A Muse Her

Chapter 22

"You two have a lot of nerve showing up in here after I had to find out on Facebook that you're engaged!" Jodie huffed, sliding her hands to her hips behind the counter of Crested Cups. "And you're a goddamn prince!"

"Well, it was supposed to be a secret." Mateo chuckled. "But my father got a little ahead of himself. I'm sorry, Jodie."

"Yeah you better be," she smirked, but a smile curled over her lips as she eyed Faye standing beside Maia. "And who's this newcomer in town?"

Maia wrapped her arm around her sister and beamed. "This is my sister and my agent, Faye. She's going to be staying at my place for a while, so if you're not too mad at me, I wouldn't mind if you helped her get settled around here."

"Oh please, I'm not mad at you. Just surprised is all," Jodie said, waving her off before she held out her hand to Faye. "It's lovely to meet you. I'm Jodie Griffiths. I own this shop and my husband, Dan, is the Sheriff. We'd be more than happy to show you around or be a friend. Whatever you need."

Faye smiled, shaking her hand. "That's very kind of you and to be fair to Maia and Mateo, I was the one who told them to keep their relationship a secret for a while. I didn't want any unwanted press interfering with Maia's work, especially with Mateo's status."

"Well, that was probably for the best. Us locals like a good gossip and we wouldn't have been able to keep our mouths shut about them," Jodie said, winking at Mateo. "Should we call you, Your Highness now or Prince Hendrik? It's all very confusing, mister."

"No." He laughed. "You know me as Mateo and that's how I'd like to keep it."

"Good...good," Jodie said, turning away from them to start the coffee machine. "Now the other thing I want to know is how long you two have really been together? It was after that incident last year, wasn't it?"

Maia looked up at Mateo. "It wasn't too long after that."

"Mm-hm," he said, threading his fingers through hers. "I kept in touch with Maia, just to check in on her and things slowly started after that."

"I knew it." Jodie beamed, setting three cups of coffee on the counter. "You were far too chummy with each other when Maia came back this time," she said, leaning against the counter. "So, when's the wedding? And can I see the ring?"

"We don't have a date yet, but Mateo did well," Maia said, holding out her hand.

"You sure did!" Jodie gasped. "That's gorgeous, Mateo and it suits you so well, Maia."

"I'll make sure to let you know when they pick a date," Faye said, picking up one of the coffee cups on the counter. "I'm sure you'll be on the guest list."

"I better be!"

Maia laughed. "Of course you will be," she said and her heart sank a little at the sight of Jodie's giddying excitement for them, especially since a wedding was most likely never going to happen. She hated this part of what they were doing. It didn't feel great to lie about something as big as this, but at least it was only a half a lie.

She and Mateo were at least a real couple now, so it didn't feel completely horrible spinning out the tale of when they got together. It was good practice for Oost den Burg when the stakes would be much higher than this small town.