serious. No one could look at the two of you and think, She’s a stuck-up prig.”
Against his will, he smiled. He agreed with his sister. If the palace, if Ele, wanted to overhaul her image, it wouldn’t be hard. He couldn’t help thinking about Ele at the bonfire. She had been so open and carefree. Every time he’d stolen a glimpse of her, she was smiling. But he understood his lack of understanding also. He remembered her at St. Peter’s. The woman he’d met on that day was different than the woman he knew now.
“You have to text Mom and tell her to keep that photo to herself. If she shows the rest of the family, the photo will go viral by morning.”
Sheena held up her phone. “Dead, remember?”
“So, how’d you send the photo?”
She looked at him like he was stupid. “From your phone.”
“As me or as you?”
Guilty, she said, “You.”
Tristan whipped out his phone. He opened his text messages. There were too many from his friends and family, congratulating him and the team on their victory. He scrolled past the unopened text from Ele, not trusting himself to read it in front of his sister. He found his outgoing text to his mom and read it.
“Seriously?”
Sheena smirked. “It sounded like a caption you would write, and I included emojis.”
“I cannot believe you sent this to Mom. I don’t ever send her my posts, and I don’t text her like I’m posting.”
“Then, what are you worried about? She’ll probably know it’s not from you.”
“I don’t want anyone else to think I wrote, Global warming is not just a theory. And that was stupid.”
“Ice melting. Global warming. Makes total sense.”
“I don’t like you right now.”
“It’s because you’re hungry. You know you don’t like anyone when you’re hungry.”
He banged his head against the wall. Once. Twice. Then, he shot off a quick text to his mom. It was the middle of the night at home, so he had that going for him.
“Come on. Let’s get to Rowan’s, so we can eat.”
His friends greeted Sheena like a long-lost sister with big hugs and affection, but it took no time for them to trade insults and verbal spars with her. It was what made Sheena the closest of his siblings. He loved his other sisters just as much, but Sheena was who he hung out with. They had contemplated living together, but when she asked him if he could handle it if she brought a man or a woman home, his immediate response had been no. Instead, they each had their own flat in the same building.
After they ate, they got the cards out. Tristan’s mobile burned a hole in his pocket, his hand itching to retrieve it, his mind dying to know what the text said. But it was an hour before Sheena ducked into the washroom. Tristan stood on the pretense of getting drinks and pulled out his phone. He found the text from Glass Slipper.
Congratulations on the win! So happy for you. Want to know you are okay. Can I see you?
It took a moment for him to make the connection with the fan incident and her concern for him. It was a blip on the match. The loud crash, the fan running onto the pitch, had hardly even registered. But he could imagine it would have bothered Ele. He had an hour until he had to be in his room. It wasn’t a hard curfew, but with every successive win, he got a bit more caught up in keeping things the same.
Can you come to me?
Her text had come in over two hours ago, but her response to his came in seconds. Before he returned to the card game, he knew he only had to wait an hour to see her. The whole of the game, his mind was on what would happen when it was over. With the people he was closest to surrounding him, he fought to stay engaged.
“We have an open session in the morning,” Rowan reminded them as they got up to go. “The press will be allowed there for the first fifteen minutes. Should be a light practice.” He turned to Sheena. “We have time in the afternoon.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can entertain myself and hook up with you later.”
“You could come to practice,” Tristan offered.
“Right. Maybe.” Sheena kissed Rowan and Caleb.
“I’ll walk you to your room,” Tristan offered.