Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I didn’t want to be, but I was disappointed about this.
“How’d you get on?” Prudence asked me.
“Well, I’m about a third of the way done with cataloging and organizing.”
“Cataloging?” Temperance asked.
“Everything set out there for me,” I answered. “My book won’t have footnotes, but my author’s note will, as will my personal notes, and I’ll need to keep track of where I read something. To make this more straightforward for me later, I start by cataloging my research documents. It also helps if I have to go back to something. It’ll be easier to find it.”
Fitzgibbons was there with a tray on which was my paloma. I took it and thanked him.
“No offense, dear, but that all sounds dreadfully boring,” Temperance decreed.
I shrugged. “To each their own.”
“Indeed,” she replied.
I glanced at Battle to see he was having some quiet conversation with Chastity.
And that would be the theme for the night, through drinks and dinner.
Prudence, Temperance and I would chat, Chastity and Battle had their own whisper thing going on, and only occasionally would they join in with ours.
And on those occasions, it was only Chastity that joined. Battle would just listen.
No one acted like this was weird.
But it was kinda weird.
For the most part, even if I was seated right next to him again, it was like I wasn’t there.
Outside the brow raise, gone was the high and mighty duke, also gone was the flirty player.
At least Bartholomew hadn’t forgotten me.
He’d left his daddy to come lie beside me during drinks and resumed his snooze between Battle and me at dinner.
But I discovered the five-course meal the night before was, in fact, a celebration, because last night’s dinner started with a salad, then a main and finally a dessert.
It was just as delicious, but it wasn’t as grand.
Or as long.
And after it, Chastity and Battle immediately disappeared (alas, Bartholomew went with them). Temperance joined Prudence and I for another drink in the plum parlor, but she eventually wandered away, leaving Prudence and I to chitter chatter for a spell, this being when Gingerface made his appearance, and he and I got introduced.
Eventually, we both got drowsy enough to call it a night, and Prudence and I walked up the stairs together, parting on the landing for her to go south, and me to go north.
Which brought me to now.
Glastonbury day.
We were leaving after breakfast.
And I was thinking His Grace probably thought I was a bit of fun.
But now he had his signed agreement. I wouldn’t write anything he didn’t want anyone to read. I was his sister’s friend, not his. A guest in his house, though he wasn’t there normally, and after he went back to regularly scheduled programming, he would rarely see me.
I’d then be in a cottage an hour away, and except for him approving my chapters, he’d have nothing to do with me.
And I would have nothing to do with him.
Although this left me with a stupidly crushed feeling that made no sense (right, so it did, since he was that gorgeous and that good of a flirt), it was for the best.
I did not need to be flirting or sparring with a friend’s older brother, or my host.
Acquaintances, good.
Anything else, bad.
Looking on the bright side, after my walk through the ballroom, nothing peculiar, paranormal or eerie befell me, so there was that.
“Ugh,” I said to Snowball and Gingerface.
Gingerface purred.
Snowball stepped delicately onto my chest and stared down at my face.
She then jumped off the bed.
And she was right.
Time to get ready for breakfast.
And Glastonbury.
It was only Prudence and I for breakfast again.
And I knew when our breakfast ended.
That being when Fitzgibbons showed at the door and announced, “Your car has been brought around, Miss Vivienne.”
I smiled my thanks to him and immediately looked at Prudence.
She was taking a final sip of coffee and seemed to be okay.
Well then…
Shoo.
The hermit wasn’t freaking about being unhermited.
That was good.
I got up and grabbed my tan crossbody.
Today, I was wearing another slouchy sweater, this one a soft gray-blue, with a flippy navy skirt with little gray-blue flowers that hit a couple of inches above my knees. Also, another pair of booties, these tan with a lower heel, so I could walk farther more comfortably, but they were still cute.
I settled the strap of my bag across my chest, sucked back the last dregs of my own coffee and turned to Prudence.
“Ready for our adventure?”
She studied me a moment before she asked, “How do you make everything seem so fun?”
I tipped my head to the side, contemplating this.
I righted it, sharing, “No clue. But you’re home. I’m not. This might be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, and that’s always exciting. On the other hand, you’ve been there before, and you can trundle down the road and experience it anytime you want. That said, all of life is an adventure, and we can choose how we face it. I choose to decide it’s going to be fun.”