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“Why not? Did you have a bad time?”
Deciding that it isn’t worth the trouble of lying, and honestly wanting some tried-and-true advice from my father, I bluntly announce, “I’m screwed.” My shoulders sag.
He pauses in the act of wiping his hands, giving me an off look. “How so?”
I scrape my hand through my hair in frustration, feeling like I’m ready to burst. “I’m fucking in love with her, and I don’t know how to keep her away without hurting myself in the process.”
“Oh…” Dad leans against the Porsche, crossing his arms. “And what does she feel for you?”
“That’s the thing; I have no idea. She swears that this isn’t all a game, but when I ask her to elaborate, she always falls silent.”
“Son, she is eighteen. That’s not exactly an age known for its wisdom.”
“I feel just as indecisive, honestly, even at myadvancedage.”
He chuckles. “So let me get this straight: you two have been seeing each other, quite a bit it sounds like, you like her, you think she likes you, but you’re still afraid it might be a game?”
I just shrug. He doesn’t know the manipulative Elise as I do. “Yeah, I guess.”
“You know, the Dan I knew just wanted to be with women because he could make a game out of it. You loved the chase. Now you’re upset because a girl might be playing a game with you?”
“It’s different with her,” I say honestly, seeing the irony in what he is saying. “But the stakes are too high. If I put my friendship with her brother on the line for her, then it can’t be for a one-night stand. It has to be for something more meaningful, or it isn’t worth the risk.”
“Dan, you’re a smart boy. Just tell her.”
I throw my hands up. “Tell her what? That I have feelings for her? Or that I want to be more than just her friend?” I laugh, and it sounds cruel to my ears. “Yeah, she isn’t like her romantic brother who is already engaged and planning his wedding. She’s more cunning and calculated. An ice queen, even, plotting against everyone in her ivory tower.”
Dad listens to me rant, a patient, if slightly amused look on his face, shutting the hood to the Porsche as he does so. “Don’t you think you’re being a little… dramatic?”
“I wish,” I tell him. “I can’t tell her what I feel for her or she will just freak out. You don’t know Elise like I do.”
“If you say so.” He slaps the hood of the car with the flat of his hand. “Just think it over. The truth will set you free, as they always say. But for now, shall we take a test drive?”
The subject is nowhere near being closed, but like lancing a wound, getting it all out of my system has helped somewhat. My dad jingles the keys in the air in front of me, and I give in, snatching them out of his hand. “Fine, but only if I get to drive first.”
“July is truly one of the most beautiful times to visit Capri. You’ve made a wonderful choice in dates, Mr. O’Brian. As you can see, the available villas–”
My phone rings, interrupting the travel agent and causing me to cringe. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“No worries,” he says, voice chipper as he leans back on his desk chair. “I’ll be right here when you’re done.”
In most cases, I wouldn’t bother to answer a call during such an important meeting, but the name on the phone screen isSebastian Van den Bosch. While I am on great terms with him and his wife, it isn’t like we exchange phone calls often, and the fact that he’s ringing me must mean there is something that he truly needs to talk to me about.
It’s been a week since I’ve seen his daughter, and she’s taken up space in my brain full time, rent-free. We haven’t even exchanged text messages, something that we usually did every day, and I find myself missing her terribly. But this is what's best-–staying as distant from her as possible. Eventually, she has to leave my thoughts… right?
I step outside the front door of the travel agency onto the sidewalk, answering Sebastian's call at the same time. “Hello, sir. How are you?”
“Good, Dan, thank you for asking. Listen, I know we talked about you joining us for the opening of hunting season, but I thought it might be a good practice run if you came with us to Lake Como on the first week of July, too. I know it’s short notice, but I thought we could do some fishing and go over the plan for the hunt. We’re taking Elise to celebrate the end of the semester and I know she would love for you to come as well.”
His words shock me so much that I’m speechless, trying to think of how to answer. Andries and I have recently spoken about how he’s going to miss spending the holidays with his family, and now his dad is inviting me to join them on one? I’m almost afraid that this is because he’s discovered what happened between his daughter and me, and he’s inviting me as some odd way to show me that I am indeed welcome into the family if I want to be with her.
The thing is, I’ve always sort of known that Sebastian and Julia wouldn’t balk about Elise and I dating the way they do with Roxanne and Andries. I might not be old money, but I’m also still wealthy, and most importantly of all, not a former escort whose presence could taint their family name. I’m sure they havesome royal in mind for Elise, like that Johan guy, but I’m not the worst possibility in the world. Still, going on that trip would be seen as a total betrayal for my best friend, and despite being quite tempted, I’ve got to decline.
Lucky for me, I don’t have to tell Sebastian any of this to get out of joining them on vacation. One of my top choices for the Capri trip is the first week of July, and now that he’s invited me to Lake Como that week as well, it cements the schedule for me. If I’m in Capri, and Elise is in Lake Como, there is no way we can run into each other and continue making the same mistakes we have been lately. He doesn’t know it, but Sebastian just solved a problem for me.
The sad part is, I actually want to accept his offer. A week with Elise at Lake Como sounds like heaven, and if Andries wasn’t standing in our way, I would love to go.
“Wow, thank you so much for the invite, but I’m otherwise occupied that week with another trip I’ve booked with friends. Maybe next time.”
