A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Fifty-Two

I don't remember walking back to my room or curling up into a ball on my bed or starting to cry. I only remember Marinette knocking softly on my open bedroom door, carrying a tray filled with food.

"Genevieve?" she asked quietly, stepping into the room. "Are you all right?"

I could just pretend to be asleep.

I took a deep breath and rolled over to face her. "Hi, Marinette. I'll be okay." I tried to force a smile onto my face, without much luck.

"Oh, Miss." She brought the tray over and sat it on the table beside my bed. "At least get up to eat. It's not all bad."

I rolled my eyes at that last one. It looks pretty bad from here.

"You have people that love you," she reminded me. "I know I will help you, if I can. I'm sure there's so many others." She paused and twisted her hands together in front of her. "I think you'd make a pretty awesome queen. I can't be the only one."

I laughed, but it came out like a bitter sob. "Sorry, but right now it feels like you might be."

"I'm sorry, Miss." She smiled and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "When we saw you walk through the doors on the first day, we just knew you'd be good at this. Even my Mama says so. She says you look like the kind of girl with her head on straight who can make decisions."

I couldn't help the corners of my lips lifting into a smile. "Do you see your mother often?" Anything to take the focus off me being a princess one day.

She shook her head. "No. Only about once a month. She lives with my sister in Sauçon."

"That's not too far, is it?"

"A couple hours, Miss. I don't get many days off so I go to them as often as I can."

"Do you like working here?" I asked her, hoping I wasn't overstepping the bounds of whatever piece of friendship we had.

"I do now, Miss," she said. "But I should leave you to attend to my other duties."

"Thank you, Marinette," I said before she could turn to leave the room. "And thank you for saying you think I'd make a good queen."

"You would." She smiled, her eyes crinkling up in the process. "And I think I know a few other people who believe it, too." She shrugged, curtseyed, and turned to leave.

Just before she left the room, she turned around to face me. "If I may be bold, Miss Genevieve. I just hope you can realize it, too."

I sighed. Yeah, I could maybe figure it out, if I thought I'd ever make it to the point of being a queen. Right now, I have two days to figure out how to even get to go on a second date.

By the time I thought to answer her, Marinette was long gone.

I turned to sit sideways on my bed and picked the cloche up off the top of my plate. The scent of perfectly spiced pumpkin soup filled the air and I forgot everything for a moment as I dug into the delicious meal in front of me.

It tasted even better than it smelled.

* * *

I hoped to finish dinner and then take time to figure out what I was going to do next. But the more I ate, the more I wanted to be back home in my own bed, eating my mother's famous bread and jam, rather than here.

Maybe going home wouldn't be so bad. I'd get my pay and Clarence would be back for school in the fall. It's not the end of the world. Except it is, because there's no way they'll let him near me if I mess this up! But would that stop him? Would I want it to?

There was only one way I knew of to figure out what to do with a hard choice. I picked up my phone and dialed my mother's number.

"Hi, Mom," I said when she finally picked up the call.

"Genevieve!" she sighed as the camera settled on her face. "I'm so glad I could reach you. Our phone's been ringing off the hook all day. Are you okay?"

I hesitated for a half a second, and it was enough for her to know the answer.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Her face contorted slightly, as only a mother's could, when looking at her baby in pain.

"I'll be okay," I tried to reassure her. "I'll figure out a way through it. I always do."

Mom sighed and pursed her lips, the face she always made when she was thinking about how to tell me something that would be hard to hear. I steeled myself for what was about to happen.

"Genevieve, you don't have to figure out a way through everything," she spoke gently and softly, like she used to when she read me bedtime stories. "If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that some things aren't worth pushing through."

"Yeah, Mom. I get it, but--"

"Look at what happened with Josh," she pointed out. "Look what happened when you just figured out a way through everything. I hate to see you doing this to yourself again, Baby Girl."

Low blow, Mom.

"This isn't the same thing, Mom." I was trying so desperately to make her see how this was the same problem because it was caused by the same guy, not because of something that was wrong with me. "Josh is at fault in this one, too. This has nothing to do with me or Clarence, so pushing through is totally different this time."

I heard her try to speak, but I cut her off.

"I'm not finished." I held up my hand. "I know I can figure this out and I know it will be fine, okay? Don't worry."

I cursed myself for having called with video, knowing full well that my mother could read every emotion that crossed my face.

"Genevieve, you can always come home." Her eyes pleaded with me through the phone. "You'll be at law school next year anyway. It's only a few months."

"I know, Mom. It's not that I don't want to spend time with you it's just--" I signed. What was it, exactly?

"All right, I understand. But the offer's there if you want it, okay?"

"Yeah, Mom. Thanks," I said, hoping she couldn't see the tears that I was struggling to keep from falling. "I love you and I'll call you when I figure it out, okay?"

"Okay, Genevieve. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

I hung up the phone and set it down on the bed beside me. A whole phone call later and I was still no closer to figuring out what I wanted to do. Could I pull this off? Was I the right person for the job? Should I just call it quits while I'm ahead and still going to get paid?

The thoughts swirled around my head until a knock on the door brought me back to reality.

"Just a second!" I called out to the guards, frantically wiping the tears from my eyes as I walked towards the door. I smoothed my dress with my hands and took a few steadying breaths. Finally, when I had waited long enough, I took the final steps to the center of the door, awaiting whoever was about to walk in.

"Come in," I said, without a hint of fear in my voice. If only I felt the way I sounded.