Be Brave With Me

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"You look rotten."

Had Jess just said something?

"Hmm? No, thank you," she replied to be polite. "I don't need anything."

"Babe."

"Yeah?"

"Are you here with me? Did you hear what I said? You look awful."

"Hmm? Haven't slept much, that's all."

"You haven't left your bed once in the past 48 hours."

"Hmm, yeah."

"Aurelia."

Right. Sure. She might as well be Aurelia again.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're ready to face what's waiting out there for you?"

No, not at all. "Sure, yes, I'm fine."

She'd built her entire career on playing pretend and smiling wide. It couldn't be hard to fall back into it, right? "Hit me with some make-up, fix up my hair, and I'll be all set."

They'd arrived in Monaco earlier this morning. The unmistakable noise of their massive anchor being lowered down had had Aurelia stick her head out from under her duvet for the first time in two days.

Jess had brought Carmen and Valentina on board. For the next two hours, she let them do what they thought they needed to do to her. They cut, filed, shaved, plucked, brushed, blowed, shaped, drew, dusted. Gio and Rosa were in and out, making up for two days of not getting to feed her in two hours filled with snacks and smoothies. When Isodora came back from her morning shopping tour with a few outfit choices, she promptly dropped her bags and rushed over to embrace her niece. Her niece looked once more like the Aurelia she knew.

In between all of that, Jess mapped out the next three days for her. The itineraries blurred together, though, all kicking off with brunches and ending with parties.

"And whenever we're not invited somewhere or stopped by someone to exchange air kisses, I need you to be seen backstage..." Jess allowed the end of her sentence to hang in the air.

"Hmm? Yeah, sure."

"Aurelia?"

"Yes?"

"This is the moment you should show some interest. This is what I've been telling you about. The romantic meet-cute I've been concocting for the last few weeks."

"Meet-cute? Between me and...?"

"Drum roll, please."

Blank stares all around.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Come on, you guys! Aurelia Carmichael is having a fling with Bastien LeJeune."

Carmen and Valentina cooed appropriately.

Aura draw a blank again. "Who?"

Jess' eyes narrowed. "Don't play dumb. You know who Bastien is. We met him at that one party last year. Up in the Hills? The French guy? Nice smile, nice teeth. Not particularly tall. Made you laugh. You two totally hit it off."

She tried her best to remember, she did. "Jess, you - better than anyone - know how many random people I get introduced to at parties. I have no idea who you're talking about..."

Jess sighed and snapped her fingers. "Valentina? Carmen? Anyone?"

Two phones appeared in front of Aurelia, showing her pictures of a young, blonde guy dressed in racing overalls, carrying his helmet in the crook of his elbow. In most of the pictures, he was smiling wide, standing on top of a podium, hand pressed to his chest in reverence to the national hymn, or being doused in a shower of champagne by the other racers.