A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Ten

Sitting in my room the next morning, all I wanted to do was read more about the royal family. But with my semester completed, my mother was anxious to know when I would be coming home. So despite my repeated assurances that I was going to find work this summer and would not be living with her, she insisted upon calling me at the worst possible time.

"Hello, Ma." I put the phone on speaker and closed the door between me and the argument between Janet and Clarence lowly rumbling in the living room.

"Hey, sweetie." Her voice was soft over the phone. "I just wanted to give you a call and check in on you. I know your semester's over and I still haven't heard anything about the internship."

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat but only made it worse.

"I'm still waiting to hear back from one of them." I tried to skirt around the issue. The last thing I need right now is my mother trying to convince me to come home and work at uncle John's shoe store.

"And Janet's still okay with you hanging around? What is she doing this summer?"

"She works, Ma, remember?"

"Oh, yes."

The silence between us stretched on as muffled bits of argument floated through the walls. Now they were arguing about my honour or his honour. Someone's honour. I had to say something so my mother didn't hear their argument. That's the last thing I need her to find out about.

"I did receive an offer for a job, though," I spat out the first thing I thought of and instantly regretted it.

"Oh, really?" Her voice audibly brightened. "What would you be doing?"

Oh, shit. "I'd be working for Janet, actually." I came up with an acceptable answer as quickly as I could. What am I going to say when she asks more questions?

"So you'd be in Montalivet, then? You'd be all the way across the ocean in Europe?" She was trying to be happy for me, I think. But I could tell she was sad I'd be so far away.

"Yes, I'd be in Montalivet. I'd have a place to stay."

"That's exciting! Would you be doing what Janet does?"

"I'd be working in public and international relations, I think. But it's not exactly what I had in mind when I started looking for a job."

"That sounds like something you'd be great at! You're still waiting on that law internship, then?"

"Um, I'm just not sure yet what I want to do. But I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"Okay, dear." I could hear my mother whisking something while she talked to me. "I have to go get dinner ready for your sisters, but I hope you know we love you."

"Yeah, I love you guys, too. I'll let you know when I know what's going on. Okay, Ma?"

"All right, dear," she sighed. "Take care of yourself, okay? And let me know if you need anything."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Ma."

She was still on the line when I hung up. I just lied to my mother, so this morning is off to a promising start.

I sighed and made my way to the kitchen. I know Janet wants me to consider it, but her offer is crazy. I mean, I need the money, but there has to be another way. I sat down at the island with a sandwich and scrolled through the school's job bank on my phone to see if I could find a job that didn't involve dating anyone.

I groaned as I got to the end of the fourth page of listings. "These are all worse than Uncle John's."

"Yeah, they probably are," Janet's voice came from behind me and caused me to jump out of my chair. If she hadn't caught me, I would have definitely ended up sitting on the floor.

"I didn't see you there," I breathed as I sat back down on the stool.

"Sorry, I've been chasing down Clarence and talking to my uncle for an hour and I guess I walk quietly." She shrugged.

"Where is Clarence?" I looked around without seeing him. "I thought I heard you arguing again. Did he leave?"

Janet nodded. "Yeah, we weren't really arguing, he's just not a big fan of his father's methods. And unfortunately for him, I run his schedule, but I work for his dad."

I laughed. "Thank goodness my schedule is my own and my mother could never afford to hire anyone to hang around me."

"Well, you should probably know he's really not a fan of this whole thing. He tried to talk me out of it. Part of me knows he's right." She looked at me. "You probably shouldn't take the job, honestly, because working with Clarence is a nightmare."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out from all of your exceptional feedback on your own job." I smiled.

"Well, yeah, but that's the thing." She put her arm around my shoulder. "If you do take the job, then we get to work together for the whole summer. And the selfish part of me really wants to have a less terrible summer by having my best friend around the whole time to share in my misery."

"So you want me to take this job for completely altruistic and non-selfish reasons, then?"

"Please," she whined, exaggerating her pout and giving me puppy dog eyes. "At least let me tempt you with some new clothes and a pretty, pretty contract before you say no."

"You're going to try to bribe me?" I widened my eyes and covered my mouth. "I can't believe you think clothes and a pretty contract will sway me!"

"You're right." She hopped off the stool. "We're definitely going to need to buy some shoes!"

When she came back into the kitchen, she was carrying a three-page contract with the official royal insignia on the top of the page. My eyes darted to a bolded line indicating the salary, and I almost fell out of my chair again.

"Is that really what they're going to pay me?" I pointed to the six-figure line on the contract.

"Yes." Janet flipped to the last page and pointed at a section titled EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. "And that's not even the half of it. Check out what I snagged you."