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She immediately screamed the minute the cold water hit her. The water had not actually heated up yet as we had old pipes. It was a little dastardly on my part, but I needed her to get going this was a very important day.
“You terrible, horrible, monster,” she growled.
“Can’t have you missing our engagement party my beautiful, foolish, little night owl.” There was no way we’d have a quickie in the shower that morning much to my disappointment.
I set her down and she lazily started to wash her hair as I lathered myself up. When we were done with the shower, we came out to find Georg in our bedroom waiting in a chair for us. He was pretty insolent at times, but this was almost grounds for termination.
“What are you doing in our bedroom?” I shouted, standing there with Avery, both of us only wearing towels.
“Well, since neither of you showed up at our agreed upon time, I came in here to see if the two of you were dead because that would be the only reason you’d be late.” His glare was almost comical.
“Only James has the authority to enter my private chambers,” I scolded.
“I’m sorry, but we are hours behind. And holy mother of god, what have you done to your face, Avery?” he gasped. “Did you two get into a fistfight?” He glared at me.
“No, she stayed up most of the night working on some designs.” My voice was rife with disappointment.
“I can speak for myself,” she interjected with annoyance. “You know, when inspiration hits,” she added yawning.
“You take a mental note and wait until after your engagement party where all of the royals in Europe will be in attendance.” I interrupted being snide.
She shrugged her shoulders, “Or stay up and get your shit done.” She rolled her eyes and dropped her towel, standing perfectly naked before both of us. “Let’s get this party started.” She was Avery again, the brash crazy woman I’d met at the bar.
My body spiked with fear and I silently prayed. ‘Please be a perfect princess today, please be a lovely, heavenly, well-behaved princess… just today.’
“Okay, okay. I get it. Groom, out! Bride to Be, put those panties on and sit in that chair. Girl, I’m gonna have to prove to you why I get the big bucks because this morning is gonna be work! Of course, you left me no time. Get on out of here Your Highness, I gotta fix this mess.” He hauled over a huge makeup case and I ducked out of the room, ready for coffee and some space from Avery.
“Work your magic and convince her how important it is to be nice Avery today… fashion designer Barbie can wait until after the engagement party.”
I didn’t want to be angry at her, but I was starting to see the chasm between us growing. I knew it would get wider before we could ever build a bridge and that worried me.
Chapter 23
Avery
I don’t know how he did it but somehow Georg was able to pull me together. I was so inspired by the idea of creating a cool vibrant maternity line I didn’t care about the time. With the possibility of my being pregnant, I was on fire. I wanted to create a look that screamed sexy. Just because somebody knocked you up didn’t mean you had to get all matronly. Baby bumps were hella cute and I wanted to add some sass to what an expectant mom might wear, since I may soon be one of them.
I didn’t even care about the time and truthfully I was trying to take my mind off of the engagement party. I’d decided I was going through with it come hell or high water as I had signed the contracts. I talked it over with the girls and we agreed I’d do it. I was confident and ready, until the moment I thought I might be pregnant, then all my enthusiasm disappeared, because after the engagement announcement there would be no turning back.
“I’ve been working with your face long enough to know,” Georg said after chiding me for letting my face go to shit for about an hour, probably less, but it felt like an hour, “that the set of luggage under your eyes isn’t just from staying up all night. You’ve been crying.” Georg called me out. “And you’ve been crying hard. I hope you know I’m here for you. I’ve been there, girl. My husband actually works for the monarchy. He’s the head of their security. He’s huge and manly… oh and so fine, but we aren’t allowed to show any affection. In fact, we have to pretend we don’t even know each other. It’s been like this for years. When we get home, it’s all about us, but usually, we’re at work. I see him often, yet I dare not even look at him. So, while my problems are different, I know how the monarchy can mess with your mind.”
