J.T. turned around. “She’s going with me, not the other way around. This country of Lanconia needs some shipbuilding advice, and I’m giving it. My wife goes with me.”
Mitch moved closer to Aria. “I hear Lanconia is very pretty with long, cool nights, nothing but cowbells ringing.”
“True,” Aria said sadly. “No McGuire Sisters, no garbage trucks at three A.M., no honkytonks, no beach parties.”
“You’ve been there?”
“No,” J.T. and Aria said in unison. “We’ve just been reading about it,” J.T. added.
“J.T., honey, I left my wrap in the car. Would you get it for me?” Heather asked.
“Somebody watch the grill,” J.T. called, and stepped away from the light of the fire and into the darkness.
Heather lost no time in following him. “J.T.,” she called, “wait for me.”
He halted. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Don’t give me that,” she said. “I know what’s going on. I had to pay three lipsticks and four pair of nylons to get the information about you and that…that princess. If she’s royalty, I’ll eat my bathing suit.”
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“You better start chewing.” J.T. turned away.
Heather hurried after him. “I also know the marriage is temporary and that she’s going to dump you as soon as you two get to her country. I hear she’s going to throw you over for a skinny little duke with blue blood.”
“Heather, you have a big mouth.” He stopped at Mitch’s car, opened the door, grabbed her beach cover-up, and shoved it at her.
“You used to like my mouth,” she said, leaning into his chest. “Honey, I’m only concerned about you. What are you gonna do when she ditches you? You aren’t fool enough to end up with a broken heart, are you?”
The words hit too close to home. “Let’s go back,” he said, but there was no conviction in his voice.
“I’ll be here, sweetie. When you come back here all alone, I’ll be waiting.”
He looked at her a moment. “I might take you up on that offer,” he said.
They walked back to the firelight together.
“Are you going to stand for that?” Dolly asked, looking up at Heather and J.T. bending over the grill.
“That’s a nice suit,” Aria said absently. “Do you think she bought it here?”
Dolly rolled her eyes then got up and pushed herself between J.T. and Heather. “Your date is over there,” she said pointedly to Heather.
“My date for tonight,” Heather said smugly.
The evening grew worse. Aria and Dolly were depressed and Heather was angry at J.T. for having married someone other than herself, Mitch kept making hints to Aria about having a night of farewell, and the rest of the group wished they hadn’t come.
Aria watched J.T. and Heather and saw that J.T. was making no effort to keep Heather’s hands off his body. In fact, he kept looking at Aria as if he expected something from her. But the more Heather oozed over J.T., the straighter Aria’s back became. She felt closer to being a royal princess tonight than she had in weeks.
By the time the group said good night, Aria’s manners were very formal. “So good of you to have invited me,” she said, and held out her hand to shake—not a hearty American shake but the fingers-only type royalty used to save their hands from hundreds of handshakes in a few hours.
“I’ll see you off tomorrow,” Dolly said softly, a little intimidated by Aria’s manner.
“Thank you very much,” she said to J.T. when he opened the car door for her. “A most pleasant party,” she said as he drove away.
“What, no mimicking of Heather?”
“She is a lovely young woman,” Aria said. “Such lovely hair.”