Ari shook her head. “Just don’t,” she said quietly, wringing her hands together. “Just... just don’t, okay? I’m not ready for jokes about it yet, and I don’t know if I ever will be, to be honest.”
“If it means anything to you, Tom’s notreallya prince,” Luis chipped in, patting Ari’s shoulder consolingly. “Men who treat women the way he treated you don’t deserve an accolade likeprince.”
“Accolade?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “My, my, aren’t we using fancy words today?”
“It’s the company I keep.” Luis nudged Sebastian with his elbow. “Rubs off on me occasionally.”
“We should really go down for dinner.” Ari rested her head on Luis’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “Reine’s in bed. The poor kid was wiped... jet lag, late evenings, meeting her father, and then what happened with Sasha today—” Abruptly she stopped, opening her eyes to find Luis staring down at her.
“What about Sasha today?” Sebastian asked, his voice sharp.
“I let Tom have some time with Reine,” she admitted, trying to ignore the look of pain that crossed Luis’s eyes. “When we were headed back to the house, Sasha came upon us. Reine asked...” Ari paused. “Reine asked Tom if he was going to marry me now, that sweet little girl, and Sasha, well...” Aritrailed off. “Sasha told Reine he couldn’t, because he was going to marry her.”
“That utter c—” Sebastian began, but Ari cut him off, holding her hand over his mouth.
“Watch your language.” She nodded towards Luis. “Remember you’re rubbing off on your husband here.”
“He’d be the first to agree with me.”
“Yeah, at home we’d call her azorra, even though you all know I don’t like to swear,” Luis admitted. “What happened then?”
“Tom made his apologies and dragged Sasha up to the house. Half an hour later she came flying out the door, hopped into her car and hasn’t been back since.”
Sebastian and Luis’s mouths both dropped open.
“Has he... broken up with Sasha?” Luis asked, his eyes wide.
“Maybe. Or perhaps she just needs some space. This weekend has been intense, and it hasn’t really gone the way Sasha planned, has it?” Ari paused, reflecting sadly. “It hasn’t gone the way any of us had planned.”
“I don’t think that would matter to a woman like Sasha,” Sebastian said thoughtfully. “I’ve seen too many like her. The eyes-on-the-prize kind of bride. Trust me, they don’t let their grooms go easily. Maybe she’s just gone to recalibrate. Sharpen her claws and restyle her hair to cover her horns . . . I just can’t see her letting Tom Somerset escape her clutches.”
“But he did,” a chipper voice interrupted them, and Ari looked up to see Stella standing in the doorway of the room, a camera in her hand. “They’ve definitely broken up.”
“How... how do you know that?” Ari asked her shakily.
Stella shrugged. “I was taking some candid shots. Overheard him tell her—with a bluntness I didn’t think he had in him, to behonest—that he didn’t want to marry her. That he never wanted to marry her, in fact.”
Ari’s heart fluttered, and she bit hard on her lip to stop her body from reacting treacherously.It shouldn’t mean anything to you, she reminded herself.Don’t let it mean anything to you.
“Good for him,” Luis said, surprisingly warm-voiced.
“But not for us,” Sebastian moaned. “I really wanted to plan that wedding.”
“Really?” Ari asked. “You mean the wedding of my child’s father? The wedding of my ex-lover Tom Somerset, who I’ve been waiting for all these years? You really wanted to planthatwedding?”
“Well, notthatwedding,” Sebastian clarified. “It was just—this was going to be our big US break, you know? Now I’ll have to return Marnie’s money, cancel the press release and work off all the calories I’ve consumed this weekend from eating nothing but salmon with rich sauces. Honestly, what is it with Marnie and salmon? She had me order a fuckload of it for the wedding, and I don’t think we can cancel it at this point—”
“Sebastian,” Luis said under his breath, before he shot Ari a look. “You okay, honey?”
“Fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” Ari tried to keep her tone smooth.
“Well, your child’s father, and the ex-lover you’ve been waiting for all these years, just dumped his fiancée two days after you waltzed unexpectedly back into his life. That’s gotta mean something to you, right?”
“No,” Ari replied.
“Ari’s not so easily swayed by Jawline’s sad eyes and awkward posture.” Stella nodded with approval. “Besides, after all this time, you should really make him work for it. You and the small deserve so much more than what he’s offered.”
Ari, Sebastian and Luis all turned to Stella in surprise, who at once responded by clicking her camera in their direction, the flash making Ari blink.
