Was it bad that I wanted him to kiss me for real?
* * *
After an hour-and-a-half trainride into New York City, I took the subway back to the shared apartment in Brooklyn.
“A flophouse is probably the more accurate description,” I muttered as I stomped up the stairs to unlock the door.
“Did you bring any food?” Edward called out. Our other flatmates were out, which was why he, Shirley, and Cesario the rabbit were out in the tiny common area of the apartment.
“Blade just dumped me off at the train station!” I complained, setting my bag down. “You should have savored that steak I brought you.”
“The half-eaten steak?” he grumbled.
“That’s no way to talk to your future boss.”
“So your family bought it?” he said, perking up. “Yes! I am going to have my own room in that mansion!”
“You’re going to sleep in the stables,” I warned. “Every spare room is going to be a hotel room. We have to make money. I can rent one of those rooms out for three hundred a night.”
“That’s fair. As long as I don’t have to share with that rabbit,” he said, poking Cesario.
“And how is the future Mrs. Svensson?” Shirley squealed.
“Tired. Hungry. Needs to plan a tasteful yet unique wedding that is magazine and reality TV worthy.”
Edward winced when I told them about Gunnar and Penny’s ideas for publicizing the wedding.
“That’s a lot of pressure. Two months?”
“You can’t screw this up, you know,” Shirley reminded me. “This wedding is supposed to be a calling card for your amazing wedding-planning business. If it’s just something that you throw together, that’s not going to work. You’ll never attract clients.”
“That’s why I need you all to help me,” I said, pacing around the tiny space. “Edward. What are you doing? Get out of my purse.”
“I’m looking for snacks. I’m starving.”
The two hundred dollars Blade had given me floated out of my bag. The rabbit pounced on the money.
“No!” we all yelled.
“Oh, we are totally going for food,” Edward said, pumping his fist.
“I can’t just take Blade’s money. I don’t think he was in his right mind when he gave it to me. I have the train pass on my phone, so I just used that.”
“Not in his right mind?” Edward scoffed. “This isn’t going to turn into some Gothic romance where you end up jumping off of a cliff, is it?”
“Lord, I hope not. No, he just seemed…off. We were going to drive back together then he just dumped me at the train station.”
“Maybe he’s having second thoughts,” Shirley said.
“My father gave him all the dirty details about my mom. He might not want me around his brothers. He’s very family oriented. You should see him with his little brothers. It’s so adorable! And he said he wants daughters, three girls. He would be a great dad, honestly, even if he is kind of an aloof asshole sometimes.”
My friends were looking at me in horror, clutching each other.
“You like him!” Edward said accusingly. “You want to have a real relationship with him.”
“No, I don’t! It’s just business,” I promised.
“You better not fall in love with him,” Shirley warned.
