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“This isn’t working out. I don’t want to be a princess, and even if I did, I’m obviously not the princess my father wants. I’m screwing up left and right, and the more time that goes on, the more I can see that this is all going to end in a huge, huge disaster. I might as well get out of here before I mess it up even further.”
“You’re not going to mess it up. You’re the princess, you were born for this. There’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll turn this all around.”
“What if I don’t want to turn it all around?”
“You won’t even try?” I asked her.
“Luc, you can’t possibly need me to tell you that my father finding out about what we’ve been doing is the worst thing that could happen.”
I said nothing, knowing the truth in her words.
“I don’t regret it at all, and I’m going to miss you like crazy.” She smiled, the first bit of happiness I’d seen on her face since the start of our conversation. “Now that I think about it, you’re the best part of this whole debacle. I hope that means something to you.”
“It does. You have no idea.” I watched her for a moment, her eyes downcast once more. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? You really want to go back to the States?”
She nodded. “I don’t see what else I can do. I came here, gave this all an honest shot. But with every single day that passes, it becomes more and more obvious that this isn’t where I’m supposed to be.” She smiled softly. “I talked to Hailey this morning, and just hearing all the sounds and commotion of the truck in the background was enough to make me homesick.That’swhere I’m supposed to be, not here. Seattle is home, not Edoria.”
I sat back, giving the matter some thought. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let her leave without trying, at least once, to talk her out of it. However, I could sense that wasn’t the time to do it.
Instead, something else occurred to me.
“If you’re going to leave, can I at least tell you a little more about your mother?”
“My mom?”
“Yes. I figure that while you’re still here you should take the opportunity to learn more about her. Not to mention that, well, you don’t know the truth about everything. And you have a right to know.”
“Please. Whatever you know, I want to hear it.”
“Of course, but some of this might be a little tough to swallow.”
She said nothing, her expression one of yearning. I cleared my throat and began.
“Your mother and I… we knew each other before she and your father met.”
Ava’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious? How?”
“We both ran in the same circles, both went to the same university, both majored in literature. Your mother was brilliant if you didn’t know. And had a taste for books like, well, like me.”
Ava said nothing, a warm smile on her face.
“We did a lot of growing up together, dreamed of our futures together. Your mother wanted nothing more than to open a little bookshop in Old Town—a place on the corner where one could read and sip coffee and watch the world go by. And eventually… one of us fell in love with the other.”
An expression of confusion took hold.
“What?”
“I loved your mother. Deeply.”
Ava gasped. “Really?”
“Really. I loved her deeply, quietly, for years. I know that I should’ve told her, but I was so young back then, worried that I might say the wrong thing and lose her forever. So, I kept it to myself. The thing about being that young is that you think you have all the time in the world, you know? Thought one day the stars would line up and there’d be a perfect night when I’d be able to share with Analise how I felt.”
She regarded me with wide eyes, her mouth opened a bit. As I paused to catch my breath, I realized that I’d never uttered so much as a single word of that to anyone ever in my life.
“You loved my mom.” Her shocked expression turned into a warm smile.
“This must be so strange for you to hear.”
