Page 59 of Cruel King
With all the events happening on the estate lately, I’d forgotten about the Spring Festival. I’ve never missed going even a single year, but this year has been so busy, it completely slipped my mind.
“I’d love that. Do you think we should be away from the house, though? The doctors don’t think your father has long, Theo.”
He nods, and a somber look comes over him. “We’ve said our goodbyes. There’s not much more to do. It’s not like my father and I were ever that close. He seems far more interested in having Ronan and Kellen there with him, to be honest. Even Marius mentioned it to me. I think he has a lot more regrets when it comes to them because they were so much younger when our mother died.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sure he loves you.”
“Oh, yeah. I know. Marius knows too. But that’s why the idea of sitting around waiting for someone to die sounds pretty damn awful. We won’t be gone long. Just a couple hours. What do you say?”
I can’t deny some time away would feel nice. I said my own goodbye to Mr. King when I met with him, and I guess it would be all right for a couple hours to attend the festival.
“Okay.”
The Spring Festivalwith all its colored lights and great food and games lightens my mood after all I had to deal with today. Theo’s jokes about my threat to bears make me laugh, and as we walk down the pathway along the river they’ve lit up with tiny flower lights on the ground, I feel so much better than I did a few hours ago.
This feels like the old days when he and I spent every waking hour together. I listen to him talk about things like where he wants to travel to next and what people are like around the world, and all I can think about is how nice it is to spend time with someone who’s so fun to be with.
“You’re particularly quiet tonight, Ava,” he says as he gently pushes his arm into my arm. “Something wrong?”
With a smile, I shake my head. “No. Just listening to you. Your stories are very interesting.”
He disagrees with that, waving away my compliment. “Not really, but that’s very kind of you to say. I swear there’s not another girl in the world like you, you know that?”
I look up at his gorgeous face that’s only gotten more beautiful in the years he’s been gone and wonder why some beautiful French woman hasn’t gotten Theo to settle down with her. He’s successful, comes from money, and stunning. In addition, he’s sweet but just enough not to make him seem like a pushover.
“So tell me, why aren’t you with some movie star or supermodel? I thought I heard something about you and a woman named Celeste a while back.”
“You were always too fond of me, Ava. I don’t think movie stars and supermodels even notice me, not that I spend a lot of time around those two groups of people.”
He intentionally avoids telling me anything about that woman I know he was dating.
“You’re a world-famous racecar driver. I thought that was the best occupation to meet famous people,” I say as he slips his arm around my waist to keep me from stepping in a hole on the pathway.
I lean against his side as he laughs at my assumption. “Not exactly. The only people I usually meet are racing fanatics, who tend to be men, and mechanics, who also tend to be men.”
We walk a little further before I broach the subject of the girlfriend again. “So about this Celeste woman. Any truth to the rumor?”
He shakes his head and grins, which tells me there is some truth to it. “You act like I’m the lead story on TMZ every day. Trust me. If you heard rumors about me, they probably aren’t true, but I can’t imagine who would be telling you that.”
Unable to remember where I heard he was serious about some Celeste woman, I say, “It doesn’t matter where I heard it. Maybe your father told me. It could have been Eleanor. She’s very in tune with all the racing info and rumors, believe it or not.”
Theo stops walking and stares down at me. “I don’t believe that. Fine, since you want to know, I’ll tell you. Yes, I was dating a woman named Celeste. She wasn’t a supermodel or movie star. She was a racer like me, actually. It didn’t work out, though, and that’s pretty much the end of the story.”
I search his expression for any sense he still cares for this ex-girlfriend of his, but I find nothing to say he’s upset they aren’t together anymore. “Oh. Well, should I say I’m sorry you two broke up?”
“I’m not, so you shouldn’t think you should be. It was just something that happened for a while, and now it’s over.”
The way he can be so casual about things has always impressed me. I wish I could be like him and treat endings so calmly. For me, when something doesn’t go the way I wanted it to, I fixate on it, always wondering what went wrong.
Then again, maybe he didn’t want it to turn out as his happily ever after with this Celeste. That’s a possibility.
We walk along in silence as the crowds around us thin out to just a few people ahead of where we are. It’s a beautiful spring night with just a hint of chill in the air that still comes with evenings in this part of the country. I shiver a little when a tiny breeze through the trees makes me wish I had brought a sweater with me.
“You’d think I’d spent my entire life down where my brother lives and I didn’t know it would get down into the fifties here at night in early May,” I say as I wrap my arms around my body.
“Do you want to go back?” Theo asks, his voice full of concern.
Shaking my head, I keep walking. “No. I’m fine. I just wish I brought a sweater.”