“What was so funny about me telling you to call your mama?” Lucy’s voice is stern, interrupting my thoughts. Before I answer, she takes a bite of her Blanquette de veau, a veal stew, and sighs, her voice lightening. “Oh, this is delicious.”
“I’m glad you like it.” I stuff my face with a bite from my plate, Tartiflette, a potato and cheese-based dish. Heaven in my mouth. But I better answer her question. “I laughed earlier because I found it cute that you told me to call my mamma. Is family important to you?”
After another large bite, which is refreshing seeing as women often eat the slimmest of pickings on a date, she says, “Family is the glue of society. You’ve got to love and cherish who God has given you through blood.”
“Are you close with your parents? I know you have your sister. What was her name again? Oh, yes. Lorelei.”
I pause because at that moment, Lucy coughs like she’s choking on her food. I quickly pour a glass of water for her, and she chugs it between coughs.
“So sorry.” Lucy stands and turns, her hip knocking against the table as her hand flies over her mouth. “I need to run to the facilities again.” And with that, she’s gone.
Goodness. I hope she’s okay. I use the time she’s away to check my phone again, and there are no more missed calls or texts. I also peek to scan the room again—still nothing. Gabriel and Anders are back in the building, and both shake their heads when I question them with the tilt of my head. I return to the table and wonder if the paparazzi will tire of me once I’m—
“Again, I’m sorry.” Lucy sits down, smoothing her dress. Another record-breaking restroom run for a female.
“Don’t apologize. It happens to us all. One time, I—” I trail off, realizing I was on the verge of telling her an embarrassing story from a state dinner a few years back that involved an emergency dash to the bathroom with barely enough time to get my pants down. “Well, it’s happened to me before.”
She grins softly, and I notice her lipstick is smeared in the corner of her mouth. Without thinking, I lean across the table and wipe it away with my thumb. My heart stutters and the tips of my ears burn hot. I quickly retract my hand. “Um, sorry. You had a little lipstick there.” I gesture to the corner of her lip.
A blush coats her cheeks, and she glances away shyly. “Oh, thank you. Is it still there?” She turns her face to me with wide, innocenteyes. In this particular moment, they look like sparkling gold with a touch of blue.
“No,” I whisper, not trusting myself to say anything more because of the overwhelming desire to kiss her.
“Lipstick usage dates back to over five thousand years ago with the ancient Sumerians…”
Lucy continues to indulge me with the history of lipstick, and it’s the most fascinating story I’ve ever heard—because it’s told by her. The way her eyes light up with hues of blue and brown when she talks about history is enchanting. We continue to eat and talk, and every now and then, between talks of history and philosophy and law, it’s like her eyes dull to a muddied color and she grows quiet. After a few seconds, she snaps back into an awkward flirty person, but then I mention a random topic, and she’s animated and brainy again, which I find way more attractive than her bad attempts at flirting and acting girly. Growing up enriched in history, I find it arousing that Lucy can match me fact for fact, and I can already imagine her face as she steps foot in Stjarna Palace for the first time.
Beyond that, I learn that she’s passionate about reading (particularly law reviews and the occasional murder mystery), cats, holistic living, and her family (her mother and father are busy traveling the country in a van, and by the way her voice softened when speaking about them, I can tell she misses them). I like her determination and her optimism. I like her careful and intentional approaches to conversation. Countless times I’ve almost slipped and told her something that would give away who I am. Talking with her, at least the version of her I’ve gotten to know during thesecond half of this date, is like breathing—the most natural thing in the world.
As I walk Lucy to her car three hours later, I’ve forgotten about the photo, about my mother wanting to choose my wife, and about how this was only the first date.
When I lean down in an attempt to kiss her goodnight, she turns her head, and I plant my lips on her soft cheek. Initially, a shocked expression covers her face, but then she throws the first realistic flirty smile of the night my way and says, “You’ll have to work harder to earn that from someone like me.” My head spins like the oxygen flow has been cut off. Women are always trying to kiss me first. Once again, Lucy Spence is shorting my circuit.
I smirk and repeat a phrase I once heard my roommate, Mason, tell his fiance, Karoline, while she was toying with him. “I’ll work like a dog to earn a kiss from you.” And man, I mean every word.
Though it began awkward and rocky, Lucy loosened up over the date and showed me who she truly is. And I wantmore…
Lucy slips into a 1970s powder blue Mercedes Benz that looks like it's seen better days, and I close the door for her while contemplating if I could give this car a facelift one day. I stand outside on the driver's side while she cranks the vehicle and turns on the lights. She waves at me and blows a kiss as she begins to leave, and in one small glance back at me after her car inches by, Lucy frowns.
My heart feels as if it has been ripped from my chest because that frown can only mean that everything I’ve felt tonight was completely one-sided. The night already begins to play like a record on repeat, and I’m stuck wondering where I went wrong other than the two instances I know I put my foot in my mouth. I still planto ask for another date, but will she say yes? Or has this been just another failed date to potentially flood the headlines and diminish my chances and time to find love before returning to Korsa?
Once I slip into my midnight blue car, I check my phone, a missed call from Mamma on my screen. Remembering Lucy’s words to call my mamma, and the fact that I need to set her straight about Karin once again, I take a deep breath and hit the call button. I crank my 1960s Mustang and head out, the familiar black sedan with my PPOs tailing me. I’m lucky they let me drive myself.
The drive back to the cabin is long, and I know my roommate, Mason Kane, is going to pester me like a girl about every detail of this date. Mamma droned on about how I was living up to my Prince of Hearts reputation by going on a date with a woman who was not Karin. We have people looking into where the picture came from.
The most prominent thought on my way home: Lucy Spence did not have a good time with me tonight.
And that is a shame because I’m smitten with the intellectually stimulating woman.
Lucy’s Journal
Friday, March 12th * 8:22pm * Sprawled on the living room floor holding ice to my swollen eye
Isent my twin on a date tonight. With a prince. In my place. Yeah, that’s right. I should be sitting across from literal royalty at this moment, staring into the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Seriously, those eyes have haunted my dreams since Hadley’s wedding. I can’t believe she actually nudged him to ask me out on a date. And I can’t believe he wanted to! *Cue squealing and kicking my legs in the air as I write this entry.* But reality has to drop at some point, right? And the reality of this situation is that I am not on that date because I have a huge, monstrous black eye given to me by an uncoordinated youth at the community center. If only I had already made it big as a romance author. It feels impossible to sell clean romance sometimes, and I often wonder if I should just write smut under a different pen name. But I’ve struggled with sexual addiction enough in my past. I don’t read smut anymore, though, I have to admit, in my loneliness, I’ve been tempted. God, are You happy with me? I hope so. Oh, Lorelei just texted me! She says the date went well and that I should havea chance to date the prince for myself. Hehe. Ah, all is well in the end. I should go write now, but I know I’ll be too distracted waiting for Lor to get home with all the details. She called me a few times from the bathroom freaking out, but I got her back to a level head. I hope my twin did me justice. And I hope she had an overall good experience for her first date ever. God, will You bring a good man into her life? I worry about her.
Chapter Three
Lorelei
