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“Shut uuuuuuuup!” Poppy squealed. “Yasmine’s ex-boyfriend is a bodyguard for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?”
I glanced around the restaurant. “Shhh. Keep your voice down. She told me this in semiconfidence. I don’t think she cares if I share it with you guys, but she doesn’t want the world knowing.” Or maybe she didn’t care. It just seemed like something we should keep quiet. Poppy didn’t do anything softly.
Poppy, Summer, and I sat in a booth at the Egg Shop, a brunch spot in Capitol Hill. I’d called them immediately after Yasmine had left. We’d met as soon as Poppy had been done with her meeting with Leo.
I hadn’t shared any details until right this minute.
“That is so crazy.” Summer shook her head. “What are the chances?”
“Yasmine was in a rush to get to work, so I got very few details out of her after that. But she has to deliver a note to Matt in person. Apparently, their mutual friends won’t divulge his number, even though one of them has it on good authority that he’s still in love with her. I don’t know if they don’t have it, or if they can’t give it out because he’s got this high-profile bodyguard job. But I know secrecy is involved.”
“This is like a whodunit mystery,” Poppy gushed. “Or who’s going to do it.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I love a spicy puzzle.”
I reached for my cup of tea. “Yasmine realized, after Marco proposed, that settling for less than being absolutely in love is not acceptable for either of them. But it’s not going to be easy to tell their parents that the marriage is off. They made it official, and now everyone expects them to move forward and get married.”
“Except he’s in love with you, and she’s in love with Matt.” Summer pointed her fork at me before using it to spear a chunk of omelet on her plate.
“‘Love’ is a strong word,” I said. “Yasmine could definitely still be in love with Matt. And even though I’ve been infatuated with Marco for all these years, I have no idea what it’ll be like to be together as a couple.” But the possibilities were running through my mind nonstop.
We’re going to have a chance to be together!
Huzzah!
“From what you’ve explained about your past multiyear infatuation with Marco”—Summer appeared thoughtful as she picked up her latte—“there might be some love involved.”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
When we first arrived at the restaurant, I’d quickly paraphrased for Summer everything I’d told Poppy last night about Marco. She’d taken it in stride and hadn’t been as surprised as I’d thought she’d be.
She’d seen Marco and me with our heads together at the Driftwood, and she’d remembered me crushing on him almost eight years ago when the four of us had been living together in the dorms. She’d voiced her concerns to me then about getting too close to my old crush, which I’d denied would ever happen.
She’d been completely right.
“Never mind all that,” Poppy said eagerly, waving her hand. “When are we leaving?”
“We?’” I set my teacup down.
“Damn right,” Poppy stated. “I’ll even donate the use of my car, since you said Yasmine’s planning to rent something, and that would save her a chunk of change, but that means my body will be sitting inside of it.” She tapped her index finger on the table. “If you think for even a sliver of a stinky little second that I’m missing out on seeing even a corner of Harry and Meghan’s Montecito mansion, or getting a glimpse of their cute chicken coop, or seeing the little jungle gym where Archie and Lili play, then you haven’t met me. I’m the biggest Anglophile in the entire world.” She threw both her hands in the air with her standard dramatic flair. “I live for this crap. Just breathing the same air as them will be a gift.” She waved her arms around, emulating air wafting in front of her face, turning her nose back and forth, sniffing.
I laughed. Summer laughed. How could we not?
“I wish I could go,” Summer lamented. “But Xander has something special lined up for Saturday. We’re driving up to Vancouver for the day. He has all this cute stuff planned he wants to do. The man is beyond adorable.”
Poppy arched a brow in Summer’s direction. “Your plate is literally running over with Mr. Raw Sexy. You can come next time.” She glanced at me hopefully. “If there’s a next time. There should be. And a time after that. Then maybe another one down the road. There’ll never be enough times to see royalty. We could go literally every weekend and that would be fine with me.”
I chuckled. “I don’t have the authority to invite you to come along. This is not my plan. I was asked to accompany Yasmine. She did not ask me to ask all of my friends to join us.”
“This is not all your friends,” Poppy replied in a patient tone. “It’s me, and possibly Annabel—because my sister lives for drama—you, Yasmine, and that’s it. Four seats, four passengers. It’s a perfect fit. We couldn’t add anyone else anyway, which works out because Jenny has her residency, and Summer is busy with the Duke of Sexikins.” Our friend Jenny was married to Daniel, and they had the cutest daughter, Clara. Jenny was on her way to becoming an orthopedic surgeon and had very little free time, but she would absolutely be sad to miss out on this. She wasn’t as big an Anglophile as Poppy, but I knew she kept up with British royalty.
Summer chortled. “The Duke of Sexikins. That’s hilarious. He’s going to hate it, but I’m going to start using it. By the way”—she leaned forward, giving us a dramatic pause—“we’re in discussions about whether or not he should move in.”
I gasped.
Poppy clapped.
“That’s amazing news,” I said. “You and Xander are such a great match. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you moved in together.” I was genuinely excited for my friend. She had dated a lot of duds before she’d found her match. When they were together, no one else existed. Their chemistry was off the charts.
