Page 12 of The Prince

She shrugged and returned to sit beside him. “Thank you. Like I said, it’s what I can do.”

He found that curious but he didn’t understand what she meant. “Well, I told you when we met.” He mock-cringed. “Dare I bring it up again?”

She rolled her eyes and then smiled. “We are determined to bring it up every chance we get I see.”

“I told you then that you were beautiful on camera; my lens ate you up.” He picked up her hand and toyed with her fingers. “You won’t need to do anything else. I’d imagine you could be successful at this for a long time.”

She pulled her hand away. And stood at the sliding glass door out to the patio. The ocean spread out in the distance in a brilliant thread of blue and green. “You think you’re complimenting me, I know.”

“Of course. I can do better if you’d like.” He stepped nearer, looking forward to pointing out all the things that fascinated him about her. “Take your profile, for example. See the way it accentuates your mouth? I wish I could snap some images just of those lines, right there. He ran a finger down her jawline. And your nose. Most profiles accentuate a person’s nose for good or sometimes ill, but yours just adds to the look. And I know it’s your own nose. I can tell these things.” He expected her to be pleased. But she seemed almost inattentive. He would have to up his game.

Her phone rang. She jumped. “Oh it must be him.” She put her phone to her ear. “Dane.”

His voice, talking quickly was audible to Daniel. He couldn’t make sense of it but the man seemed thrilled and Italy was mentioned numerous times. A growing worry rose in Daniel’s gut.

Melodia sounded relieved, excited, and a bit nervous. She kept glancing in Daniel’s direction and so he walked out to the balcony to give her privacy. After a few more minutes, Melodia joined him. She stood beside him, her spicy perfume filled the air around him. He would have to ask her about the unique scent. Exotic. Took him straight to Jamaica. When he turned to her, he expected to see the brilliant blue of her eyes brimming with excitement, but instead they were pools of worry. “Bad news?”

She leaned her hip against the railing. “No, great news really.”

He raised his eyebrows, waiting.

“Ugh. Daniel. They want me to go to Italy.”

“That’s great! I don’t know much about your career, but that sounds important.”

“It’s a huge show. And it leads up to the biggest show of the year. I would go with the hope that they would want me to stay for both, be seen by all the big names and hopefully pick up some exclusive jobs with the biggest European designers. It’s the chance of a lifetime for a model.”

He tipped his head. She looked more concerned than anything.

“But they want me to leave tomorrow.”

“Oh no.” His stomach clenched. “And when would you come back?”

“Not for a couple months.”

“And the park?”

“I can do what I can do from Italy, record video, do conference calls, etc. But I won’t be able to make appearances like we’d hoped. For the first week for sure, then after that, I might be able to pop back in, but really, I need to stay close by, eat little, stay out of the sun, and try not to get any bumps or bruises.”

He let out a long breath. “I should be happy for you.” He turned to grip the handrail. “But I’m not. We need you for the campaign.”

Her eyes brightened. “Do you really think I make a difference?”

“Absolutely, who could refuse your face anything?”

Then her whole body crumpled. She turned from him and entered the apartment.

Daniel was shocked. He didn’t know what he’d said. “But of course you should go and pursue this. It’s a career maker. We can’t deprive the Italians of their chance to see you either.” He had tried to lighten the mood, but he had only made it worse. Her lip trembled until she bit it. He was seeing this reaction in her far too often.

“Daniel. I really should pack, and I need to go back to my apartment to grab my travelling luggage and a few things. Do you think…”

“I can take you.”

“I was kind of hoping for a driver. I don’t want to put you out. And then I’ll just stay there tonight and catch a plane tomorrow.”

“Oh, ok. Um, sure.” He stood. She was obviously distracted, had hardly glanced in his direction. He had better leave. “Call this number to tell them what time you need a car.” He handed her a slip of paper.

“Thank you. Daniel. Thank you for everything.”

---