There was a chill between Jonathan and Mamh an invisible but palpable distance Niamh couldn’t tell if it was the wine blurring her vision or if Jonathan’s expressinus was just that cold.
To her, Jonathan stood before her like a mountain of ice
He was staring at her.
Unmoving.
She had expected to see mockery, maybe even contempt, in his eyes. But there was nothing–his gaze was frozen, unreadable, giving away no emotion at all
“Jonathan, you’re here!” Marina called, waving him over as soon as she spotted
him.
Only then did Jonathan shift his attention away from Niamh.
He took the empty seat next to Marina, passing Niamh without so much as a glance, as if she were invisible.
He didn’t say a word.
Neither did Niamh.
Marina, for her part, had thought Jonathan might at least comment on the wine that had been dumped all over Niamh. But he said nothing.
His silence delighted her.
So what if Niamh tried to play the victim in front of Jonathan? He couldn’t care
less.
Marina’s spirits soared; her smile lit up her face, and even her food tasted better.
Niamh slipped away to the restroom to clean herself up as best she could. She dabbed at her face and tried to blot the wine stains from her uniform, not wanting to look completely humiliated.
There was only one set of staff uniforms, so changing was out of the question.
Luckily, the fabric was thick enough that the wine hadn’t soaked through. After a quick wipe–down, it was tolerable.
After doing what she could to regain her composure, she stepped out of the
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པཱ་་ཡP་་
restroom–and nearly collided with Jonathan.
Silently, he held out a handkerchief.
Niamh didn’t take it.
Whether it was out of kindness or pity, she wanted nothing from Jonathan–not even a handkerchief.
He stood there, arm outstretched until it grew tired, the handkerchief still in his hand. Then, realizing she wasn’t going to accept it, he dropped his arm to his side.
By then, Niamh had already walked past him, ignoring him entirely.
Jonathan turned and called after her, “If you’d rather end up a waitress getting pushed around than just stay home as a housewife, maybe you should have thought twice before divorcing me.”
Niamh came to a slow stop.
Jonathan’s lips curled into a faint smirk.
“That’s what you really think, isn’t it?”
Niamh glanced back at him and smiled.
She had a lovely smile–one Jonathan used to love seeing.
But this time, that smile made his face darken instantly.
She hadn’t said a word, but somehow, in that fleeting smile, he could almost hear her saying, “Are you out of your mind?”
Jonathan balled the handkerchief in his fist.
Back at the table, with Jonathan present, neither Marina nor Susy dared to openly pick on Niamh anymore.
The three of them were gathered today to hammer out the details for Queen Elizabeth of Frostvale’s upcoming visit two weeks from now.
The Fraser family was the main sponsor and would be overseeing the event, with the Thomas family as their partners.
Originally, the Fraser family should have worked with the Nevilles, but the whole runaway bride scandal had left them too embarrassed to reach out.
If they acted like nothing had happened and continued working with the Nevilles, they’d look like desperate sycophants–utterly humiliating.
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So Susy, acting on her own, chose the Thomas family instead.
Marina, meanwhile, had landed the commission to design the Queen’s new crown, neatly tying everything together.
In two weeks, Queen Elizabeth of Frostvale would arrive in Aldenville. The first three days, she’d be accompanied by government dignitaries, and then Susy would take over as her host.
All day, the Queen would be at The Thomas Group, in talks with both the Thomas and Fraser families about the new underwater energy tunnel project.
That evening, Susy would bring the entire entourage to the Grand Riverview Hotel.
