Be amazing in the following areas: baking,cooking, sex (ie. be a total sex cat).
A loud knock at my door interrupts my list-making. The knocking grows more insistent, and I hear Tessa’s voice. “Hey, it’s me. Whatcha doing girl?”
I quickly stick the list in a coffee-table book about coffees from around the world and hurry to the door, only to find her standing in front of me with a Scrabble box.
“If you’ve come to distract me from watching the news or reading anything on the internet, it’s too late. I already saw it.” I walk back toward the living room, holding up my gin in my right hand. “Unless you’ve come by to drink and commiserate, there’s really no point.”
“Damn. I had to wait until Arthur got back from that dinner he was at before I could sneak over. I was worried I’d be too late.”
“You are. Gin?”
“Sorry, love,” Tessa says, following me into the living room. “I met my caloric maximum for the day. Well, truth be told, I’m already over by three-hundred cals. Somebody brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts to a meeting for the Female Sheep Ranchers Society this afternoon, and I went a little nuts.” She flops down onto the couch and pats the spot next to hers.
“Wait, are they ranchers who only raise female sheep or females who are sheep ranchers?”
“The second one,” she says, settling herself on my couch. “Confusing name, right?”
“Very.” I sit down and let myself slouch for once. “This sucks. I mean, I knew it would be hard, and so did Will. But I didn’t realize it would bethishard. The level of humiliation is something I’ve never experienced before.”
“Take it from the Queen of Humiliation, it’ll pass, I promise. The important thing is not to let them get in your head, no matter what they say or how many beautiful supermodels he’s travelling with.”
“Oh, don’t worry about her,” I say, having a sip of my drink. “She’s there with the owner of the company. Apparently, she’s his girlfriend.”
“Excellent,” Tessa says, looking slightly relieved before catching herself. “Not that I was worried Will wouldn’t be faithful or something. He seems like a great guy. It’s just that these sorts of situations can get in a girl’s head and do some nasty things.”
“I’m fine with the beautiful women,” I say. “It’s the nasty ones that bother me.”
“You mean that Hateful Hannah Stalker Face?” Tessa asks.
Nodding, I say, “I know I shouldn’t let the likes of her get to me. It’s just…”
“It’s just that she’s getting to you.”
“Yes.” I chew on my bottom lip for a second. “I know she’s merely a symptom of the trouble with being a royal, but it still stings to have strangers questioning your relationship.”
“So long as you and Will aren’t questioning it, it really won’t matter,” Tessa says. “But trust me, I completely know where you’re at. If it were me, I’d be upset too.”
I lean my head back against the couch, glad to have someone who understands.
“Yes, if it were me, I might even be doing something as silly as writing up a list of how to keep a man like Will interested which would be totally counterproductive.”
My gaze follows hers and I realize the top of my stupid list is poking out of the coffee-table book. When I look up at her, Tessa’s got one eyebrow raised.
I make a groaning sound. “Can you blame me?”
“No, I can’t. But, I also don’t want you to go down that rabbit hole,” she says, leaning forward and sliding the list out of the book. She holds it up. “This type of thing will cause nothing but trouble.”
“Oh, don’t—” I start, but realize it’s too late because she’s already reading it.
Tessa snorts. “Be a total sex cat. How many drinks have you had, anyway?”
“This is my second.”
“Maybe stop there.”
“Good idea.”
She rips up the paper, then tucks the pieces in her pocket. “You are enough, exactly the way you are. And Will loves you. It was very clear when I met him that he was desperate to make a good first impression, which is not something a man does when he’s casual about the woman he’s seeing.”
