Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Was William attractive? Oh, gosh, devastatingly so. From the few conversations we’d had he was witty and funny, and if he were anyone else, he was exactly the kind of person I would be interested in seeing more of.
I just had to get through the next few days, then I could go back to Oxleigh, back to university, back to my little history bubble, and I would never have to see or speak to William again.
I finished my shower and got out with the towel wrapped around my body and another around my hair, then walked into the bedroom to retrieve my phone.
AMBER: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
AMBER: *deep breath*
AMBER: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AMBER: This is the best
I really needed to trade my best friend in for a new one. This one was lacking in empathy.
ME: Are you done?
AMBER: I will never be done. When did you find that out?
ME: As we were pulling up to the castle, pretty much.
AMBER: NOOOOO THIS MAN IS MY HERO
See?
Maybe this model of best friend had a manufacturer’s recall on it for a faulty part.
I quickly tapped out the entire story, pausing only to adjust my towel around my chest to make sure it didn’t fall down just in case William walked in. I didn’t think he would since he knew I was showering, but I was a woman.
I did have a tendency to sit in my towel for half a century after each shower.
AMBER: OMG. So what are you gonna do? Are you staying?
ME: I’m here now, aren’t I? And I kind of offered to be his fake girlfriend for the week.
AMBER: What. The. Fuck.
ME: Yeah, kind of feeling that way after my shower.
AMBER: So you, the great aristocrat hating aristocrat, who has sworn never to date or marry an aristocrat, are pretending to be the girlfriend of an aristocrat so his grandfather doesn’t set him up with another aristocrat.
ME: I don’t think you said aristocrat enough times.
AMBER: Does he have any idea who your dad is?????
ME: No. He doesn’t even know my surname. I want to keep it that way.
AMBER: How are you going to do that? The people coming to this wedding are going to be in your circles, Grace. Your dad’s circles at least. They’ll know you.
Huh.
She was right.
AMBER: How do you know your dad and Carmen aren’t going??? This is the kind of thing they’d get invited to.
She was right again.
This was annoying.
ME: Neither of them mentioned it at dinner, and it’s the kind of thing Carmen likes to brag about. There’s also a chance I don’t know any of their close friends anymore. It’s not like I’ve done any of Dad’s fancy stuff for years because Carmen was there. I didn’t know William, after all.
AMBER: I suppose. You do need to have a plan for it though. Is he on board with this???
ME: William?
AMBER: No, the Muffin Man.
Great. Now I was going to be humming that nursery rhyme all day.
ME: Thanks for the earworm. And yes, he’s on board with it. Benefits him, doesn’t it??
AMBER: IDK, sounds like he owes you for this.
ME: He really does.
AMBER: I’m going on record as your best friend and telling you that this is a really fucking stupid idea and it’s going to end badly.
ME: Noted.
AMBER: And even it if doesn’t end badly, it’s going to end badly.
ME: That makes no sense.
AMBER: You’ve read those books. They always end up in a relationship.
ME: That’s because romance has to have a happily ever after by industry definition. If they don’t end up together, it’s not a romance. And I am not a book character. And it’s only a week. I’m not going to fall in love in a week.
AMBER: I guess. I’m still against it, though. It’s a really bad idea.
She wasn’t wrong. That was the thing. I knew that. I knew this was a bad idea, and I hadn’t even considered that I might know some of the wedding guests.
And that they might know me.
I had no control over that, though. Like I’d said to her, it wasn’t like I’d known William before we’d walked into each other last month, and I knew his sister’s name was Freya. I didn’t know a Freya, so it was entirely possible that our circles didn’t overlap. And if they did, they might be distant enough that I’d get away with it.
Other than that, I’d have to sleuth through my social media and see if anyone I knew was going to be here.
There was a reason I had that part of my life in a nifty little list I could switch to.
“Grace, are you all right?”
I jerked out of my head at the sound of William’s voice. “Oh, yes, sorry. Just drying off.”
“It’s been half an hour. Are you not dry?”
“No, I’m a woman. It takes at least three hours.”
He paused, then a light chuckle came through the crack in the door. “Mum drove past and knows we’re back. She wants us to go over so she can meet you.”