I handed Floressa the two sheets of paper that I’d printed out that morning.
“What are these?” she asked. “Don’t make me read. I have enough to worry about today.”
“You don’t want me reading those out loud,” I said.
“Ouch! Ryder!” she screamed. “That’s the fifth time you’ve poked me.”
“It’s the eighteenth time you’ve moved,” Ryder said through a mouthful of pins. “Numbers are still in your favor. Now, what is this? A script?”
Floressa scrunched up her nose as she read the two sheets. “This”—she pointed to the first sheet—“is brilliant. The other thing you can just throw away, because I’m not going to need it.” She crumpled the paper and threw it on the ground.
I dove for the sheet and smoothed it out. “Just in case you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
“You might.”
“I WILL NOT!” Floressa’s face went red.
The room quieted. Ryder held up a hand, and the rest of the makeup crew fled the room. He spit the pins out of his mouth and stood so he was towering over Floressa. “Do you know how splotchy your skin gets when you’re hysterical? Do you?”
Floressa grabbed a pillow and hid her face.
“Do I need to pull out Celebrity Insider and show you the picture at Ashleigh Vickerson’s fashion show where you got upset and SPLOTCHED UP THE PAGE?”
Floressa lowered her pillow. “No.”
“Good,” Ryder said. “Now, Your Highness.”
“Which highness?” Floressa asked. “We’re both princesses, remember?”
Ryder shot her a murderous look. “Princess Elsa. Can this wait for later?”
“Just giving Floressa what she asked for.” I gave Floressa a pointed look. “It’s up to you what you do with that. I haven’t sent that release to anyone. I also e-mailed it to you, along with contacts, so you can send it out when you’re ready. If you feel good about it.”
Floressa picked at her skirt. “I don’t feel good about any of this. It’s lose-lose.”
“Doesn’t have to be.” I nudged her with the sheet of paper she’d crumpled. “Just hold on to this.”
Floressa folded both pieces of paper and tucked them into her bejeweled clutch. “Fine. I’ll think about it. Sheesh, who’s paying you to be my conscience anyway?”
Ryder looked at both of us and shook his head. “Paying? If this is some royal code, I don’t speak it. But I do speak fashion, and we need to get you in your outfit, Princess Elsa. Floressa, will you be all right for fifteen minutes?”
Floressa was staring off into space. She shook her head like she was trying to shake off our conversation. I knew Floressa was good, deep down. DEEP deep down. I still hoped she wouldn’t send that press release, still hoped she’d support her mom instead. “Just make sure you leave an hour for us to finalize accessories,” she said.
“At least,” Ryder said. He led me into an adjourning guest room, which was being used as a makeshift changing room. Hanging on a hanger was the most spectacular aqua dress I’d ever seen. “For me?”
Ryder took a step back. “A little ice queeny, but you are a winter, and aqua is just too hot right now.”
“I love it,” I whispered, fingering the delicate fabric.
“That’s the first positive thing I’ve heard today,” Ryder said. “Someone needs to slap that girl back to her senses.”
“I would if I could.”
Ryder giggled. “You and me both. Now slip that little number on and let’s make sure the measurements are right.”
I changed in the bathroom. Elsa looked stunning in jammies, so this dress made her absolutely…
“Ethereal.” Ryder gasped when I came back. “You will walk up to every camera at that party and tell them it is a Ryder Sullivan original, understand? That dress will be the highlight of my spring season.”
Even though he wasn’t talking about me, I blushed. “Thanks. I just hope Floressa approves.”
“She won’t.”
“What?” The last thing I needed today was to have Floressa mad at me because of my clothes. “Why? Is she wearing aqua later?”
“Oh, honey. Ryder Sullivan does NOT duplicate his color palette at the same event! No, Floressa doesn’t like to be outshined. It’s a good thing you’re dating Barrett’s brother, because otherwise she would not let you NEAR her boy looking that good.”
“What? Oh, I don’t like Barrett—”
“That’s what I’m saying. But still, little advice, stay back. Going on a motorcycle ride when you’re all grungy is one thing, but that dress…now I’m wondering if I went too far.” Ryder’s phone rang. “Speaking of. I better go check that she’s not burning that paper. What’d you do, add her to a not-hot list?”
“I wish I could tell you,” I said. “You might want to give her a little pep talk on wedding etiquette, though.”
Ryder gave me a confused look and closed the door. I turned and looked at myself/Elsa in the mirror one last time. Despite all the attached drama, I felt a little bad that she was missing this. She deserved to know what it felt like to wear a dress this beautiful.
There was a knock on the door. I called out, “Did you find me a diamond necklace, Ryder?”
“Oh, now you’re stealing jewels?” The door opened, and standing in front of me was a very angry looking Prince Karl. His face softened for a moment when he saw Elsa in her dress, but he shook it off.
My heart stopped. Like, no beats happened. No breathing happened. My blood froze in my body and I just stood there, everything suspended. So maybe I did still like him, a little. Or maybe I was just really in character as Elsa. Either way, Prince Karl was not who I’d expected to see walk through the door. “Karl?”
“Yes, lovely to meet you.” Karl checked his watch. “Now I think you need to give up my girlfriend’s identity before you mess up her whole life. If you have any decency.”
Barrett skidded past the door, completely out of breath. “Meet…Karl. He…came back a little…early. Must have wanted…to see…evergreen trees.”
“Evergreen,” I repeated faintly. So Reed was still here. And now, here was the real Karl. My two crushes, side by side. Oh, boy.
“And the jig is up.” Karl pushed Reed’s hand off his shoulder. “I ran into my idiot brother at the resort and found out he’d ditched so he didn’t have to attend Gina and Aung’s royal wedding. Of course, Elsa had no idea she had booked a sub during such an important time. So I switched with my sub and got the first flight to L.A. to see what was happening myself. Elsa would be here, but Nana Helga wanted to stay at the resort. Plus, Elsa said she knew Desi…That’s your name, right?”
I nodded. He knew my name. This was so weird.
“Well, she said Desi was a good person and that you wouldn’t do anything to harm her. Now I hear from Barrett’s sub that you’re trying to ruin a wedding, and Elsa will be the one to take the blame.” Karl snorted. “Sometimes Elsa is a little too trusting.”
“Now, hold on here,” Reed said. “I didn’t say Desi was trying to ruin the wedding. I said she was trying to stop Floressa from ruining the wedding—”
“I don’t want to hear from you, either.” Karl scowled at Reed. “You’re in on this too. Why would Floressa ruin her own mum’s wedding? I’m going to go have a talk with Floressa, fix this mess, and make sure my girlfriend’s reputation stays intact.”
“Girlfriend?” I asked, finally finding my voice. “Really, is Elsa, like, officially your girlfriend now?”
Karl gave me a weary look. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing.” I swallowed. I could point out that I was a big reason that Karl even had Elsa as a girlfriend, thank you, and now he was repaying me with a bunch of uninformed accusations. “Look, you’re going to stop yelling at us right now. We are helping, and I do NOT appreciate your tone. Got that, Prince Karl?”
Both boys looked at me with shocked expressions. Crazy—they looked s
o…brotherly next to each other.
“Do you really think I would risk my job or hurting Elsa’s reputation and Floressa’s parents’ happiness by ruining this wedding? Seriously?”
“Well, yes,” Karl said sheepishly. “I thought—”
“The only one who would ruin this wedding is Floressa—that’s her choice, and I can’t force her to do anything that she doesn’t want to do. I’ve told her I will help her with a few other requests. Barrett, or Fake Barrett, is in charge of adding some of Floressa’s friends to the guest list. Fine. As for me,
I’m going to stay near Floressa in the hopes that she doesn’t tell the press about the event, and if she does, I’ll do damage control. Elsa would do the same thing, wouldn’t she?”
Karl’s face reddened. “Well, I suppose, given the circumstances, she might—”
“And you, Karl.” I couldn’t help it; when I said his name, I lost the edge in my voice. I would always have a soft spot for Karl. He was my first prince, really, despite all the identity mix-ups along the way. He was trying to be noble for Elsa, and I loved that about him. “Karl, your job is to act normal and stay out of our way. And trust us, okay? Do you think you can do that for me?”
“I think…” Karl looked down at his casual white button-down shirt and dark jeans. “I think I need to find some more formal attire.”
“Do that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting ready. Run along, boys.”
Karl shuffled out of the room. Reed stood there, staring at me in wonder.
“What?” I asked. “Look, I know Elsa looks hot in this dress, but—”
“I’m not thinking about Elsa.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re so…You’ve come a long way from that girl I met at Idaho Potato Days. Remind me never to cross you, okay?”
“Reed, never cross me.”
He grinned, which looked very Reed-like even on Barrett’s adorable face, and punched my arm. “Okay, princess. Get your tiara on. It’s showtime.”
We took a limo to the ranch. Karl was sitting right next to me, and across from us were Floressa and Reed/Barrett. Floressa was snuggled in close to Reed. Another limo could fit in the space between Karl and I.
“I still don’t get why you’re here, Karl,” Floressa said. She’d been rude to him ever since he showed up. Of course, she thought this was Karl’s sub, because the real Karl was supposed to be at the resort with Elsa. “Shouldn’t you be in Fenmar? Or vacationing somewhere?”
“I asked him to come to lend me support,” Reed said. “So I could have, uh, more support to offer you.”
Floressa nestled into Reed’s shoulder. “Don’t I have the best boyfriend, Elsa?”
I barely managed to avoid an eye roll. “Sure.”
“I love you Bear-Bear.”
Reed grinned.
I opened the mini-fridge and looked for a Mountain Dew, anything to avoid watching those two together. I bet Reed loved his job. He can say he doen’t like Floressa all he wants, but seriously, she’s Floressa Chase.
“So, you’ve obviously subbed for Elsa before,” Karl said softly.
“I have in the past.” I scooted across the seat so we could talk. “I like her a lot. I’m happy for you two.”
Karl couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. Yes, she is remarkable. When did you say you subbed for her?”
Karl wanted to know if I’d ever subbed for her when they were together. Façade created an invisible barrier between royals, an unspoken secret. They all knew that they used subs, but no one ever knew when. It had probably never occurred to Karl before that the girl he was dating wasn’t always Elsa. “I subbed for her in Metzahg. Right before Nana Helga allowed her to join the royal scene.”
“Metzahg?” Karl’s face reddened. “Er, do you know…what dates, exactly?”
“Not really.” Of course I did. I’d only replayed that trip a million times in my head. But now that I knew Reed wasn’t Karl’s sub, I had no clue what moments were spent with Karl and what time was with another sub.
“You two are getting snuggly!” Floressa laughed. “Ooh, are you going to kiss?”
“We’re not ones for public displays of affection,” Karl said smoothly.
Floressa thought this was fun because she was making two subs very uncomfortable. Then again, she also thought the boy sitting next to her was really Prince Barrett, so what did she know?
The limo stopped and Floressa clapped her hands. “We’re here! Come on. There’s a party to get to!”
The door opened and Floressa stepped out.
“Ladies first,” Reed said.
I followed Floressa and looked out at the spectacular view. The word “ranch” had thrown me. The green mountains rose on one side of us and dropped off at a cliff over the ocean. The mansion sprawled across the picturesque scene, and white tents were already filled with tables and elaborate silver-and-blue decorations.
“Now, this is a winter wonderland,” I said.
Reed stood behind me. “Not in Idaho anymore, huh?”
We picked our way up the pathway.
Floressa glanced behind her shoulder. “I’ll meet up with you in a bit. I want to tell my mom congratulations first.”
So Floressa was softening. Maybe she would choose to support her mom, which would make my job here a lot easier. I gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Find me when you’re done.”
When she was gone, Reed readjusted his tie. “Hey, Karl, why don’t you come with me? I’ve got to go talk the bouncer into extending the guest list, and Barrett didn’t leave his wallet.”
“You need my money?” Karl asked incredulously.
“It’s for a worthy cause. Come on.” Reed leaned in to me and whispered, “We’ll scope out the guests next to the entrance. Can you watch the people arriving and see if any of them are a Caprice?”
“How will I know?”
“They’ll probably look out of place. You can also try the sub scanner app.”
They hurried away, leaving me standing near the first entrance as guest after guest brushed past me. It was like standing on the red carpet at the Oscars. I recognized nearly every face, some from the movies, others from royal gossip magazines. Hailey Gonzalez, teen superstar, even stopped me. “Oh! I’m so excited to meet you, Your Highness. I’ve been following you and Prince Karl in every magazine. Are you here together?”
I shook my head, thunderstruck. “You’re excited to meet me?”
“Of course. And that dress is to die for. I heard aqua was the new teal.”
I gave myself fifteen more minutes to mingle. Fifteen minutes to fulfill both my acting dreams and royal delights. I would carry that up close people-watching moment with me forever. Or at least until Façade wiped my memory.
I noticed one girl right when she got out of her car, a beat-up VW bug. Her eyes were huge as she took in the country singer to her left.
“Hi!” I said. “I’m Elsa. Who are you?”
“Caprice. One word. I’m an actress.”
Her accent sounded like she was from New York, not another country, but actresses were always changing their accents.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“Staten Island.” She chomped on a piece of gum. “Look, I got an invitation, so I’m supposed to be here. Stop interrogating me, got it?”
I backed away. Meredith had said Caprice’s emotion was kindness. There was nothing magical or nice coming from this woman. But, then again, people change, and she could have hardened since working at Façade.
I clicked onto the sub-scanner application, and I discreetly held my manual behind Caprice, one word, to see if anything happened. The red and green bars that were supposed to increase if there was any magic didn’t move. Although we knew old subs might not register, it confirmed my gut feeling that this wasn’t my girl.
“Well, have fun at the party,” I said.
“Yeah, whatever.” Her jaw dropped. “OMG, is that Floressa Chase walking over here? That’s Floressa Cha
se!”
Floressa stumbled down the lawn toward us. It wasn’t until she got closer that I could see that she was crying.
“Floressa Chase is coming to talk to me. Move out of my way.”
Caprice pushed me to the side and waved at Floressa. Floressa gave her a look of bewilderment before grabbing me in a hug. “Des…Els…can we talk for a second?”
“Sure, sure.” I gave Caprice a little smile—seriously, she better not be the sub—and led Floressa into a garage. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
Floressa started to cry harder, her makeup smudging. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Didn’t mean to what?”
“I sent the e-mail.”
My heart sank. “What e-mail?”
“Don’t ‘what e-mail?’ me. The press release. I sent it out to all the contacts you listed.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I didn’t mean to!” she wailed. “I got on the house computer, and I was just reading the press release one more time. And then Isla came in and was all bouncy and happy and going on how she’s so excited to have a new mom, but Gina is my mom. She’s always been my mom, and it’s just been us two, and now she loves my dad, and she…she probably loves him more, and it’s not only us anymore, and…it’s like everything went black except for the computer screen, and I clicked the mouse. One little click, Desi, and boom…e-mail to ten magazines. And I regretted it right away, I promise. I…I’m awful. I’m an awful person. Who gets mad at her mom for being happy?”
“Oh, Floressa.” I handed her a tissue and my Rouge compact mirror. She wiped furiously at the makeup that had taken hours to apply. I couldn’t handle this girl sometimes. She was selfish, rude, childish, self-absorbed…and relatable. Floressa couldn’t be more different than me, but in this situation, I understood her. Change is hard. Change in your family? Probably the hardest. I’d been a brat to my parents when Gracie was first born, even though I loved her, and I had a moment of odd jealousy when my mom told me about this new baby. Floressa didn’t have many people in her life that liked her for her, who really tried to understand her like Gina did. All this wedding scheming wasn’t so much about trying to mess up her parents’ lives, but about keeping things as they were.
A Princess for Hire Book Page 17