39. 39

39

Edie

S o this is what it's like to date Prince Kalle.

Countless other women have gotten to experience it and finally, it's my turn.

I already know I'm not going to want to let anyone else have a chance at this. Because this is comfortable. Sweet. Sexy. Outside the grumbly bear mode, Kalle is warm and funny; he doesn't say much but he makes me laugh.

It's a lot like hanging out with my friend Kalle.

Only now I can touch him whenever I like. I can thread my fingers through his, pat his backside when there's no one looking. When he pulls me under his arm, I turn into his chest and kiss his shoulder, or as close to it as I can reach.

Boyfriend Kalle likes to touch me as much as possible. I don't mind one bit.

We stop at the high school where there is a baseball practice going on. I knew Kalle helped out with the school team, but I had no idea he acted as a mentor to some of the players.

Riley, in grade ten, has to show him the split-fingered fastball he mastered. Kalle thinks it was upward of eighty miles an hour, and tells him to keep working on his speed and he'll get there .

He'll get to the major leagues, Kalle tells me under his breath. He's convinced this kid will be the fourth Laandian to make it to the big leagues.

Then there's Conor, who plays centre field and can hit well past the fences, and David who sits on the bench for most of the game but is keen and so determined to get better. Amy, the only girl on the team. At six feet, she can run like the wind and lay down the most perfect bunt Kalle has ever seen.

He tells her that—twice—and I think she might drop to the ground in hero worship.

And then there's Caleb, his dark hair cut in the mohawk fade that Kalle sported before it grew out, playing second base with a number eleven on his shirt, same as Kalle wore. I know Kalle sees himself in the sixteen-year-old.

I remember sixteen-year-old Kalle, and I see him in Caleb too.

After the practice, Kalle hangs out with the kids for a bit and then we take off. I expect him to stop at the bar to check things, but he drives straight through town without stopping.

"Where are we going?" I finally ask.

"Castle. Dad thinks he's ready for dinner," Kalle says casually, but everything inside me snaps to attention.

"Family dinner?"

He glances over with surprise because even I can hear that my voice has a touch of hysteria in it. "Everyone's home, so he wants us together."

"But I'm not—"

"What aren't you?" Kalle interrupts. "I don't know what you're not. Welcome? Expected? Allowed to come? You're all of those. "

"I can't go wearing this," I protest, plucking at the fabric of my T-shirt. There's no way I can dine with King Magnus in jeans and a T-shirt that I've worn helping my father in his garden.

"My father will probably still be in his pyjamas. You can wear whatever you want."

King Magnus in pajamas… I'm not ready for that.

I'm not ready for this.

I've been in a dream world today, pretending Kalle is just Kalle and we're just friends becoming lovers.

I'm not thinking about the future. About what will happen if this works.

And I think it's going to work. Unless, of course, I continue with this freakout, this spiral of fears, of doubts, of thinking that I'm only—

"Edie?"

I look over at Kalle, but I'm not focusing because I'm stuck on this image of me in my pyjamas with the king and the rest of the family in beautiful clothes and jewelry laughing at me.

"Edie. Stop."

"Stop what?" I ask breathlessly. "I'm not doing anything."

"Stop whatever is going on in your head. I can see it, because I know you pretty well, too."

"I'm not… This is a bad—"

"It's not a bad idea. It's a great idea, and something I should have done years ago. You're coming to dinner with my family, and you should have been doing that for a long time now. I'm trying to make up for lost time."

"By throwing this at me at the last minute. We're almost there… "

We go around the bend and I see the castle. Even though I was only here a few days ago, and I've driven this road countless times, today, my breath catches like the first time I saw it as a little girl.

Four stories of not-quite-white stone that shines like the moon in the dark and has a golden glow when the setting sun hits it. It's a fairytale castle come to life with turrets and towers and even a portcullis, always raised in welcome. There are dungeons and secret passages, and behind, overlooking the ocean at the bottom of the cliff, are the gardens that my father took such good care of.

He first brought me here when I was five. Now all these years later, I'm arriving with Kalle. Not as a friend Kalle, but Kalle . My Kalle.

"You done freaking out now?" Kalle asks as we round another curve and the castle disappears from sight.

"Maybe."

"So, no."

"You don't understand, because this is where you live," I protest.

"You're right. I live in a castle and I'm pretty lucky about that. But this is where my family lives. You're coming for dinner with my family, just like I ate lunch with your mom and dad."

"She made grilled cheeses," I mutter.

"They were pretty good. And now you're going to have burgers with Dad and my brothers and Lyra. And sure, that might freak you out if you didn't already know them. "

"Yeah," I concede. "You might have a point."

"I have many points," he says as we round another bend and the castle reappears, closer than ever. "It's all good."