No, he was looking out for his cousin. Queens weren’t supposed to be nervous, but Lulu Malone was the most anxious Queen I’d ever seen.
Despite his hurry, I lingered in my bedroom for a few extra minutes.
Since Thursday night, I’d seen this room in a whole new light.
The walls were still purple, and my childhood desk was still a little too small to sit at comfortably.
But now the ghost of Alex lingered—the way he’d sighed in my ear as he’d rocked inside of me.
The way his hair brushed against my skin as he kissed down my body.
Childhood memories in this bedroom mingled now with very adult ones, and I was never going to see this room in the same way again.
Anxiety swirled in my stomach along with my coffee.
I’d told Alex that I wasn’t expecting commitment from him, and I meant it.
My heart still yearned for him, the way it had when I was a kid, but that yearning wasn’t the same.
What I’d felt back then had been a childhood crush in comparison.
What was happening now felt deeper, sweeter.
And I would be giving it up in another couple of weeks.
Enough. Mitch was waiting, and I had a Queen to manage. I grabbed my stuff and headed out; I could unpack my feelings later.
We got to the site early, so early that Nina was still doing her warm-ups and wasn’t ready to style anyone’s hair yet.
“Sorry!” Nina threw me an apologetic wince as she pulled her leg up behind her, stretching into a deep bend. I couldn’t tell if the wince was part of the apology or from the stretch, but I knew I sure didn’t bend that way.
I waved her off. “Take your time.” I guided Lulu over to the table outside the changing tent. “Makeup first,” I said, directing Lulu to one of the folding chairs.
She blew out a nervous breath. “Makeup first,” she repeated, pushing up the elastic-cuffed sleeves of her underdress. I’d hung the rest of the costume on a rail inside the changing tent, where it was waiting until we needed it. Makeup first, then clothes. Then hair.
I didn’t usually follow the same routine as the Queen when getting ready, but I’d promised to stick by Lulu’s side all weekend and I was going to keep that promise.
My makeup was minimal; over a good base of sunscreen I smoothed on the thinnest layer of tinted moisturizer, doing my best to blur out the bags under my eyes.
I followed that with a quick flick of mascara that I would inevitably sweat off during the day, then added a little rosiness to my cheeks, finally the pink lip gloss that Stacey had gifted me.
Lulu’s makeup was a lot more dramatic. We’d gone through her makeup bag last night, selecting a bold eyeshadow palette and deep red lipstick.
While she finished her makeup I ducked into the changing tent to pull on my pink gown, adjusting everything as best I could by myself.
I was going to need help, though. I put my hands on my hips, looking around the tent uselessly like someone was hiding in the shadows.
But then help arrived right on cue. “Hey.” Nina ducked in to join me, her voice hushed. “Are you sure about this?” She nodded toward the outside of the tent. “I think our Queen’s about to have a panic attack.”
“She’ll be fine,” I stage-whispered back, with a confidence I didn’t feel as I turned my back to Nina. “Lace me up?”
“I’m just saying…” Nina tugged at the laces of my gown while I adjusted the front, tugging the underdress to lie in an even ruffle around my décolletage. “I don’t think it’s gonna be all that great if Queen Elizabeth throws up on the patrons.”
“She’s not gonna barf. It’s gonna be fine.” If I said it enough times, maybe it would come true. I pulled on the sleeves, then hiked up the pink gown to pull down my underdress, and with a few more tugs I was ready to go.
“Okay, but…” But Nina looked uncertain as I reached for the Queen’s costume. She shook her head solemnly. “We can’t keep switching out Queens every week.”
“I know.” I stared hard at the heavy brocade dress I’d folded over my arm, my mind ringing with what the leather vendor had said.
We were switching out CEOs every week, and it made us look unstable.
Like a fly-by-night operation, not a renaissance faire celebrating its twentieth year.
This had to work. “It’s just two more weekends,” I said.
“Then they have a whole year to figure out who the real Queen is going to be.” Hopefully that would be enough time for them to come up with a permanent solution.
Nina shrugged. “Not my problem,” she said. “I’m just here to make them look pretty. At least this new one has gorgeous hair.”
“That she does,” I agreed as we ducked back out of the tent.
“She’ll be a fantastic Queen.” I said that last part a little louder so that Lulu would hear me, but my voice trailed off when I caught sight of her.
She’d finished her makeup and had undone her braid.
Sitting there, ramrod straight, her strawberry-blond hair streaming in long waves down her back, she looked every inch a Queen. Wow. Maybe she really could do this.
It didn’t take long for Nina and me to get her dressed, and once it was all on, Lulu settled even more, sitting docilely while Nina got to work on her hair. I sat back down to put my own hair up in its twist.
“Oh…” Lulu leaned over to her left to snag something from the far side of the table. “This was left here for you,” she said, handing it to me.
Another pink rose. Alex was back on his bullshit. Not that I was complaining. In fact, I was pretty sure I was smiling like an idiot.
“Oh, good.” Emily appeared behind me, looking at the rose.
“Simon said that Alex was going nuts yesterday, trying to find that. The florist downtown was out of pink roses and he was making calls all morning.” She turned her gaze to me, her eyes bright and amused.
“Looks like he figured it out before your date yesterday.”
“It wasn’t a…” The protest was automatic, and I abandoned it almost immediately. She’d been there, at the bookstore yesterday.
The rose meant nothing. It wasn’t a promise, I reminded myself as I fixed the rose in my hair.
All these swimmy feelings in my stomach were completely uncalled-for.
But I couldn’t help it. There was a part of me that loved a plan, and that part of me wanted to plan something with him.
Now that Alex and I had started…whatever this was, I wanted more with him.
If I was honest with myself, I wanted it all.
Even if there was no chance of getting it.
Enough. I banished those thoughts and focused on the rose. That rose was here and now, and for today I could let myself live in this moment. I glanced over at Emily and then at Lulu, taking in their smug, pleased expressions. I grinned back and bent to check my lip gloss.
“You about ready?” I turned to my Queen. “It’s showtime.”
—
For as barfy as Lulu had seemed all morning, once we left the Hollow and stepped onto the lane, she fully transformed into the Queen.
A shift seemed to come over her, the way a shift came over everyone who wore the costume and the crown.
As we progressed to opening gate I spied a performer nudging a vendor, bowing as we walked past but glancing at one another with doubtful expressions.
I narrowed my eyes. Nina was right. We needed consistency when it came to the Queen, and we needed it fast. I hoped that Lulu was the answer. She had to be; we were running out of people to stuff into this costume.
I glanced over at Toby, in his guard uniform on the other side of Lulu. He met my eyes, and I could tell the same thought was running through his head. But we kept it between us. Lulu had enough to deal with, without letting her know the pressure she was under.
Once we got to the gate, and the rope that was strung across it, separating the patrons from all of us on the other side, Toby and I fell back a step, letting Lulu do her opening address. Now Toby leaned into me.
“She gonna be okay?” His voice was a murmur, and I was the only one who could hear him.
“Of course she is,” I all but hissed back. I clasped my hands together in front of me, but I squeezed hard and held my breath. Come on, I mentally urged Lulu. You’ve got this.
And she did. A bright smile came to her face as she raised her arms to address the patrons. “Good people!”
She absolutely nailed the opening gate speech, her nervous breakdown in the living room completely forgotten.
As she spoke, I let out my breath slowly, like a dying balloon.
Not a sigh of relief, but the slow release of tension.
She’d let this speech trip her up all week, but in a matter of seconds it was done, behind us in the blink of an eye.