ANDI was livid. How dare he snoop through her phone. It was akin to poking around in someone’s medicine cabinet at a party or—worse still—her underwear drawer.
Ugh. So that whole time he knew I’d seen him and snapped a shot of the event, no less. If she was being honest, maybe she was a bit embarrassed at herself. After all, she was the one who’d taken the picture. And she was the one who’d kept it on her phone. Granted, she’d done that as a reminder of how far she’d come. And also for the laugh of it. After all, it’s not often you get to snap off a picture of a hot naked man, let alone a prince. But that was none of his business! And if he didn’t want it on her phone, well, then, he shouldn’t have stripped down to nothing in broad daylight with all those witnesses.
Getting back to that reminder of how far she’d come... Sure, she’d kept Zander’s picture on her phone for that general reason. And it didn’t hurt that this gave her a perfect excuse to refer back to it. Each time she got a little homesick, all she had to do was open up her phone and look at that image, and she knew she was on the right course. She wasn’t still stuck in some two-bit job, slinging drinks for sloppy-drunk patrons, with a surly boss willing to dump her on her ass for a minor transgression. She was, all things considered, free. Untethered by a demanding career in some crap cubicle. Not stuck with a lease and a car and a pile of bills to pay each month. Granted, it wasn’t always easy to figure out how to sustain her itinerant lifestyle, but she’d managed so far. And she’d continue to do so until the pull of stability started to tug on her, which hadn’t even crossed her mind at that point.
Andi paused for a second as her thoughts erupted in her angry mind. If he was upset about that picture being there, wouldn’t he have just deleted it from her photos? Instead, he’d made it her screen saver. Was he mocking her by doing that? Or was he just the world’s biggest egotist and perfectly happy to flaunt it?
And what about that dance, if you could call it that? The two of them, lost in that ever-so-protracted slow dance while everyone else was very much not slow dancing, because it was electronica being played after all. It was loud and throbbing, the type of music you could feel as much as hear.
Speaking of feeling, she hadn’t imagined that, that was for sure. Of course, it hadn’t been the first time she’d witnessed that thing of his in action. Well, not in action—thank God he hadn’t put it to work in the swimming pool in Vegas!—but in its more, uh, active state. Andi could probably count on one hand the number of times she’d even borne witness to one of those things, let alone had an active role in its, well, activity. And twice it was his. Correction: this second time she hadn’t seen it, per se. But boy, had she felt it. And she wasn’t complaining. Yet.
Because one thing Andi was good at doing was figuring out how to make something good seem particularly bad. Like blaming Zander in the first place. Or never forgiving her one-time best friend Tamara Greely for snaking her boyfriend Matthew O’Connell from her in college, even though she really hadn’t seen much of a future with Matt beyond their shared interest in working at a soup kitchen together. Aside from that, they’d pretty much run out of things to talk about.
After all, Tamara and he did get married, which sort of gave credibility to their then-nascent relationship. Maybe the two of them had just known. Which made her wonder if she was supposed to just know. And did “just knowing” mean getting all hot and bothered when slow-dancing with a decidedly stunning specimen of male-dom, taking comfort in knowing she played a role in his getting equally hot and bothered? Andi made a mental note to reach out to her ex-friend someday and bury the hatchet. Which she could do now that she had her phone back, but nah. Maybe later. She was too busy stewing. Or mulling. Or maybe kicking herself for her perhaps overly dramatic exit strategy. Which of course was not so much a grand plan but rather maybe more of an impulsive response to her own embarrassment.
Andi thought back to the old woman. The prince has what you need, she’d said. Had she seen him pick up the phone? Is that was that meant? Or was it some deeper meaning? Maybe she somehow knew that Andi hadn’t gotten laid in a good long while. Nah, impossible. Maybe that was just a weird coincidence and Andi should move on. Which was fine, because she hadn’t exactly left things in a state in which they could get together ever again. Pretty much that thwack across the face left no options. Besides, they hadn’t exchanged contact information. She tucked that away in her head and decided to contact her mother just to let her know she was reachable again.
She typed to her mom, Wanted to let you know I found my phone!
Her mother replied, That nice young man found you?
What nice young man?
Why, that Alexander fellow. He texted me earlier tonight to let me know he’d found the phone! He was concerned you’d be worried about it. He said you’d fallen. Are you all right?
Andi rolled her eyes. Prince Charming already had her mother in his thrall. He was a damned maestro.
I’m fine, Mom. It was a little spill. Don’t worry about it.
Of course I’m worrying. You’re my only baby and you’re far from home. Thank heavens that nice man was looking after you.
Andi suppressed a little shriek. She didn’t want to wake Rafaele, though from the sounds of it he and Elisabetta weren’t exactly snoring away in their room...
He’s not a nice man, Mom.
He’s a bad boy and his kisses were about the most perfectly bad boy kisses imaginable.
He seemed the perfect gentleman to me, her mom replied. Seemed that he was very concerned about your welfare. I hope you thanked him appropriately.
Oh, yeah, I did that and then some.
Of course I used my manners. But it’s no big deal. I won’t see him again, so all good.
Maybe you should look for him. A good man is hard to find, you know.
And a hard man is good to find, she couldn’t help but think as she heard the headboard banging in the next room over. While Couchsurfing was awfully convenient, sometimes it had its downside...
Yes, Mother. Indeed that is true. A good man is hard to find. Good thing I’m not looking.
She stared at the busy thought bubble on her phone, awaiting her mother’s reply to that one, knowing full well she’d be lowering the boom.
Not to hurry things along or anything, but you’re not getting any younger. Those eggs aren’t going to preserve themselves, you know.
Andi sighed. Her mother and those dying eggs. She loved nothing more than to remind Andi about the diminishing fertility of the adult woman.
I’m taking my chances on my eggs, Mom. Pretty sure they’re not going anywhere in the next few months.
Well, if you get a chance, maybe give him another try.
Andi knew it was time to wrap up this convo.
Roger that, Mom.
Promise?
Cross my heart and hope my eggs don’t die.
You’ve always been a smart-ass, Andrea.
That’s why you love me so.
I do! Bunches and bunches. Be safe, my darling!
Andi shut off her phone, turned over to one side on the pull-out couch, and piled her blanket and pillow atop her ears, hoping to muffle the sounds of the fertility dance being acted out by her genteel host and his Italian lover.
It was going to be a long night.