If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

Author:Claire Kann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Twenty-Two

My fury refused to leave.

I locked myself in my room, hands fisted in my top blanket, staring at the slats underneath the top bunk until my eyes unfocused and crossed. I had to stay still and stay away from everyone. I’d attack the first thing to look at me. Tear into them with unrepentant glee. I hated that about myself almost as much as I loved it. The ballooning feeling of my anger. The way it fit and molded itself into every nook and cranny I had inside of me.

Not even Kara would be safe.

Winston knocked on the door about an hour into my self-imposed isolation, asking if I was still taking the deliveries.

“No.”

I had never missed a shift at Goldeen’s. Even in the summer, if I had caught a cold, I had sat in the back office doing paperwork to help out in some way. Today I had missed not one, but two.

Winston didn’t ask why or if I was okay. But he did knock three times on the door—our code for when one of us had passed the point of all sibling help.

I’m. With. You.

I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to leave.

Unfortunately, when six thirty rolled around, my crown and I had somewhere to be.

Second Street Food and Wine Tasting. Our first Royal Engagement.

Dallas took one look at me before pulling me to the side. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

He nodded, eyes never leaving my face. He had the deepest wrinkle of concern between his perfect eyebrows. “Tonight is really easy. I’ll do all of the talking; you can stand there and be pretty. Maybe a little less ragey? I think there might be a few children out there.”

I scoffed. “No promises.”

“Understandable.” He smiled, tilting his head to the side—his art appreciation stance. “Your angry face is actually pretty cute. I like it.”

“Are you trying to make me laugh?”

“Not a chance.” He winked. “You okay with touching?”

He remembered. Surprise slashed straight through my turbulent anger. When he had come to the diner, he had steered the conversation. I never got to explain my side of what happened at the photo shoot.

But he remembered and he asked. I wanted to thank him, to show him how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness, but all I could manage was, “I don’t know,” because I still didn’t trust my mouth to be civil.

“We’ll keep it PG, then.” He stood next to me, one hand hovering near my lower back, leaned in close, and whispered, “Five minutes. Not a millisecond more. I promise.”

We walked together to the small stage, where a band had already set up. He stood directly in front of the mic, me slightly off to the side. His crown glinted in the rapidly dwindling sunlight. He looked like the kind of king that would star in a racebent historical drama. Unfit for the throne because of a glut of kindness, but eager and ready to learn how to rule.

“Can I have your attention please? Hello?”

The small crowd near the stage quieted, but he didn’t have the attention of everyone present.

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