Page 7 of Awaiting

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. She’s getting back together with her ex.”

“She said she’s thinking about it. They’re not back together yet. Alex, I’m just saying that if you really like Bex, now is the time to tell her. You might be losing your chance.”

“She’s in Kansas, Alice.”

“She’s coming to Kleinland, Princess.”

Alex leaned forward and asked, “When?”

“She’ll be here for three months. She’s taking a sabbatical off work to come to Kleinland to help us start centers like what she runs there. Kleinland doesn’t have anything set up for speech therapy, and she said she needed a break from the administration of her current job, so I suggested she come here for a bit and help us get something going. I have an office building in the city ready for her to move in. Well, itwillbe. It’s still a mess, but Bex said she wanted to set the thing up herself to make sure it had what she needed.”

“She’ll be there, but I’m still here,” Alex reminded.

“As if you’ve never hopped on a plane and taken the quick flight to get here,” Alice remarked.

“Not for three months.”

“I didn’t sayyouhad to be here for three months. I saidshewould be here for three months.”

“Why are you being so annoying about this?”

“Because Nora told me what you did.”

“What I did?”

“The night of the coronation, after she kissed me and shocked the hell out of me, she went down to the basement of the palace and ran into you. You told her not to be stupid and to tell me how she feels.”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Alex said, remembering the night well now.

“I don’t know if Bexley is your person like Nora is mine, but if she is, I just don’t want either of you to miss out. If she’s not, she’ll go back to Kansas in a few months, and you’ll see her once or twice a year, if that.”

“I get it,” Alex said. “I suppose I could figure out a reason to get over there.”

“That’s the easy part, Alex. What are you going to do when you get here?”

???

“Congratulations on your match, Your Royal Highness,” the little boy said as he bowed to her.

“Thank you, Spencer,” she replied, smiling at the nine-year-old dressed in a suit for a polo match.

“Congratulations on your match, Your Highness,” the little girl added with a curtsy.

“YourRoyalHighness,” Teresa corrected her daughter.

“My apologies,” the little girl said.

Alex knelt down in front of her and said, “You can call me Alex. How about that?”

Kristina looked up at her mother, who shook her head, and Alex rolled her eyes internally before standing back up.

“The nanny is here to take them back home. They just wanted to meet you and congratulate you on your win.”

Alex smiled down at both of the kids. They were adorable. They were also very clearly children of the upper-class and well-behaved, even if not by choice.

“It was lovely to meet you both,” Alex said to them.

The nanny was waiting, and Teresa took the kids over to her while Alex went to change into clothing more appropriate for drinks with a woman. She showered and ran a brush through the long brown hair her mother insisted she keep, despite Alex wanting to cut most of it off and go with a much shorter look. She also preferred to wear pants to dresses when she could get away with it. For drinks at her place, she could dress casually and throw on a pair of jeans and a white Henley. She and Teresa couldn’t ride to her place together since people would see them leave together as well, causing the rumors to start, so Teresa took her own car and waited ten minutes after Alex left before leaving the match herself. Then, she’d parked far enough away and walked through the back garden.

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