“So?”
“So would you share your first kiss with me tonight, at midnight?”
Hal is silent and still for a moment. His eyes close, and he breathes out a long sigh.
“What’s happening?” I ask him. “Have you stalled or something?”
“No,” he says, opening his eyes. “I’m experiencing an odd undulation in my stomach. I think it’s nerves.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
As we are strolling inside, I see LadyB calling in Forrest and Sasha from their various corners of the garden. River, Artie, and Megan are answering the call too.
“Hi,” Artie says when she sees me. “This is Megan. She’s a big girl. She’s my best friend now, aren’t you, Megan?”
“Ride or die,” Megan says, offering her a fist bump.
“Ride or die!” Artie yells, returning the gesture.
“Hello, everyone,” LadyB says as we gather on the terrace. “I realise today is billed as a day off. However, the judging panel has made their decision on which of the three of you will be progressing to the final stage of the competition, and both Albert and I felt it was best to let you know as soon as possible. So if you’d join us in the drawing room, we’d be delighted.”
“You’ve caught the sun,” Forrest says, smiling at me. “You know fair skin like yours calls for SPF fifty.”
“I do, thanks.” I laugh. “I’m actually wearing factor fifty. Otherwise I’d just be a pile of ashes right now.”
“You nervous, love?” Sasha asks, joining us as we file into the drawing room. “Don’t be, you and techno Brad Pitt are a shoo-infor the final. It’s me and Forrest that are on the chopping block, I reckon.”
“That’s the terrible thing about competitions,” I say. “Someone has to lose.”
“Oh, there are no losers in the Beaumont Prize,” Sasha says. “Even if it’s us that’s been cut, I’ll still get a grant that will keep us going for two years. That’s a hell of a lot of people helped to get started on their dream.”
Everyone is gathered in the drawing room except for River, Megan, and Artie, who have gone off to find ice cream. Rani stands at the back of the room, about as far away as she can get from Alex, who can’t take his eyes off of her. LordB takes up position under a portrait of his ancestor and is holding a thick cream envelope. This is much more like the Oscars than I was expecting. I realise I’m nervous, but not for myself. I know I’m not leaving this competition yet. But I am worried about Forrest, which is surprising. Considering that we really only just became friends, I know that if he is the first to go, I will miss him and I’ll have to think up reasons to stay in touch with him, which would be weird and he probably wouldn’t want me to anyway, and then I’ll never see him or Artie again.
“Now, first off,” LordB says, “it’s very important to stress that the judging panel has never seen such high-quality work, and that it was extremely difficult for them to arrive at this decision and...” He looks at LadyB. “Have I missed anything? Well done for getting here in the first place, and trying so hard, that sort of thing.”
“That was perfect,” Lady B assures, him, gesturing at him to open the envelope. Lord B makes a bit of a performance of gettinginto the envelope and by the time he has pulled out the sheet of cream paper inside and unfolded it, I am expecting the lights to dim and the music from the latest reality talent show to feed into the room.
“Oh dear,” LordB says, reading the paper. “Shame, terrible shame.”
“And what does the letter say, darling?” LadyB prompts with just a hint of her patience being “somewhat stretched.”
“Ah, yes.” LordB looks up. “Well, regrettably we are losing Sasha from the competition at this stage, though of course, Sasha, you will be our honoured guest for the remainder of the competition along with your lovely husband. And as you know, you will still be the recipient of a generous grant.”
“Oh, it’s all right,” Sasha says as Hal, Forrest, and I go to commiserate with her. “I’m glad you lot are still in it, you’ve all got so much to offer, and we will keep doing what we’re doing too. Besides, now I just get to relax in a castle. It could be worse.”
“I’ll miss you, Sasha,” I tell her.
“So, we had a little think about the best way to celebrate the always glamorous and vivacious Sasha,” LadyB says, “and I thought rather than just a boring old dinner tonight, we will hold a masked ball in the ballroom!”
“Heh-up, that’ll be splendid,” Sasha says.
“We have a wedding here tomorrow, the band is keen to rehearse, the ballroom is dressed for the reception, and, of course, here at Castle Beaumont we just happen to have a box of Venetian-style masks lying around for everyone to choose from. It will be an intimate affair, but what a lovely excuse to dance the night away and celebrate Sasha and the Beaumont Prize with all of you, who I truly count as my friends.”
“A masked ball.” Rani appears at my side. “I need to see all the available masks at once so I can match them to my outfit. Lady B, where is the box of masks? Can I have a look, please?”
“Of course, my dear,” LadyB says. “Alex, fetch them for me, would you please, dear? Come with me, Rani.”
“Artie is going to be all over this like a rash,” Forrest tells me. “Apparently she packed at least four princess dresses in the expectation of a ball.”
