Bea clocked the careful phrasing, and she looked up from the wood grains.
“Oh?” Umma asked. “Can he not get time off from work?”
“Mm-hm.” Claire’s tone stayed light, but her eyes didn’t quite meet the camera.
Something was going on with Claire and Marco. Normally she’d be all over that, but she couldn’t, not when her own situation was precarious. Questions were boomerangs.
“It says we need to respond within a week with dates and preferences so Mark can make the bookings.” A knot appeared between Umma’s brows. “Bea, are you sure ten weeks is wise?”
Wise?
With Rafael, wisdom was more aspiration than reality. One moment, then the next, and suddenly ten weeks wasn’t a planso much as the natural continuation of their momentum, the way everything with him seemed to tip from decision into inevitability.
She moved one fabric square fromLOVEtoCan’t justify the price, then looked up. “Umma, don’t send the packet to the family yet.”
Umma’s gaze sharpened. “Why not?”
“There are a few things Rafael and I need to be clear on first.”
“Like what?”
Bea shook her head, careful to keep the motion easy. “I just don’t want everyone organizing around a date until we’re completely sure about it.”
Her mother and best friend both stared at her with quiet concern. Bea stayed still, nails making little crescents into her palms. Trying not to take it back.
“As you wish, Beatriz.”
Chapter Four
Plain white t-shirt. Dark jeans. A profile that belonged on a coin, or a warning sign. Rafael stood waiting outside of Monaghan & Stowe, holding a gift box. The moment she came into view, his mouth curved.
For a second she forgot everything and hurried toward him. Then her thoughts, relentless all week, rose up in one word:don’t.
Her step faltered, as if she’d misjudged the pavement. She caught herself, stopping out of arm’s reach, heat flushing her face. She saw the way he registered it.
“Welcome home,” she said softly.
His gaze traced her face like he was taking inventory. “You look tired, little Bea.”
“I haven’t slept much,” she said. Before he could respond, she continued. “I’m meeting Theia for lunch. I don’t want to be late.”
“I’ll walk you.”
It was barely more than a block, but she nodded.
They moved in quiet sync, arms inches apart. The space wasn’t his, it was hers. And it was most unbearable in his presence since relief was right there and she refused to take it. She was acutely aware of how large he felt beside her. Of coursehe’d always been tall, but after a week apart it felt like he’d secretly increased his dimensions.
“We have the wedding planner tonight.”
Adriana Nicholls, Northgate’s most in-demand, had somehow been persuaded to take them on at short notice. Bea hoped no minor royal had been displaced on her account.
“I want to postpone that for now.”
Rafael’s attention snapped fully to her, box swinging in his hand. “Postpone? We’re getting married in sixty-one days.”
“If we still follow that timeline.” Her voice stayed even.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
