Mom and Dad were in the kitchen together. Mom was flipping pancakes on the grill and Dad was prepping the myriad of toppings.
“Morning, Pumpkin,” Dad said as I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Late night?”
I groaned. “Yeah. Work was dead, but Lucas came in just before closing.”
“Oh?” Mom asked, turning around and wiggling her eyebrows at me. “You two hung out after work?”
I rolled my eyes. Mom had been trying to get me and Lucas together for years. She loved him, so did Dad, and Lucas loved them in return. It was just one big love-fest whenever he came over.
“Yeah, he needed consoling,” I replied with a sigh as I took some pancakes and smothered them in berries, maple syrup, and whipped cream. “He proposed to Clarissa last night, and she broke up with him.”
I didn’t mention the other bit of news…I wasn’t quite ready to discuss it with them. I would tell them—the truth, not the fake news—I just needed to make sure Lucas didn’t suddenly wake up and retract his offer. It could happen. Lucas was more than likely hyperventilating over it right now.
“I never liked her,” Mom said, turning the grill off and taking the plate Dad handed to her.
“Now, Livvie,” Dad said, and Mom rolled her eyes.
“You can’t tell me you liked her, Adam,” she said.
Dad sighed. “Whether I liked her is not the point. Lucas did, and it is our job to support him.”
Mom grunted as she shoved a mouthful of pancake in her mouth, and I suppressed a smile. My dad was the consummate peacemaker and Mom was the opinionated one. It was where I got it from.
“Oh, and there’s other news too,” I said. “The king has summoned Lucas.”
“The king? Which king?” Dad asked.
“The new king of Kalopsia,” I replied. “The island in the Mediterranean where the Andinos are from.”
“What did the king want?” Mom asked.
“He wants Lucas to be part of his court,” I replied, taking another bite of pancake. “With a title and everything,” I mumbled around my mouthful.
“That’ll be good for Lucas,” Dad said. “He needs a chance to grow into himself.”
“When does he leave?” Mom asked.
“Next month, I think,” I said, putting my fork down. Now would be the perfect time to tell them about the other development, but…I needed to talk to Lucas first and make sure this was still what he wanted. I couldn’t deny being excited about the prospect of jetting off to a Mediterranean island for a few weeks and I was even more excited about the prospect of having finally nailed down a subject for my dissertation, but I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that the idea of spending a few weeks with Lucas wasn’t also a big draw card.
Totally as platonic friends, of course. I mean, I missed my buddy. We didn’t get to spend as much time together as we used to, and now that he and Clarissa had broken up, it would be nice for it to be just the two of us again.
Lucas
I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, groping for the remote to close the blinds. The whirring noise as the blinds slid closed made me wince, and I rolled over, burying my face on my pillow and praying for death to come on silent feet and whisk me away into the ever after.
What the heck happened last night?
I’d had my fair share of hangovers, it was a byproduct of being part of a family who distilled hard liquor, but this was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
Why? Why had I gotten so drunk…and more to the point, what the heck had I been drinking?
I groaned again and flopped back onto my back, blinking my eyes open to stare up at the ceiling, thankful the blinds had dimmed the room. Something must have gone terribly wrong for me to be feeling like this today, unless I’d contracted some sort of killer flu…but no, I didn’t feel flu-ish. This was definitely a hangover. So…why?
I rubbed my face, my stubble rasping far-too loudly on my hands, and pushed up to lean against the bedhead. My mouth was bone dry and my tongue felt like sandpaper. I needed about a gallon of water and two-dozen Tylenol…okay, not that many, I wasn’t that reckless.
I wasn’t that reckless.
No, I wasn’t, so what had prompted me to get blackout drunk? I most definitely hadn’t been drinking raïda. I’d had enough raïda hangovers to know this wasn’t the same.
So what did I remember?
I had a date with Clarissa. I was taking her to Menton, and I was going to propose.
I took a breath as my gut clenched with the familiar anxiety I’d felt on the drive to pick her up.
Okay, so I went to her place, and she…didn’t like my tie. Right. And then we fought on the way to the restaurant, although, fought was too strong of a word to describe the disagreement we had about the route I’d chosen. Dinner had been fine even if Clarissa had seemed a little distant and then I proposed and then…
Oh God.
She said no.
The memory of the most embarrassing moment of my life rushed back into my head and I winced. She’d not only refused my proposal, but she’d broken up with me in front of the entire restaurant. Thank goodness we were at the swanky Menton where people were too polite to film me crashing and burning and then posting it to social media.
God…I hope no one filmed it and posted it to social media. My mother would kill me.
I sighed and squeezed my eyes closed. Okay. I started drinking after she left me sitting at the table alone with a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamond ring mocking me. How could I have misread the situation so badly? I’d thought Clarissa wanted me to propose. I thought she’d been subtly hinting for me to propose.
But no. She’d fallen in love with someone else. Someone who was more exciting than me. Someone who could give her passion and…and…and what? It sounded way too out of control for my liking.
Okay, fine. Clarissa broke up with me. I could live with that. My heart wasn’t broken, despite my night of over indulging in…scotch. That’s what it was. Yeah, I didn’t think I’d ever drink another glass of scotch as long as I lived.
With another hearty groan, I forced myself out of bed and stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. I needed a shower and to brush my teeth and water to slake this ridiculous thirst.
I grabbed the Tylenol out of the bathroom cabinet and filled a glass with water. I gulped the water greedily and swallowed the pills, praying they would work immediately.
I stripped off as the shower heated and then I slid under the water with a groan of relief. I would be forever grateful for running water and hot showers.
I let the water pound on my neck and shoulders and breathed in the steam, hoping it would help clear my head. There was something about the night before I was forgetting…something important. I didn’t know what was more important than my girlfriend of two years breaking up with me at the exact moment I proposed to her, but the feeling remained. It was an irritating itch under my skin.
As the shower slowly made me feel more and more human, my brain kicked into gear and I ran through my to-do list for the day. Saturday meant I didn’t have to go in to the office, but if I still planned to go to Kalopsia, then I needed to make sure all my work was up-to-date and even ahead of schedule. And I’d have to return the ring.