“Disciple.”
Clint responded with a look of contrition. Valentina, with one of confusion.
Margaret’s attention sliced to Zander. His amusement caused her to narrow her eyes.
He couldn’t help it. Britt wanted to date him. He’d be smiling for days.
“When will you be returning to your trip?” she asked.
So long as he and Britt were dating, he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m not sure.”
“I hope you plan to avoid Amsterdam,” Margaret said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Margaret sniffed. “Britt tells me that your book has done very well.”
“Far better than I expected.”
“Have you ever considered writing about the stoning of Stephen?” Margaret asked.
“Moaning?” Valentina asked.
“Stoning,” Margaret repeated in a louder tone. “I’ve always thought that would make an excellent topic for a novel.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I have this book idea,” Clint said. “About this actor who goesto Hollywood and actuallymeetshis muse. You know? The two of them could do all these really cool things together, like paddleboarding and ceramics. Or they could create some of those really big bubbles, you know? Those bubbles that are as tall as a man?”
“Sure. Interesting thought, Clint.”
“I think romance would be for you to write,” Valentina proposed. “You could tell story about Russian woman coming to America as mail-order bride.”
“Fascinating idea.”
“Yes.” Valentina patted his forearm. “Romance be good thing for you to write about, sir. Very good.”
Zander hadn’t planned on staying all the way until the end of Nora and John’s wedding reception, but now a crane wouldn’t be able to drag him away.
He put in an admirable amount of time chatting with Margaret, Valentina, and Clint, even though their conversation reminded him of a trip through a fun house at a fair.
He mingled with reception guests.
Eventually, he and Britt stood across from each other holding lit sparklers as Nora and John ran through the row of guests and climbed into a waiting limo.
Zander had a great deal of affection for Nora. He liked John. He was happy for them. Everyone had had a wonderful time at their ceremony and reception. Neither had been boring or drawn-out.
Even so, he couldn’t have been more glad to see them leave.
Britt squared away her cousins in record time. Record time! Thus, she beat Zander to Sweet Art.
She waited for him in the kitchen, almost unbearably impatient for him to arrive. She’d changed into yoga pants and a long-sleeved work-out top, and passed the time by sitting cross-legged on her desk chair and posting pictures from Nora and John’s wedding to social media. While she waited, Zander’s words“I have always loved you”replayed again and again in her memory.
He’d loved her this whole time. The ramifications of that: enormous.
For one thing, it must have been hard, incredibly hard, on him to have been such a good friend to her all these years while wanting to be more than her friend.
For another thing, she’d taken on a big responsibility tonight when she’d kissed him.
