The Royal Romance - Good To The Last Drop

Special treatment

Maxwell was by now a regular customer, calling in most days. He was the first to complete his loyalty card by a big margin, although he happily took a second one along with his free coffee. Jen didn't always have time to chat with him for too long, but she was always secretly pleased when he popped in during a lull and she could make time. He always brought sunshine and laughter, no matter what their topic of conversation turned out to be.

But one day he came in quite late in the afternoon, and he just seemed like a different person. He just stood at the door and looked at her. Something was wrong.

"Hey? What is it?" she called from behind the counter.

He sighed, and sat down on his usual stool with his head down, before looking up at her. "You heard the news?"

She looked up at him in concern. "No? Only thing I heard on the news was about that orchard fire..."

His expression just cracked, and she realised that it had to be as he put his hands to his eyes.

"Oh, hey?" She just wanted to hug him, but decided to rustle up his cortado instead, and passed it across to him. "You guys get so precious over your apples, huh?"

"We do, but.." He sighed, and looked at her, she could see he was close to tears. "Listen. That royal orchard is symbolic, yeah. That's why they went for it. But.." He looked around, presumably to check there was nobody else in the shop at the moment "Can I trust you?"

"Of course." She felt her heart beating.

"Listen, I don't tell just anyone this. But King Liam's a lifelong friend of mine. So that orchard? It's childhood memories, Jen. It's seeing my friend get upset and not being able to do anything about it.." He pulled a tissue out of his pocket. "Things are never going to be the same..."

This was all a bit woah. Jen had heard quite a lot about this King Liam in the few short weeks she'd been here. She knew he hadn't been on the throne for very long, and his efforts to bring stability to Cordonia were antagonising anti-monarchists left right and centre.

And Maxwell was part of this world? He'd hidden it well. He seemed so normal, so grounded.

"Hey," she said, putting a hand on his as he reached for his coffee. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks, Jen."

She figured distraction might be a good tactic here. "So, if the King's a childhood friend of yours, what does that make you?"

He sighed. "Well, my brother's the Duke of Ramsford.. so it makes me a Lord, actually."

"Well. I'm surprised you didn't lead with that the first day you walked in here, Lord Maxwell Percival Beaumont."

"So you didn't see that coming, huh?" He was perking up.

"Not a scooby, Your Lordship."

"You can continue to address me as such if you wish, of course."

"Heh, I think I prefer you as a Maxwell."

He smiled, wistfully. "Good to know." But he still looked so sad.

She looked around, nobody else was in the shop so she opened up the counter, came round, and pulled up a stool next to him.

"Oh hey, this is new," he said. "Now you know I'm nobility, I get special treatment?"

"No, you get special treatment because I can tell you're sad about this. So. This orchard. They burned it down because it was precious to the royal family?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"But, they can replant it, yeah?"

"That's the plan, I think..." He wasn't looking up at her, just staring down at his drink.

She tentatively reached out a finger and placed it underneath his chin, making him look at her. "Where's my Mr Positive today?"

He looked confused.

"Look, every time you come in here, no matter what sort of boring mundane day I've been having, you put a smile on my face."

"I just thought you smiled all the time."

She grinned at him. "I guess you would think that. Anyway. Is this just about burnt trees, or is it about something else?"

"It's something else too." he sighed. "Okay. It's mainly something else. Listen, a few months ago, probably before you arrived here, my life was a lot of fun. All my friends were at court... me and my brother had sponsored Meghan as a suitor for Liam, it looked like we'd pulled it off, and then she went and got engaged to his best friend instead..."

"Meghan's your friend that you've come to visit, I take it?" Jen could be wrong, but she sensed unresolved feelings when he spoke about her. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

"Yeah. I mean, I just want her to be happy, whatever that means. I wouldn't want her to marry Liam if it wasn't what she wanted.."

Jen furrowed her brow. "Duh, that would make her a queen, what was she thinking?"

"I know, right?" He laughed. "But hey, she fell for Drake. It all got a bit icky between the three of them, and they left court and moved here, and that's why I'm in the neighbourhood so much. But then you also have Liam, and Hana, and the rest of the guys who are still at court and... it's like things are never gonna be the same... and the whole orchard thing is just like a symbol of that.."

"Oh, Maxwell," she sighed. "And you just want them all to be friends and get along and party together like you used to."

"You got it."

She smiled, and rubbed his hand again. It felt really soft and warm. "All you can do is be a good friend to them all. I bet you'll find a way to bring them all back together. You've got a positive mental attitude, and that's half the battle."

"Yeah." He nodded. "Well, Meghan and Drake are staying away from court until all this terror threat is over."

Jen suddenly felt a jolt in her stomach. "Wait, are you?"

"Oh no. I'll be there. Someone's got to represent on the dance floor at the palace parties." His smile was back.

"Well, just watch yourself, if you do," she said, her stomach aching at the thought of him putting himself in danger. "There's people who care about you and wouldn't want to see anything bad happen to you, y'know?" She bit her lip.

The door opened and a customer came in. She jumped up and dashed back behind the counter. "Welcome to NYCoffee, what can I get you?"

After she'd served the customer, she turned back to him. "So, what are you doing now?"

He sighed. "I'm buying a round of takeaway coffee to take over to Meghan and Drake's."

She nodded. "You know you don't have to keep doing this, right?"

"Oh no I do. You have no idea how much they love your coffee. They won't let me in without them now. You think I'm joking?" He winked at her.

She giggled, and set to making his drinks, and once he'd got them he'd shot her a goodbye wink and headed out of the shop.

Jen immediately grabbed her phone and put the name "Maxwell Beaumont" into Google. She gasped in amazement at what she found. "No. Way."