Page 39 of Prince Un-Charming

“A little,” he says, carefully setting the tray over my legs. I stabilize it. “I didn’t want to wake you. You had a rough day yesterday, so I wanted to let you rest for as long as possible.”

“Thank you.” The smell of eggs, bacon, and maple syrup makes me salivate. “You don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to. You can go down and talk to my family if you’d like.”

“No.” He shakes his head, taking a seat near my feet. “I don’t want to. I want to hang out with my wife.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course.”

He keeps his word. We spend the rest of the morning together, relaxed and enjoying each other’s company. He makes sure I’m comfortable.

If only he knew that by staying by my side, he’s making my whole day. It’s heaven being with him, being treated as the center of his world. Sometimes I let myself believe that it’s more than just an act.

19

CAESAR

“Come on!” Vivienne calls out to me, beckoning me over with a wave of her hand. “You’re not afraid of hikes, are you?”

“You’re lucky we’re in Sandyville and not Solvaria,” I reply easily, effortlessly shifting between light conversation to banter within seconds. “I would have you sanctioned for such a statement.”

“No, no. Dictatorship never ends well. You of all people should know that,” she says with a smile.

“Whatever. Could be fun with a ruler like me, hmm?” There’s a glint in his eye, and I have to laugh.

I make my way to the market with Vivienne in one of the Carters’ beat-up old trucks. In the few days I’ve been here, I’m starting to feel like I’m becoming a real part of her family.

I’m excited to showcase our relationship to the world. She lists off a few people she hasn’t seen in a while, hoping to get a chance to speak with them at the market.

Wherever they go, the Carters always seem to attract flocks of people to talk and catch up. They know what sorts of things her father has done for the community in the U.S. Senate, and they’re proud to have such a distinguished figure come from their humble town.

She’s been loyal to me for so long, for the two years she’s worked for me. And yet, I still feel as if I have so much to unravel about her.

At a stoplight, a passing couple grabs each other’s hands and lightly swats at each other’s arms. In an instant, I’m reminded of one of the past nights when she and I stayed up in her family’s kitchen, playing the role of a doting couple and making a plate of pasta.

“Look at those lovebirds,” I tease, one hand on the manual shift. “We should act like that at the market.”

“I don’t know if I have it in me to do all that,” she says. “I’ve never been one for PDA.”

“You might have to start if you want people to believe we’re actually married. Wouldn’t be wise to let rumors start flying now.”

In hindsight, the pasta-making should have been easy. Instead, I got distracted by her beauty and couldn’t stop staring and smiling at her stories. As a result, it was definitely cooked longer than al dente. She still ate a whole bowl just for me.

A loud honk grounds me back to reality. One quick glance at the rearview mirror and I’m seeing wild gesticulations from a big man in the equally huge truck behind mine. I’m sure the words firing past his lips right now are not the nicest, but that does nothing to dampen my mood.

“My God, what’s his problem?” Vivienne remarks. The driver makes the most aggressive swerve I’ve ever seen. “Some people shouldn’t be on the road, I swear.”

“Don’t worry about him. It’s not good to focus on people like that. Not worth our time.”

The sight of Vivienne right beside me calls up so many memories of moments we've shared, both on this trip and in the years we’ve worked together. I took it all for granted before now.

Gardening with her parents. Who else besides her could get someone like me, a spoiled prince, down on my hands and knees to till the earth, sprinkling some seeds on the ground and straining my back for some carrots?

She’s worth it all. Actually, I loved it. The warm sun on our skin, the large sun hats we all wore thanks to Vivienne’s mother, and the lovely aroma of fresh dirt clinging to our skin afterward.

I want to do it again with them. All of it and more. Right here in Sandyville with the Carter family feels like the place where I should have been all along.

Sometimes, I tense up at the reality that this is all a ruse. A temporary game. A plot needed to fool the rest of the world. But the feelings are becoming real.