Page 5 of Ice Palace Prince
Chapter 3 - Sean
~October~
Ilooked out my office window at the construction going on down below. The buildings for the Winter Village had been delivered to the park that morning, and Lowell’s crew had gone right to work.
Part of me wanted to go down and talk to him, apologize for the way I’d acted when he asked me about being the prince again. I’d been rude without meaning to. But he’d probably already forgotten about it, and bringing it up again would only make the situation worse.
Besides, it would look desperate, apologizing for it more than a month later. We may not know each other as well as we did in high school, but he still knew me fairly well. We’d faced each other in practice debates often enough that we both knew when the other would back down.
He’d seemed to let it drop, and I needed to do the same.
“You know the view is better down there.”
I jumped and spun to see Elaine propped in the doorway to my office, a knowing smirk on her face.
“Tell the whole office why don’t you,” I jabbed.
She laughed. “As if it’s not plain as day to anybody with two eyes. I’m just the only one willing to tell you to your face.”
“Maybe I should start looking for another job…”
Her laughter increased. “We all know you love it here, and we love you.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“Seriously though, just head down there. Find some excuse to talk to him. Go over the schedule. Confirm that the parking division got them the marked spaces they need. Tell Lowell that the prince needs a date for the opening ceremonies.”
I promptly choked on air at the last suggestion. “I can’t do that!”
“Sure you can! It’s easy. Just go down there and ask him to be your date to the opening of the Winter Village.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
She sighed. “I don’t know what the problem is. You’re interested in him, and he’s got eyes for you too.”
“There’s no way he’s interested in me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he had plenty of chances in high school, but never said so much as a word. Besides, there’s no way he’s not taken.”
“That’s high school hun. People change. Maybe he was too nervous back then. And I’ve not heard anything about him being with somebody.”
I let out a long breath and looked out the window again. I immediately spotted Lowell directing his crew. Even the hard hat wasn’t enough to hide his height and broad shoulders.
A man could be so comfortable wrapped in his embrace.
“Your loss,” Elaine muttered. “Too bad he’s supposedly only interested in omega men, or I’d chase his fine ass myself.” Then I heard her walk off.
“And what happens when he says no?” I asked, even though I knew she was gone. “It would only make things awkward between us.”
∞∞∞
~November~
It was amazing how quickly Lowell’s crew was able to transform Civic Plaza from an open gathering area to an adorable seasonal village. A large oval of A-frame buildings stretched from the ‘palace’, which was really a glorified stage with icicle cutouts on a castle backdrop, to the civic center at the far end. In the middle they’d already marked out the location for the artificial ice rink.
I shivered. It meant that we were that much closer to the opening ceremonies, where I’d be expected to play the prince of the winter village.
