ZANDER was asleep on his stomach by the pool when his baby brother Christopher came up and pressed a cold bottle of beer to his back.
Zander shot up and swung his arm around, nearly slugging his brother in the face. “Toph, man, you can’t do that shit.”
“Is that any way to greet your brother you haven’t seen in months?”
“Yeah, what is with that? Are you hiding out somewhere?”
Topher sat down on the lounge chair across from his brother and tipped his bottle of beer against Zander’s.
“Finishing up my studies,” he said. “Nearly done with my master’s degree. Decided to come home to help everyone get ready for the wedding. Though it seems there’s not much for me to do in that regard.”
Zander nodded. “Don’t you know by now? You put on the uniform that your mother tells you to wear, you show up at the appointed hour, and you smile and wave. Then once you’re in a private venue without paparazzi, you drink heavily and flirt your ass off.”
Topher laughed. “Same old Zander,” he said. “I’m glad to see your outlook on life hasn’t evolved.”
Which normally would have made Zander feel almost proud, but instead made him wonder if perhaps a little evolution might be in order. “What do you mean I haven’t evolved? I’m as mature as anybody else.”
Topher held up his fingers in the A-OK symbol, making a circle of his thumb and pointer finger. “Right, Z. Whatever you say. I’ll remember that when I need a babysitter for my kids one day.”
“I’d be a terrific uncle,” Zander said a little defensively. “Your kids would be lucky to have uncle Zander caring for them.”
His brother nodded. “I have a feeling the kids would be eating cereal topped with beer and that by day three of the parents being gone, a strange woman in a French-maid costume would be tending to the little tykes.”
“You’re a dick,” Zander said, laughing.
“Takes one to know one,” his brother said with a wink. “But seriously, what is up around here? Couldn’t find a soul when I got home. I called out and went to all the usual hangouts to no avail. Where is everyone?”
Zander shrugged. “I think Emma’s off with her friend Caroline, who’s been working overtime renovating Adrian’s new apartment in the palace and the house they’re getting once they’re married. If I’m not mistaken, your mother and father are off to Greece for a several days of trade talks or some such nonsense. Adrian? I don’t know. He’s off doing something to prepare to be the king. And my bet is you’ll find Isabella at a spa or shopping for more clothes.”
“Wow, so glad my arrival has been so highly anticipated.”
Zander shrugged. “I didn’t even know you were gone, man.” He smiled. “Okay, I knew you hadn’t been around, but honestly, no one told me you’d be back so soon. You’d think someone around here would keep a calendar of our comings and goings.”
Topher pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to his brother. “You mean like this?” It was a calendar of the royal family’s official schedule.
“Okay, fine, they do keep a calendar. But this is just the official stuff. See,” he said, pointing at the list, “ it doesn’t say where Izzy is, for instance.”
“Yeah. I think that would be called spying if they got down to such a granular level.”
“Speaking of spying, you should check out Emma’s friend. She’s pretty hot. But she doesn’t seem to be interested in anyone but Darcy.”
“Darcy? Why would she want him? My ass is better looking than that face of his. Plus he’s commitment averse.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“Good point.”
They gave each other a fist bump.
“Meh. I’m not looking right now,” Topher said. “Taking a break and relaxing for a few weeks. My head is so tired from all the studying I’ve been doing, I can’t take on anything that will make me think.”
“Since when do women make you think?” Zander no sooner said that than he started pondering the very woman who was annoyingly not only making him ruminate to the point of distraction but also stressing him out.
Topher squinted at his brother. “What’s that look on your face for?”
“Look? What look?”
“It was weird. I swear, Zander, if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say it was that same stupid lovey-dovey face you had for that girl in boarding school.”
Zander fell back on the chaise lounge. “My God, enough with Alicia already. I don’t love Alicia, okay?”
Topher held his hands up as if turning himself in to the police. “Whatever you say, dude. I believe you, okay?”
“What time is it?” Zander said, changing the subject.
“Daytime.”
“That’s helpful,” he said, pulling out his phone and seeing he’d missed a message. “Crap. Gotta follow up on something.”
He turned over to get some privacy from prying eyes as he read the message.
Hello, ZANDER. With his name in all caps, he knew he was being taken to task. This is Andi’s mother here. I can’t believe you tricked me and didn’t tell me your name is Zander—that Zander. Zander from the swimming pool at Andi’s work.
Zander cocked his eyebrow. From the swimming pool at Andi’s work?
Peggy! It’s so nice to hear from you again, he typed. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. Some people call me Alexander, so that’s how I introduced myself to you.
Yes, but you didn’t tell me you’re the young man who cavorted naked in the pool at Andi’s hotel and got her fired!
Fired? Huh?
I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I never got Andi fired from anything.
Maybe not directly, but circuitously you did. She was working a shift that afternoon and couldn’t get any work done because the crowds had built up so crazy huge once you showed up there and stripped down. Andi had taken a drink order and couldn’t get past the crowd, so she decided to take a quick picture of you to cheer me up. You see, my husband had just left me and I was a little blue.
Aha... so that’s how she had a picture of him. An eyewitness, she was...
So to get this straight, Andi saw me there? She was working at that pool? But you said I got her fired. How could that be?
Well, after she took the picture, her boss cornered her and demanded she turn in her apron and her electronic ordering pad, and he fired her for violating a guest’s privacy.
By guest, you mean me?
The one and only. Andi had been saving money to pay for her grad school, so after she lost that job, she went into a real funk. She couldn’t find another well-paying job that worked around her school hours. And she couldn’t afford to pay for her classes. She spent months plopped on the sofa, binge watching shows on Netflix. Finally I talked her into just taking off and traveling. Was the best thing she could’ve done.
So she’s not mad at me for what happened since it all worked out?
Oh, she’s mad at you, all right. But I think she’ll get over it.
Zander pondered that one. No way in hell would she get over it, at least not without some serious ass-kissing apologizing on his part. But it was all finally starting to make sense. That was why she was so crazy weird around him. She was pissed at him! He was sort of relieved—at least now he knew she wasn’t a veritable crackpot. She was just a raging female with a memory like an elephant. No big deal to overcome that one...
Begging your pardon, Peggy, but I’m under the impression that your daughter hates me because of this.
I’d say that’s a fair assessment of the situation.
And would you say that Andi is one to hold grudges for a long time?
Are you kidding? She’s still not talking to my second husband, and he dumped me ten years ago.
Great. Zander knew he had his work cut out for him.
Thank you for this information. You don’t know how enlightening it’s been.
Oh we haven’t even gotten to the enlightenment part yet. I wanted to talk to you about that little naked stunt you pulled. What on earth were you thinking? Don’t you know that things like that don’t happen in a vacuum? That people like me will end up seeing you naked? (Even though I ought to thank you, since I really needed the laughs I got out of it). I’d imagine your mother was downright apoplectic with that one. You’re too old to be acting like an irresponsible schoolboy. You’ve got a country to help run!
Of course Zander knew that wasn’t ever going to be the case, but it wasn’t worth engaging in that conversation. And what was with her laughing at him in the picture? She thought he was hilarious starkers?
Yes, Peggy, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m absolutely embarrassed that you’ve seen me naked. Well, actually I don’t think being naked is such a big deal, but I am sorry if other people are embarrassed about seeing me naked. I promise I won’t do that again.
With that he shut off his phone and buried his face in the cushion of his chair, groaning loudly, completely forgetting his brother was still sitting right there.
“You’re pretty engrossed in whatever it is you’re doing there,” Topher said, his eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “A new girlfriend after all?”
Zander scrubbed his face with his hands. “It’s way more complicated than that. No. I don’t know what this is. I just know that what I did affected someone else in a bad way, and I need to make amends.”
Now the only problem was how he could do that when the two of them weren’t even in communication with one another. Dammit.