Page 78 of The Problem with Princes
“Fine. I will do nothing about it but be here for you.” He looks so sincere I almost start to cry again. What is wrong with me? I’m like a volcano hot mess.
I sigh. “Okay. I didn’t get the project because I was fired instead.”
Ty scoots forward on whatever he is sitting on and comes close to the phone. “Turn on your camera, Grace. I need to see your face.”
“Look at you rhyme,” I mutter.
“I mean it. This isn’t a faceless kind of call now. I need to see your face.”
I take a shaky breath but press the camera button. I give my perkiest smile and a little wave into the camera. “Hi,” I say. Wow, Texie is right. I look terrible.
His shoulders relax a fraction when he sees me. “You don’t know how good it is to see you.”
I nod. “You, too.”
He settles back into what looks like a couch, but not one that I recognize. He must be in his rooms. “Why did you get fired?”
I look up to the ceiling. Not in an irritated way, but more of a trying-to-stop-myself-from-crying kind of way. “Because he thinks I was lying about staying on vacation longer. And he says he can’t trust me anymore.”
“The pictures.” He runs his hand down his face, his head shaking. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I whisper.
“Please let me call your boss and explain. Or Sander. Or even my dad. It’s the least he can do.” His lip curls slightly.
“No.”
He looks at me though the phone and I feel like he can see through me. “Please, let me fix this.”
“You promised. No fixing. This is my problem and I need to handle it.”
“Okay. But it’s under protest.”
I grin at him. “It’s noted in the record, counsellor.” I flick up my brows and completely relax since seeing his name on my screen. “You sound like Texie sometimes.”
“I’ve been called worse.” He shrugs.
I chuckle. “I’ll be sure to tell her that.” There is something I want to ask him, but I’m not sure how to. Maybe this is a rip off the Band-Aid kind of situation. “So my mom called this morning.”
He looks apprehensive. “And what did she say? She probably hates me for what I’ve done to you.”
I shake my head. “No, actually, she did ask if you were my boyfriend.”
He nods cockily. “And what did you say?”
“That since the photo debacle, I’m not sure.”
His smile drops. “You told me you’d be my girlfriend. Why would some stupid pictures on the internet change that?”
I can’t help my smile. I feel all jittery again, like I did when I was with Ty in Atraxia. Before the photo fiasco. “I just wasn’t sure. Your parents didn’t seem too onboard with the idea.”
His head shakes. “They were just ill-informed. That’s all. They’ll come around.” He stares hard at me. “They’ll have to.”
I want to believe him, but with everything else working against us, it feels like just something else in a long line.
His face lights. “Hey, you don’t have a job anymore.”
“Wow, it’s almost like you and Texie are the same person.”
