Chapter 175

The three of us escaped quietly to my studio.

“Oh, my goodness,” Cindy breathed as we walked in. I did a lap around the room, turning all the lights on. “This place is incredible.”

“Isn’t it? Oh, Yena, I missed this place! We had a lot of fun times in here.”

“Sit down,” I told my guests. “Wherever’s comfortable.”

I grabbed a notebook and pen from my desk then met them over at the couches in the fitting area.

“So what’s up Yena?” Lucy asked, dying with curiosity. “What’s this thing you wanted to talk to us about?”

“Well, I need both of your help with something,” I started. “But I wanted to actually ask Cindy a couple questions first.”

“Sure,” Cindy said. “Fire away.”

Rafaela’s head appeared, popping through the doorway. I guess she had seen the studio door open. I waved her over.

“My apologies for interrupting your party here, Miss Yena, but I wonder if I could bring any refreshments over for you and your friends?”

“Oh, goodness.” Cindy shook her head. “I could not eat another bite.”

“Some tea would be great,” I told the deaconess. She scampered away happily, returning one minute later with the requested tea along with a little plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Lucy was all over those.

“Cindy, can I ask you some questions about the night of the shooting? I wonder if it’s a tough thing to talk about.”

She widened her eyes. “It is, a little, but ask away. I’m okay.”

“It happened in a kids’ theater room, right? That’s what I read about in the news reports.”

“Yes. We had gone in there so that the children could put on a song-and-dance bit they’d prepared for Nolan’s visit. That’s when it happened.”

“And what’s happened to that room since then? I guess I’m asking, has the mess been cleaned up somehow?”

“No.” She frowned. “No one has gone back in there since the military cut the crime scene tape and told us they were done collecting evidence. I locked the doors that day and chained them closed. I keep thinking I’ll go in there and at least assess the damage, figure out how to start cleaning all those blood stains away, but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to go in there…”

“Goddess,” Lucy whispered. “That does not sound like a fun job.”

“Well,” I said, “I think I might have a way to help you out with that.”

“Yeah?” Cindy’s interest was certainly piqued.

“I have an idea, but it will be a very big project. Could the two of you commit to giving me a couple hours a day for the next week, coming here to work with me? I can only pull this off with your help.”

“Absolutely,” Cindy said. “I can do that.”

Lucy nodded energetically. “Of course. Tell us more! What is it?? What are we doing?”

After we talked about our project and our plans for the week ahead, Cindy, Lucy and I went back to the dining room and joined my husband, parents, and brother in a big session of goodbye-ing.

“Where did you sneak off to?” Nolan asked once everyone was gone.

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I just had an idea that I wanted to talk to the girls about. I hope you were okay with my family.”

He smiled shyly, eyes averted. “It was fine. Your mother sure is a talker, though.”

“This is why I worry about the rambling,” I explained. “Sometimes I worry I take after her.”

“You still didn’t answer my question, Yena. What were you up to?”

“Oh, nothing really. They’re just going to help me fit some dresses for a new project.”

“Cindy?” Nolan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it took some talking her into it. I’m pushing her out of her comfort zone for sure. But she said she was on board.”

“Good for her. She devotes every minute of her life to the orphanage. I’m sure it’ll be fun for her to do something different.”

I wound up working the rest of the night in my studio, drawing up all kinds of plans and designs.

I was feeling radically inspired after my brainstorming session with the girls. They were both super creative and had some great ideas.

And I listed my outfit from the morning’s press event on my social page as well. It was remarkable how easy it was to sell anything I posted on there. The bids that started coming in were ridiculous.

When one offer popped up with a staggering number that made me curse aloud when I read the DM, I called it sold.

And then I wrote up an employment offer and emailed it to Lucy, along with a little something sent to her cash app account.

LUCY

“What in the WORLD?!”

Evan, driving, startled at her sudden exclamation. “What is it?! What’s wrong?”

“Oh, sorry,” Lucy said. “I just… I just got a notification on my phone that I do not understand…”

“Is everything okay?”

Lucy’s mouth opened, closed. Opened, closed. Finally she asked, nearly breathless, “Why did Yena just send me ten thousand dollars?”

“Yena did what?”

“She just sent me ten thousand dollars on the cash app we use for her business. I… do not know why she would do that.”

“Call her,” Evan said. “See what she’s up to.”

When Yena picked up, she was giggling.

“Yena, what is that money about?!”

“Check your email,” she answered coolly. “I’ll wait.”

“Okay…” Lucy did as instructed, found the email in question. “Alright, I’m looking at it now.”

“It’s an offer,” Yena said. “A job for you, if you want it. Really it’s more like a gesture to just formalize all the work you already do for me. Consider the $10K a signing bonus.”

“Yena… I hardly know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything right now. I know it’s a lot to throw at you. Just read the offer when you get a chance and let me know what you think.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“And one last thing,” Yena added.

“Yeah?”

“That money is totally yours to do whatever you want with. But just an idea – maybe you could use it to find your own place? If you do take this job, you’ll have a lot shorter commute from an apartment closer to the palace. Just saying.”

Lucy was lost for words.

“I gotta go, Luce – text me later after you read the contract, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, Yena.”

The call had been on speakerphone so that Evan could hear.

“Can you believe that?” Lucy asked after she hung up.

“Yes, actually, I can.” Evan was smirking, amused. “I don’t think anything Yena could do would surprise me anymore. All I can expect is incredible things from her.”

“I’m glad she’s staying,” Lucy said quietly. “Honestly, I’m so relieved. That the both of you are staying in the country. That you didn’t get on that plane.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah?” Lucy squinted at Evan, who was keeping his eyes on the road.

“Yeah. This is where I’m supposed to be. And Yena’s where she’s supposed to be now, too. With Nolan. I can see how happy she is with him.”

“They are really cute together.”

But thinking about her best friend’s romance with the prince, which she’d now seen live in-person, made Lucy selfishly a little sad. She had recently been thinking she was in a whirlwind romance of her own. But it had all been a big lie.

“What’s wrong?” Evan sensed the change in Lucy’s energy.

“Nothing. Just had an annoying thought about my ex, I guess.”

Evan adjusted in his seat, looking jumpy and shaking his head at the mere mention of Adan. “I hate that guy,” he muttered. “I hate that he did all that to you.”

He exchanged a rather serious look with Lucy for a couple seconds, then returned his eyes forward. She felt her cheeks growing warm and found herself swallowing down a mouthful of saliva.

“Let’s go do something fun,” Evan said. “Get your mind off that jerk.”

Lucy studied Evan’s profile as he kept his eyes on the road, wondering what that loaded look had meant.

“Sure,” she said. “Sounds great.”