Page 88 of Appointing

“Neither did you,” Elin replied.

“You were a Princess and my boss,” she reasoned. “Now, you’re a Queen, and I’m pretty sure I’m not even allowed to ask you–”

“Will you go out with me, Ingrid?” Elin interrupted.

Ingrid laughed and said, “Yes, I will.”

Elin took a deep breath and said, “You know the whole Queen thing isn’t going away…”

“I know.”

“And you still want–”

“Since before I even left, I had been thinking about how I felt about you. When I was sent off to work with Mari, I felt like I’d let you down or that I wasn’t good enough. Then, I realized I wasn’tthatupset because of the job – I was more upset because I wouldn’t get to see you every day. I wouldn’t have an excuse to just pop into your office and talk to you, see you looking how you do right now.”

“How do I–”

“Beautiful,” Ingrid stated. “You look beautiful, Elin. You always do.”

Elin’s smile widened, and she said, “Part of me wants to walk over there and take your hand.”

“Only part?” Ingrid asked, hopeful.

“I have a meeting with Markus.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I guess I’ll have to keep him on.”

“I don’t think I can work for you if we’re going to try this, Elin.”

“No, I agree. I’m still sad about it, but I agree,” she said, standing up.

Ingrid stood up quickly as well before telling Elin, “I don’t exactly know how to say goodbye to you right now.” She chuckled.

“We could… I don’t know, actually.”

“I should probably just walk out like someone who didn’t just come in here to see if you’d go out with me sometime.”

“When?”

“Now; you have a meeting with–”

“No, when will we go out, Ingrid?” Elin asked.

“You’re the Queen, Elin. Whencanyou go out?”

“I will clear my schedule for this.”

Ingrid knew she was blushing even redder now.

“How about I let you have your meeting right now, but I’ll call you tonight, and we can talk about it?”

“Yes. Please… um, call.” Elin nodded before she bit her lower lip.

“Okay. Let’s do that, then.”

“Okay,” Elin said, smiling at her.

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