But the moment Kristy sent him that picture, he told my uncle; the threat of someone so famous, so capable of smearing my uncle’s reputation, weighed too much.
“-rich? Erich, are you hearing me?” Snapping out of my red-tinged thoughts, I twisted to find Amelia watching me intently under slender, furrowed brows. “I said I’ll go with you.”
“Jason and Kristy should come, too.” Roughened by the rage of betrayal, my tone earned me a wide-eyed flash of surprise, but Amelia, too, put the pieces together quickly. Pursing her lips tightly, she nodded a jerk of her head, and I clenched and released my fists in my lap. “I’ll call him and let him know.”
“Yeah- yeah, okay.” Slithering out from behind me, Amelia threw her legs over the edge of the bed to stand up. The gloom of early morning blanketed her bedroom, but she shone brightly- like a star. For a long moment, all I could do was stare and mourn her loss. Slowly reaching to snatch my phone, I watched her wring her fingers before stretching her lithe body long in a graceful arch, and pain rippled from the center of my chest.
How would I muster up the courage to get out of bed without her there to urge me on?
The thought overtook my mind, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I registered the ringing of my call. Blinking hard, I tore my eyes off Amelia’s scantily clad body to glare at the carpeted floor. Forcing deep breaths in and out of restricted lungs, I silently reminded myself over and over that this wasn’t Jason’s fault.
Even though it kind of was, because he married a fucking bitch.
“Hey- Erich. What happened last night? You and Emily just kind of disappeared.” Crackling slightly through the speaker, Jason’s mess up painted a sneer on my face, and I cleared my throat harshly in an attempt to gain control of my raging emotions.
“Amelia- Her name is Amelia. Listen, I’ve got to go back to Kastav. I was wondering if you and Kristy wanted to see me off?” Even to my own ears, my pleasantness sounded sharp, but Jason didn’t seem to notice. More and more, he seemed like a man I didn’t know or want to know, and I tightened my free hand into a fist.
“Right- Amelia. Sorry. Uh- yeah, sure. What happened? I thought you weren’t going back for another month? Is your uncle okay?”
“He’s fine. I’ll meet you at the airport. My flight leaves at 3pm.” Hanging up quickly, I exhaled a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding in a gust. Appearing in front of me, draped in a thin, silk robe, Amelia knelt down to smile, but the action was more sad than reassuring. Even so, I clung to her strength as I beat back the stinging in my eyes, and she extracted my phone from my grip to hold my hands firmly.
“When you flight takes off, I’m gunna punch her.” A shocked bark of hollow laughter burst from my throat, and Amelia’s smile became more genuine as I squeezed her smooth fingers on reflex. “Erich… don’t change. Be the man I know- go back to Kastav because they need you. Put your country before yourself. Be their prince and make their lives better in spite of your uncle. Don’t let him win, because one day, he’ll be dead from the stress of what a terrible person he is, and you’ll come back to me.”
“You don’t change, either.” Reaching to touch her cheek, I stroked her soft skin and glared in my efforts to imprint her face in this moment into my mind. “Never stop working. Never give up. Don’t- don’t stop even when you can’t go forward anymore.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Wrapping her pinky finger around mine, Amelia sealed her promise with a kiss to my knuckles, and the desperation swirling inside me solidified into a dense ball of determination. “Why don’t we go and get lots of ice cream, and we can spend one last day hanging around my apartment?”
“It’s not an apartment…” It’s home. My silent declaration earned me a gentle nod, and Amelia stood up to urge me to my feet.
Three weeks- that was all it took. Three weeks to last a life time. Three weeks to find something better than I had before. Three weeks for me to replay in the secret part of my mind for the troubled times to come.
Because when I came back, there would be no hints. There would be no regret- no bashfulness or hesitation. For one day, Amelia would put down her camera and let someone else take her photo.
And that photo would be film.
Princess for a Summer: An Amanda Clarke Novel Page 12