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“They’re not faking it now, though. They have a baby.”
“I know. And Adelaide pretended to be Alexander’s date more than once before they got together.”
“Must be a twin thing.”
“William, that’s not helping.”
“What are you so worried about?” he asked, toying with a bit of my hair. “You don’t see them very often, and the only people I’d really confide in about my love life would be Fred and Max, neither of whom are here for the wedding.”
I sighed heavily. “I’m not, I… It’s fine.”
“Put the books down.”
“What?”
“Put them down, and we’ll go for a walk. Sitting here stewing in your own anxiety isn’t going to make you feel any better. We’ve barely been able to go outside because of the storm, but it passed before the power came back so let’s get outside of these walls for a bit. We’ll take Bruce for a walk with us.”
I looked at him. “Are you serious? You think that’s what we should be doing right now?”
“With the chaos that is about to descend on this castle? Absolutely. The vendors are arriving from Duncree in about…” he checked his watch. “Fifteen minutes. So unless you want to be immediately roped into organising cupcakes onto cake stands or tying ribbons onto chairs, let’s go.”
I pressed my lips together for a minute.
That didn’t sound like fun. There were some things I would happily help with, but cupcakes were not it. I’d probably drop them.
“All right,” I said, begrudgingly closing my book. “But I’m bringing all these upstairs.”
William got to his feet and stacked the books, then picked them up. “Come on, then.”
“You don’t have to carry the books.”
“Yes, I do. Now move it. Let’s go.”
***
It was freezing outside. The snow had drifted into huge mounds either side of the paths the tractors had worked to keep clear, and some of them seemed as though they were as tall as I was.
Bruce was completely unbothered by it. He trotted along in front of us, keeping to the designated path. He paused to sniff something every few steps, snaking back and forth across the path in a haphazard zigzagging manner that amused me to no end.
I hated to admit he was right, but William was right. The cold air had moments where it hurt my face, but it was also invigorating. I hadn’t realised how tired I was—sleep had been intermittent last night with the wind howling against the windows and William lying next to me, and the gentle breeze that swirled around us was rapidly waking me up.
We didn’t talk much. We didn’t need to, really. I’d needed to get out of my own head, and this was doing it for me. I’d worked myself up over telling everyone who I really was, especially knowing his grandfather’s classist mindset where relationships were concerned, but they’d blindsided me in return.
His parents didn’t care. His sister didn’t care. Nobody cared who I really was, and it was almost as if I was in a bubble.
A weird little upper-class bubble that was so reminiscent of my childhood.
The childhood I’d tried to leave behind.
“Feel better?” William asked, bending to pick up the ball Bruce had dropped at his feet.
I nodded. “Is it possible to get cabin fever in a castle?”
He laughed, throwing the ball. “Apparently so. I didn’t know I needed to get out, either, and it’s only been a few days.”
“You weren’t quite as snippy as I was, though.”
“I don’t know. I was interrupting your reading time. I should have known better.”
