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Puffing my chest out with pride, I answer, “Yes they are corgis. Thank you.”
One of her perfectly shaped eyebrows goes up. “It wasn’t a compliment.”
Preston chokes on the sip of water he just drank.
“Mildred Annelise. Manners, please,” Mrs. Vandervbilt reprimands her then daintily dabs her mouth with her cloth napkin although I have no idea why, since she hasn’t even eaten anything.
Mr. Vanderbilt rests his elbows on the table and rubs his temples with his index fingers before groaning. “Can we just have one nice family dinner without all this ruckus?”
I look at Molly. “What ruckus?” I whisper.
She widens her eyes, which I think is Vanderbilt for shut up.
The side door opens and the servers enter the room again with more silver trays. They place a slice of tiramisu in front of each of us then take everyone’s dinner plates and exit silently.
I watch them leave, slack-jawed that they didn’t even let these people finish their meal.
Molly clears her throat from the seat next to me. “You’re gaping.”
I snap my jaw shut. “Sorry.”
Why even serve dessert when they’re not going to eat it? What a tragic waste of good filet mignon and tiramisu. I wonder if I could sneak into the kitchen trash tonight. My mother would be appalled at the thought.
Devouring my dessert without another thought, I keep glancing around the room to see if anyone else is eating. Molly is taking small bites, but is almost done with hers. Good girl.
Mildred swiped her slim finger through the cocoa powder on top and then licked it off with a contented sigh. Preston took two bites and now looks like an ashamed child that ate a cookie before dinner. Mrs. Vanderbilt sniffed hers and smiled. Like sniffing it was good enough for her. Mr. Vanderbilt took one bite and went back to looking stressed out.
It’s like I’m reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar in reverse. And without the fun illustrations.
After what feels like an eternity—but was maybe twenty minutes?—dessert is taken away as silently as it was served. My plate is the only empty one. It was so good I could’ve licked the plate clean, but I refrained.
“We’re pretty tired from traveling today. May we be excused?” Molly asks, directing the question to her parents.
“Of course, get some sleep tonight,” Her father tells her before narrowing his eyes on me.
I experience a brief moment of confusion until I realize he thinks I’m sleeping with his daughter. Well, at least our ruse is working? I smile back at him. This is fun.
Molly leads the way out of the dining room and into the quiet hallway that leads to the stairs. I follow her and she releases a heavy sigh, her shoulders relaxing for the first time since we arrived here. I place my hands on her shoulders from behind her and give them a quick rub.
She laughs and shoos my hands away. “No one is even watching us right now!”
“You never know when someone might be watching,” I point to a security camera on the ceiling.
Molly rolls her eyes. “Hey, did you bring your swimsuit?”
“No. But I’m always up for skinny dipping.”
She whips around to look at me and I laugh. “Yes, I brought a swimsuit. Calm down.”
She breathes a sigh of relief. “Whew. I’m not sure our friendship could handle sharing a bed and skinny dipping.”
I chuckle to keep things playful, but I honestly can’t think of anything better than the two things she just mentioned.
When we arrive back at our room, we open our suitcases and pull our swimsuits out. Before ducking into the bathroom to change into her suit, Molly says, “Hey, the hot tub is right out on our balcony, so you can head out there once you've changed.”
“We have a balcony??” I gasp. “With a hot tub?”
She cocks her head to the side. “Does that honestly surprise you at this point?”
