Page 104 of Reign
“You okay?”
“I just remembered that I left my phone on the terrace.” She and Jamie had been out there for a few minutes during the cocktail hour.
To her surprise, Jeff fell into step alongside her. “It’s dark out there; I’ll come with you.”
Itwasdark; even with the ambient light from the city, Nina was grateful for Jeff, who put his own phone in flashlight mode and shone it before them like a lantern. They found Nina’s phone, with its lime-green case, on an iron table.
She started to head back inside, but Jeff lowered himself into a chair and said, “Sit for a minute?”
He looked so unbearably handsome in his tuxedo, the crisp lines of it emphasizing the angle of his jaw, the soft curve of his lower lip. Nina looked away.
“Hey,” Jeff said, “do you remember Up Chickens?”
He was holding a quarter; he must have grabbed it from the table, because Nina doubted that he carried loose change around. What would he possibly use it for, the dryer in the dorm laundry room?
She took a seat against her better judgment, fighting back a smile. “The game is called UpJenkins.”
“My name for it is better,” Jeff declared, unperturbed. “We aren’t British; we shouldn’t be shouting for someone named Jenkins.”
“This is what you get for eavesdropping on adults whenyou’re a kid—you keep mispronouncing things. Like when you walked up to the bartender at one of your parents’ events and asked for a Roman Coke.”
“A Roman Coke sounds good. A lot better than a rum and Coke.”
He set down the quarter and for some reason, Nina picked it up. In the semidarkness she could just barely see King GeorgeI’s profile stamped on one side.
“Up chickens,” Jeff told her.
“What? No! You can’t play this game with just two people!” Despite her protest, Nina clasped her palms, holding the quarter tight between them.
“Down chickens!” Jeff proclaimed.
She slammed her hands against the wrought-iron table. Jeff flashed her a mischievous smile, and suddenly they were both laughing, the sort of infectious laughter that dissolves into a heady afterglow.
It was always like this with Jeff, wasn’t it? The old magic kept pulling her in, the way it always did.
When Jeff had stopped laughing, he stared at Nina’s hands, her palms flat against the surface of the table. He looked like a contestant on one of those shopping-network shows, choosing between two doors that contained prizes.
Finally he tapped Nina’s left hand. “This one.”
She flipped them both over. The quarter was beneath her right hand.
Jeff exhaled, no longer smiling. “I never can read you, Nina Gonzalez.”
Nina was hyperaware of the distance between them, the way that the space was suddenly shrinking.
“You and Jamie…,” Jeff asked hesitantly. “Are you serious about him?”
She sucked in a breath. “You can’t ask me that.”
“Why not? I’m your friend—”
“Juststop!” She slammed her hands against the table again, much harder than she had during their game. Jeff’s eyes widened.
“Samis my friend,” she went on. “You and I are too complicated, okay? There’s too much history.”
He looked stricken. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“But you are losing me.” Some of the fight drained from her. “Don’t you get it? You’re marrying Daphne tomorrow.”
