Page 122 of Loyally, Luke
Luke:Pretty much.
Matt:I’m here if you need to talk.
Luke:Thanks. I appreciate it.
Luke sat by the small table in the cottage, sipping his coffee and staring down at the screen of his phone. The headline inspired a bout of nausea.
Prodigal Princess at it again.
He skimmed the first paragraph, detailing how Ellie skipped out on the Donors’ Banquet in order to spend time with her secret boyfriend behind the Duke of Styles’s back.
Just enough truth in there to make it feel real.
They even spun it to imply that she’d been shirking her other duties to spend time with him in secret. But who would believe they actually had a kissing match on the ground in a snowstorm?
He looked back at the photos. One was of her lying on top of him, her face turned toward the cameraman, which only helped with identification. The second was a photo of them removing their jackets. Nothing explicit, but enough to spur all sorts of innuendos.
He ran a hand over his face.
How was Ellie? Should he text her? Would she want that or would it just make things worse for her?
He closed the site and growled, taking another sip of his coffee.
Oh, how he wanted to fix this, but what could he do? Nothing. No wonder the press infuriated people so much. They had the power to spout off whatever and people just had to deal with it.
Or ignore it.
Which was what Luke preferred.
With a moan, he shook his head and tapped on the photo icon, skimming through a few photos of his recent reno to send to Lewis Gray, when a photo within the collection caught his attention.
Ellie with a fishing rod?
He opened it.
But it wasn’t a photo at all. It was a video. His pulse skittered into a faster pace. The video he’d been taking when Ellie fell in the lake. He tapped the Play button and grinned as she cast the line, then looked back at him with a proud grin. Yep, he was keeping this video as long as he could. Just to see her looking back at him every now and then.
Then she looked back again, but this time she looked worried. Was that when she’d seen the reporter?
The line tightened and she called out that she had something. He heard his own voice encouraging her to reel it in. Then the event played out before him. Her pulling on the line, her attention looking out across the lake, the stumble, and then the fall through the ice.
He paused the video and rewound it a little, then zoomed in to the area where Ellie had looked. A figure became visible, almost hidden in the trees. Then in the next frame, he came out from his position, camera in hand.
Luke allowed the video to continue playing, but it didn’t stop after Ellie fell through the ice. No, the screen went somewhat black, but he could still hear the voices. His and Ellie’s.
He must have pushed the phone into his pocket without turning off the recording.
Their conversation, his intentions, her response came through loud and clear. But was it important for any reason?
Text from Luke to Penelope and Izzy:I have an idea. It may take some of your magic to work, but right now, I’m banking on some. I’ll even take a bit of pixie dust too, if you have some to spare.
Penelope:Channel Julie Andrews. That’s even more reliable.
Izzy:And praying would probably be a good choice (you two heathens).
Luke:Well, I started with that.
Izzy:Nice. I’m glad to hear your priorities are in order. Not sure about Penelope’s sometimes.
