"That's a great idea." Catherine took another bite of her lunch.
"What's the rest of your day look like?"
"I had a meeting about the Quad Games earlier so I’ll do some follow-up paperwork and have a meeting about the coronation in about an hour." She pushed food around again. "Then more paperwork. Never ending paperwork."
"Paperwork is the bane of almost everyone's existence." He shifted to look more directly at her. "Tell me about these Games. I've never been or even followed them very closely."
"They're similar to the Olympics in a lot of ways, but much smaller, obviously and only the countries along the Sargasso Sea really fully participate. Technically, anyone can and there's usually a few individuals from around the world. Terralago Nuevo often sends a contingent, though not as many as they would if it was closer and not literally halfway around the world. They're all held in odd years and can be part of the Olympic qualifying process, though not all of the events are. The winter Quad Nation Games are held here or Western Novigradia. Summer events are held in Southern Santiero or Northern Santiero. We rotate every four years, so two sets of games in each country."
Jake took another bite of his lunch and tried to think about it. "Actually, I feel like maybe I did go to an event or two when I was quite young, before we moved from Eastern Novigradia. It could have been a local event, though. Skiing maybe? Ski jump? Something with skis anyway."
Jake looked at the clock behind her. It was almost time for her to get back to work. "Well, I really enjoyedthe movie we watched." It was the truth, though he hadn't expected to. He was still glad they’d spent the previous day bingeing an old SitCom. "We can watch the second one tonight?"
Catherine looked up and smiled at him. "That sounds nice."
He stood and cleaned up his dishes, placing them back on the silver cart. Since she pushed hers away, he did the same for Catherine.
Leaning down, he brushed a kiss against her cheek for the second time that day. "I'll see you tonight."
Jake started for the main door but stopped and turned when Catherine called his name.
She tipped her head again, this time toward the door he'd used earlier in the day. "You can use that door, especially if my aide on duty has already told you I'm available. They'll tell you if you need to go in the main way for some reason."
Changing his direction, he gave her his best smile. "Thank you. I'll do that."
As he opened the door, she called after him again.
"And Jacob?"
He turned, waiting for her to go on.
"You don't need to bow in the mornings. I'm your wife."
Jacob tipped his head to acknowledge the directive. "Thank you."
Then he left.
7
Paperwork was the bane of Catherine’s existence, but it was part of the job.
The most recent bit had to do with the coronation coming up in just a few weeks. She’d also had another meeting added to her schedule for the next day. This one was with the PR director and her team. They likely wanted to discuss how to spin her marriage to Jacob and why it hadn’t turned into a public spectacle as would have been expected. At least she’d managed to put it off another day.
She wasn’t certain if Jacob would be joining them for the meeting or not. It would make sense, but she really had no idea what his schedule looked like, except for lunch together. That would easily become her favorite part of the day. It wouldn’t happen every day if she had meetings or other things going on, but she liked the idea of it happening most days.
Then came their dinner routine. If she didn’t have a dinner event, they decided to make something simple together in the cottage and eat at the table in the kitchen most nights - much like her parents had whenever possible. Then they’d watch a movie or binge a show or something together.
Finally, she set aside the document she was working on. She wasn’t going to finish it before dinner time anyway, so the rest could wait until morning.
She sent a quick message to her aide that she was headed out for the day. A response acknowledging it came almost immediately.
Catherine put her coat and gloves on. If the walk was just a bit closer, she wouldn’t bother, but she needed to. Why didn’t they have a tunnel or something going to the cottage? Wouldn’t that have come in handy for the Dowager Queen who’d lived there initially?
Maybe she should ask security to look into it. Could one have existed but that information been lost to the vagaries of time?
It wasn’t something she could do at the moment, so she pulled her coat more tightly around her then hurried through the gardens.
“There you are.” Jacob smiled at her as she walked through the door. “I wondered when you’d take off. I would have started dinner if I’d known what time you’d be here.”
