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“I want a good photo of the two of us,” Octavia says. “I need coverage of it in tomorrow’s tabloids. Your mother has indicated to my team that she will get the Penmayne news group to publish it first thing, and therefore, other news outlets will follow. That’ll be ideal for my image.”
Ah. She’s smart enough to understand the power of my family name and of my father’s international media empire.
She is very savvy, I’d give her that.
“I didn’t expect press tonight,” I reply.
Octavia gives me a frown.
“Then you are naïve, Doctor Penmayne. Of course there’s going to be press tonight. Why else would we make the effort to go?”
“Please call me August, and I am not exactly a... press courting person.”
“Well, it’s quite easy to summon press for a Penmayne,” Octavia replies. “Even one who prefers to stay out of the public eye. That is the purpose of this first date: to orchestrate - very carefully - a reveal of our new relationship to the public. I’ll do a social media post the moment the photo of us hits the media round. I truly was hoping your mother would’ve taken you through all this instead of me having to tell you like a toddler. I would’ve thought you, of all people, would understand that this is what tonight entails.”
“I guess I really was being naïve,” I reply. “I simply thought we were going on a normal first date.”
“We don’t donormal,” Octavia retorts sharply. “Normalis not for people like us.”
Yes, I should actually understand that. Penmaynes don’t ever do normal. Beaumonts don’t ever do normal.
I think about Emma and her remarks about how we are from different worlds. Sometimes I do forget that.
Emma is normal...
The elevator doors open with a ping, and I guide her towards my sports car. Might as well arrive in flashy style - I’m guessing that’s what Octavia desires.
If she’s impressed, she doesn’t show it.
“And one more thing,” Octavia says as I open the passenger car door for her. “Another rule for tonight: no touching me unless it’s in front of a camera.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I reply.
I duck into the car and rev up the engine.
I turn to the socialite sitting stiffly next to me.
“Go slow,” she instructs. “I want to arrive fashionably late.”
“Okay, sure,” I reply. “Let’s arrive fashionably late and get this date reveal photo to show the world our eternal everlasting love.”
42
EMMA
“So, how did it go?”
Even though we are on our hands and knees scrubbing the disgusting tiles of the male restroom next to the Infectious Diseases Unit, Diana still somehow manages to slide next to me and whisper excitedly into my ear. She still wants to get her daily gossip no matter where, even when we are trying to clean filth.
“Is this really the right time to be asking me, Diana?” I ask her with a frown.
“Come on, it’s the perfect time to spill the beans,” she replies. “I need to take my mind off what we’re doing. Tell me,please, how did your date with the lovely Doctor August Penmayne go?”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“Yes, there is. You’ve been very quiet about it, Emma, and I want to find out why.”
“There is absolutely nothing to say, and it was not a date, Diana.”
