Fair enough.
“You, however, are considered a principal now. You cannot deviate from what they tell you to do, and something had obviously gone terribly wrong up in his suite.”
“I can’t even walk in formation with them right,” I complained. “I’m always stepping on people’s heels or getting too far behind, and then somebody’s hand shoves the middle of my back to force me back into position.”
“You’ll get used to it. In the meantime, we need to pick out these dresses, and then we have a spa appointment this afternoon. I just booked us into the Lazuli Spa at Fontainebleau for a massage and facial, plus makeup and hair for tonight. That’ll be easier than trying to coordinate stylists again.”
“Nicolai said the lawyers are coming back at three.”
“I’ll take care of Nico and his ridiculous demands.”
She made it sound like she might murder him. “I really appreciate you sending the makeup artist and hair stylist over yesterday, but you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to bother you. I never want to be a bother.”
“And I won’t let you embarrass yourself or Nicolai, no matter what your situation is.”
My phone buzzed with a text from Nicolai.
I’m at the espresso bar downstairs. Do you want coffee or breakfast? Or tea?
I don’t need anything. I’m fine.
Lexi
I could practically hear the deepness in his voice through the text message, ordering me to tell him what I wanted instead of dodging the question.
I’d love a latte. Vanilla if they have it.
And so it will be done.
Later, Nicolai returned to the fashion show with three coffees in a tray and sat beside me, I assume because I was closer to the door he’d come in. He handed a tiny paper cup across me to Clementine, which she accepted without taking her eyes off the models, and then gave me a much larger latte cup, holding it from the bottom so that I wouldn’t have to touch his fingers to take it.
Yeah, after everything that happened this morning with that horrible video on his phone, it probably was going to be like that with him.
No touching.
No future.
No matter what I thought about it.
And yet, the way he grabbed me and kissed me against the wall in the bedroom still whirled in my mind.
Maybe being decisively left at the altar was better than this confusion.
No. No, it wasn’t.
I would rather hold onto the hope for moments of passion and perhaps a lifetime, or just some time, or a little while longer, or only for today, than endure a definite clean-cleaved end.
Maybe not forever.
Maybe at some point, the confusion would wind me up too much, and I would want to dive into the depths of despair so I could eventually swim up for air. But for then, I was content to drown in not knowing.
Clementine sipped from her paper shot glass, and she made the tiniest sound in the back of her throat.
“Too hot?” I opened the lid of my latte. Steam roiled out. “Oh, wow. Too hot.”
“No, just a properly bitter espresso.”
“I could go get you something else if you don’t like it.”
