No one could blame her.That was what I told myself as I got dressed for yet another date with Kareem. It was what I was still telling myself as we drove to Kew Gardens.
Kew Gardens felt so familiar since I’d watched Charlotte basically break and mend her own heart at this very place. Being here felt like another dream come true, and I was in awe of how dedicated Kareem was to making this trip aboutusmore than about him and his company.
I was never a girl who liked to take the shine or who needed it more than the person next to me, but Kareem was showing me that, although it wasn’t something I needed, he wanted to give it to me anyway. That meant a lot to me and made approaching the inevitable conversation even harder.
When we pulled up to Kew Gardens, it was just as beautiful as it looked in the show. The small palace was set on acres of land and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Inside, it was filled with restaurants made for sitting down and talking. I could have gone the rest of my life without talking if it meant discussing something I thought I’d buried.
Kareem hadn’t told me exactly where we were eating. We had just stepped into the palace and were taking in the scenery. It was beautiful.
He decided on The Botanical. It offered afternoon tea with a view of the pond. The view was truly magical, so much so that I had almost forgotten about my fear of coming on this date.
Eating at Kew Gardens was like taking a page from a plant girl’s Pinterest board, and I was definitely a plant girl. Not only was my apartment decorated with beautiful plants from themoment you walked in, but the theme also carried throughout the rest of the house.
It was the middle of winter, so I wasn’t expecting to see as many people outside eating, but they were here. Everyone was dressed in long coats and boots. Some even had scarves wrapped around their necks. I was looking forward to the tea, hoping it would help me warm up. Kareem was also wearing a long trench coat, and he looked good.
It didn’t take long for them to seat us, and watching him pull out a chair for me made him look even better. Kareem was all man, and it was something about the European style he was rocking today that put the icing on top of an already sweet cake.
“London is the final stop before we head back to the States. You got anything you want to check off your bucket list while we’re here? Want to grab some beans and toast or something?”
“I’ll pass on that one. It could be fun to hit all the major tourist spots in London. It kind of feels like New York to me, so I would love to be fully immersed in all this city has to offer before we are actually off to New York. You know? So that I can compare the two.”
“That makes sense.”
I was happy that Kareem didn’t pick up the conversation where we had left off in his office. All the anxiety I had about coming here was for nothing because it actually didn’t come up at all. We took our time enjoying ourselves at Kew Gardens.
Kareem bought me the most beautiful flowers for one of the carts. I held on to them for dear life as we finished our tour. I held onto Kareem’s arms even tighter. It wasn’t even something I intended to do. Walking in such a beautiful place, arm in arm with him, just felt right.
It made me feel bad about us not being in this place together sooner. What Kareem and I had was always special. I didn’t needa 96-hour tour to remind me of that, but it sure was giving me a front-row seat on the trip down memory lane.
Chapter
Sixteen
Kareem
The few extra hours I was able to carve out in London was the only time that I had to spend time with Karina. Our Paris itinerary was so full that I didn’t get to give her the dream trip she wanted. I was trying my best to make up for that while we were in London.
“How many times did you actually watch that show?”
“I don’t know. Maybe twenty or so.”
“Watching the same show twenty times has to be some kind of mental illness.”
We both laughed. Karina had been giving me a full history lesson on Kew Gardens since the Kew estate was featured in one of her favorite shows. I hadn’t watchedQueen Charlottemyself, but from the way Karina talked about it, I felt like I knew it.
“Oh, that’s nothing compared to how many times I read the book.”
“There’s a book too?”
I looked at her with one eyebrow raised. This wasn’t a rhetorical question. I was waiting for her to tell me it wasn’t so,and that she hadn’t watched a show twenty times or read a book about the same exact story even more times.
“Yep, and it’s even better than the TV series. Seeing George and Charlotte on the TV screen is special, but reading about them between pages is a whole other level. If you don’t read anything else I recommend, you have to read that book.”
I watched Karina as her entire face lit up. She really was the most beautiful girl in the world, especially when she got all excited and nerded out over something she loved. That shit turned me on.
“Then you’re going to want me to watch the show.”
“I mean, it’s only right that you do both.”
