Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
ANDI
I finish packing my bags and set them in the foyer at my parents’ house in Copper Butte Ranch. With the brick-and-mortar store open year around, they spent more time in Rotheberg than Freiberg this year, so they bought a nicer place at the ranch, now that all of us kids have moved out. My younger siblings, Bert and Bee, still show up for Christmas, of course, but they’re away at college most of the time.
My most important stuff—comfy clothes, toiletries, phone charger—was already in my small suitcase at Teo’s, of course, but we’ve been summoned by the crown. I’m surprised to have been included, and normally I’d decline on principle. But since I have to leave the US for my visa and I have no disposable income, traveling with the family meets my needs.
But travel as a royal means getting some of my more acceptable clothing from Mutti and Vatti’s place. Most of my formal wear is in storage at Rosenh?uschen on the palace grounds, but when I left Freiberg, Mutti had the staff ship some of my dressier clothing to the Copper Butte home just in case. Mutti insists I meet her minimum standards, which means nice slacks on the plane and a tea dress to change into as soon as we arrive.
She comes up behind me, lifting one of my green locks. “I wish we had time to get this dyed back to your natural color. At least you colored the top. Maybe we can hide this underneath part.”
“Why do you care, Mutti? Aunt Karolina considers me a disgrace, and changing my hair color is not going to fix that. Besides, she’s seen the green.”
“No but making her angry isn’t going to help defuse a potentially uncomfortable situation.” She plays with my hair a bit more.
“If she cared about us being uncomfortable, she shouldn’t have tried to betroth my brother against his will last year. I’m shocked he’s agreed to attend whatever this event is. And now that I think about it, I’m shocked you didn’t make a stink about the betrothal thing.” I pull away from her restless fingers.
“Teo knows how to keep the peace. And you ‘made a stink,’ so I didn’t have to.” Mutti checks the identification tags on my suitcases as she always does when we travel together. When I was a teen, I used to complain that she didn’t trust me, but now I just let her do her mother thing. “Teo is attending because he’s still friends with his cousin.”
“On Instagram,” I mutter. Mutti doesn’t understand that following someone online doesn’t mean you’re BFFs in real life. And our cousin Eduard, the Hereditary Grand Duke, is as arrogant, self-absorbed, and thoughtless as they come. However, Mutti is right about Teo being a peacemaker. Except with me and Reece.
My phone vibrates, and I pull it out of my back pocket. It’s just an Instagram notification, but there’s also a missed text from Fiona. I read it, and my stomach drops. “No!”
“What’s wrong, Sonnenschein ?” Mutti pats my shoulder.
My fingers fly as I reply to the text then hit send. “I have to go. Slim is in the hospital.”
Mutti’s hand grips my arm. “Who is Slim?”
“Reece’s dad.”
“Reece? Teo’s friend?” Mutti’s brows knit. “I didn’t realize you were so close to the family.”
“I—” I stop trying to pull away. I barely know Slim, and while we spent the afternoon together, Fiona and I are hardly besties. But I feel compelled to be there for them. And more intensely, to be there for Reece. “I need to go.”
“Your own family needs you.” Mutti squeezes my arm a little then lets go. “But we don’t leave until tomorrow morning. Which hospital?” She pulls out her own phone and taps the screen.
“St. Charles. In Bend.” I pat down my pockets, then remember my car keys are in the room where my clothes were stored. “I need my keys.”
“Teo can take you. He’ll want to go, too.” She types in a message using only her index finger.
“I’m not sure—” Last time they spoke, Teo and Reece seemed okay, but at the restaurant last night they didn’t even acknowledge each other.
“I am. Get your coat. He says he’ll meet you at the apartment.” Mutti shuffles me down the hallway to the little office they’ve turned into a storage room for all the extra accouterments of royal life that are never used in Rotheberg. Plain armoires—functional, not attractive—line three of the walls, with stacks of plastic bins holding shoes and accessories under the window. My keys lie on the windowsill above the clear, plastic boxes.
I snag them and shrug into the jeans jacket I abandoned on a chair. Then I turn to hug my mother. “Thank you for understanding.”
She kisses my cheek. “I remember what it’s like to be young and in love.”
“Mutti! I’m not—” I break off. Why am I trying to deny it? I am one hundred percent most definitely in love. Why would I help him remodel his house when I should be looking for a job? Or spend the day shopping with his mother?
Okay, that was just for fun. But why else would I feel compelled to run to his side when his father is injured?
I would do the same for any good friend, my inner skeptic argues, and she’s not wrong. But what I feel for him is much more than friendship, and even the possibility that he might not feel the same way isn’t going to keep me from going to him in his time of need. I squeeze my mother in a tight hug, then run for the door.
The drive to town takes fifteen minutes… fifteen excruciating minutes. Although it’s full dark, there’s virtually no traffic at seven on a weekday evening, so I push the Rusty Pumpkin as fast as she’ll go. In the summer, this highway can be jammed with tourists, but in late September, it’s quiet. I park in front of Teo’s apartment building. The neighborhood will just have to live with the Pumpkin parked at the curb for a while. I lock the car and let myself into the building.
Before the door to the lobby shuts behind me, Teo’s apartment door opens. “I saw you on the doorbell camera. I’ve got your bag.” He lifts my little suitcase and heads for the back door.
“Why are you bringing my carry-on?”
“Mine’s already in the car.” He beeps open his SUV and throws the small blue case in the back, then goes around to the driver’s door.
I climb in. “But why?”
“I wasn’t sure how long we’d be down there. We might have to meet unsere Erziehungsberechtigten at the airport.” He backs out of the parking spot and heads for the street.
“You’ve thought this through way better than I have.”
“I had time while you were getting here.” He flips his blinker even though there’s no traffic in town and turns onto the main highway.
“Did you talk to Reece?” I can’t imagine how he must be feeling. I would be devastated if anything happened to Vatti or Mutti. In fact, last fall my parents used a minor medical procedure as a reason to avoid a formal event at the palace—my last official duty, as it turned out. When I heard, I panicked until Teo told me it was just an excuse. Then I called home and read them the riot act.
But Reece is here—and his father is really hurt. My throat tightens and my lungs fight to expand.
“I texted and told him we’re coming. He said it might be a heart attack—the doctors haven’t said anything yet.” He fishes his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. “You can read it.”
I take the device. “I don’t know your code.”
“It’s a—here.” He presses his index finger against the reader. The screen lights.
I read the texts, but they say exactly what Teo told me. They found Slim in the guest room. He was coherent but couldn’t explain how he ended up on the floor or why his chest and arm hurt.
Then at the top of the screen, I see my name. Unable to resist I scroll up.
There’s a single text from Teo on the night I moved into Reece’s house.
If you hurt her, I will make sure you regret it.
And Reece’s response:
I will never hurt Andi.
I squeeze the phone to my chest, my heart thumping wildly against my hands. It’s just a text, I tell myself. A note to get my big brother off his back. But it feels momentous. He didn’t tell Teo he had nothing to worry about. He didn’t tell him we were only friends, or that our arrangement was purely business. He said he’d never hurt me. Maybe I’m reading into it, but those five words give me hope.