Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1

Chapter 11

Finley

"We've been driving for forever," Max whines. "When are we going to get to this lame castle?"

"It's not a lame castle," Harlyn protests from the driver's seat.

"It's the loveliest castle in the world," Elly says, parroting the phrase Harlyn used earlier when he was explaining it to us.

"It is. At least..." Harlyn stammers. "That's what it says in all their marketing."

I laugh and peek at his profile. Somehow, I ended up in the passenger seat of his parents' car, and it feels so strange to be on the left side of the car without a steering wheel. He seems a bit less than his cheery self today. He's been hiding it pretty well, but when he's not talking, he drifts into his own world. I'm not sure how to pull him back out.

We cross an overpass, go around a few roundabouts, and finally peek at the Leeds Castle entrance. Harlyn jumps out of the car and starts chattering about everything we're going to see today with such enthusiasm that I'm convinced I imagined it. So, I shrug it off.

We walk through the parking lot and gardens, across ponds, and through trees. And then we see the castle. It's small but really beautiful. It's settled in the middle of a lake which seems to act as moat. Max insists on a selfie in front of the gates, always the one to remind me to take pictures. We buy our tickets and sit in a room in the gate house to watch a video time-lapse of the castle changing over the years. This piece of land in the lake has been inhabited since 1200 and owned by about 5,000 people. We convince Max to go through the castle before inspecting the gift shop and start across a massive lawn to the castle itself.

"Do we get to see that part?" I ask, pointing to a building to the right of the circle drive.

"No, that's not open to the public, I don't think," Harlyn says.

"They do weddings here," Elly says. "That's probably where they do stuff for those."

"They do weddings here?" I ask. "Don't they do weddings at the Royal Pavilion, too?"

Harlyn nods. "Yeah. A lot of old aristocrats' houses and historical sites are also wedding venues." He shrugs, letting me go through the front door in front of him. "Gotta make money somehow, I guess."

"Can you imagine getting married here?" Elly asks. "That would be amazing."

It would be amazing. I've never thought about my wedding. It's weird to think about it, honestly. Can I imagine myself getting married here? Can I imagine getting married at all? What would I want? I wouldn't even know where to start.

The first half of the castle is decorated and set up as a medieval castle. But the second half is all 1920s, set up as the castle's last owner would've had it. The 1920s rooms are fascinating. The library is my favorite, towering bookcases full of old books covering almost every wall. I keep sneaking peeks at Harlyn, who's taking things in with his normal casual enthusiasm. Max appears at my side as I'm reading the last plaque in the last room.

"So. Any new thoughts about moving here?" he asks softly.

I shrug. "I've been doing research. How that would work, what the process is, if I could get financial aid, what tuition is like, things like that. But...I'm going back and forth. Not really anything concrete."

"What's the deadline? I know ISU's application is due in June, right?"

"Yeah. So, I'd apply through UCAS, the service that handles international students coming to the UK for school. That application is also due in June. So I have a few months to figure things out."