Page 18 of Coffee Break with the Billionaire

These days I don’t see much of my mother, who prefers whatever house Ashton and I aren’t staying at. Evan is her golden child, the pride and joy of the Carrington family and I do my best to ignore my mother as much as she ignores me.

If Nathalia had served her, she would have caused such a big scene that I cringe just thinking about it.

So I don’t. I finish my pumpkin spice latte—so delicious the way Silas makes them—and put the whole episode out of my mind.

Taking my new and improved latte, I wander around the downtown streets of Battle Harbour.

Fall has arrived in the little town.

It’s a cute little town even without the autumn decorations; containers of red and orange asters outside every shop door, with tiny pumpkins nestled throughout the flowers. Paper cutouts of pumpkins and black cats and colourful leaves stuck to shop windows remind me that Halloween is a little more than a week away.

Instead of a main street, the shopping district—if it can be called that—is a square, with Coffee for the Sole at one cornerand The King’s Hat pub on the opposite side. A statue of some Erickson Viking ancestor looms in the middle of the space, and cobblestones would make it difficult to cross in some of my thin-heeled shoes.

It’s picturesque. And quiet.

Almost too quiet.

It’s October, but it feels colder as the sun goes down. I thought I brought warm enough clothes but maybe I need more. For once, the thought of shopping doesn’t fill me with the excitement that it usually does.

I stop in at the bookstore and the candy store to waste time. I pause at the window of the flower shop but don’t go in because who am I going to buy flowers for?

But I go into the fish and chip place because I see Sophie Laz in the window and we got friendly the last time I was in town. She brings me a piece of fish and half an order of chips and takes her break as I eat.

The restaurant is small and cozy, like most of the businesses in Battle Harbour, with only a few tables. I suspect they do more takeout than fine dining. It’s decorated with the same sea motifs as Coffee for the Sole but darker and smells of fish rather than coffee beans.

I take a few pictures even though the lighting is horrible, posing with Sophie and promise to tag her.

“Aren’t you bored here?” she demands. “Your life is so fabulous and this placeis…”

“Not so fabulous?” I glance around. “It’s okay. It’s a nice break.” I care too much about Gunnar to ever badmouth his country.

Besides, I do like it here. It’s just… quieter than what I’m used to.

“What would you be doing if you were home?”

Tonight was Tuesday—Rupert had made reservations at the new vegan fusion restaurant for us, along with Coral and her latest guy. Tomorrow night was the premier of the latest Channing Tatum movie and I had the best outfit to wear.

I should be meeting Ashton in New York on Saturday, and then flying somewhere in the Midwest to see Tiger.

I can strike him out of all my plans. Cancel him completely from my schedule.

“What do you usually spend your time doing?” Sophie asks when I’m too depressed to tell her what I had planned. “When you’re at home.”

No one has ever asked me that question. Maybe because my friends do the same things I do. “When I’m not on a shoot or doing videos, I… shop. There’s yoga and Pilates and Cross Fit, but I got bored with that. And… friends… we go for lunch and… Not much,” I finish, looking at my day’s activities with a new lens. “I don’t do a lot.”

“Sounds great,” Sophie bubbles.

Is it? Is it great? I want to do more, but no one seems to give me a chance. No one thinks enough of me to let me try.

“Is there a car rental place around here?” I ask Sophie. I’m used to having a driver and a car at my disposal, but there’s something about being here alone and having to ask someone at the castle to come and get me that irks me.

“The big one is by the airport, but over on Fourth Street, they have a lot where they rent out vans and pickup trucks for things. Are you going somewhere?” Sophie is sweet and cute and a little too excited about my life, but it’s okay. It has to be okay because I really have no one else in town.

I could do a pickup truck. My brother may be the race car driver, but I learned to drive alongside him, and there’s nothing I can’t tackle. “Back and forth to Hotel Castle. I’d rather come and go on my own schedule than rely on pickups and drop-offs. I notice you don’t have Ubers around here.” I take a bite of my fish—some kind of white fish, draped in a thick batter with grease staining the wax paper lining the basket. It smells amazing and tastes even better.

The only fish I’ve been eating lately is sushi. This is definitely not sushi.

“I can’t believe you’re staying there like it’s a hotel.” Sophie sighs like my travel arrangements make up some kind of fairy tale.

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