Maid For You 4

Chapter 73

Luke was, of course, my ex-boyfriend, though it almost felt strange to label him as "my ex". Our parting had been more amicable than any of my prior boyfriends, this mutual agreement that our lives were both headed in different directions and that though we respected and cared for one another and were very attracted to one another, ultimately, we weren't meant to be. In my prior relationships, one of us had been more attached and more in love than the other, the breakup the idea of one party instead of both. But with Luke, it was different. After he left to tour with Nash Scottie, he and I hadn't texted or called each other. He was busy with his new life, and I was busy with Nikoto and all the drama that that had brought. It wasn't that I'd completely forgotten about Luke or never thought about him, but his text was something I simply hadn't expected to receive.

It was early Monday afternoon, and I found myself strangely nervous to meet up with Luke. Would things be awkward? Had he changed at all? How would it feel to see him again? I drew in a deep breath before entering the café, though I didn't see him upon a quick scan of the restaurant. I pulled out my phone and sent him a text, letting him know that I was here and waiting by the front.

"I'm glad you weren't waiting long." A familiar, melodious voice said behind me.

I turned around to see him in the flesh, none other than Lucas Prescott, holding his phone with my text displayed on the screen. He looked good. Maybe I'd forgotten how cute he was. His hair had grown out a bit, but in a style that quite suited him. He wore a white T-shirt with an unbuttoned printed collared shirt over it. He wore a long necklace with a stainless-steel bar at the end, distressed jeans, and black high tops. Excepting my brother Calvin when I'd visited home, it suddenly struck me that I never spent time with normal looking people anymore. It wasn't that Coleman wore his formal dress attire all the time, but I'd never seen him rolling around in a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"Luke!" I said.

He grinned. "Hey, Cass." He stepped up and gave me a hug, and with my face pressed against his body, I could tell he'd changed his cologne. He smelled nice. We stepped out of the hug, and he looked me over. "You look good," he told me.

"You do, too," I said. And ain't that the truth.

"Let's go order food." He nodded to the front of the café. "My treat."

"Oh, you don't have to treat me," I assured him.

"I invited you, so let me pay the 10 Crona or whatever your meal is," he said as we walked up to the cashier. We ordered our food and sat down at a cozy little booth by the window.

"It feels like it's been forever since we've seen each other," Luke mused. "And it's only been, what? Two? Three months?"

"Wow. Only a couple of months?" 

"A lot's happened since then?" Luke raised an eyebrow and that crooked smile of his that I hadn't thought about for a while. He was still gorgeous, with his chocolatey eyes and his little freckle under his eye.

I let out a breathy laugh. "You could say that. Well, for starters, Princess Calista is engaged now."

"I heard about that!" Luke cried. "My Aunt Lucille told me. And to Prince, or, King Nikolas of all people!"

"I know. I didn't expect that," I said.

"Queen Klara certainly did." Luke laughed. "I don't think the general populace is aware of just how much a schemer our Queen is. Then again, maybe you have to be a bit of a schemer when it comes to politics." He laughed again and shrugged. "Who really knows?

"Maybe that is the way," I conceded. I thought about Nikolas for a moment, about his assessment that I wasn't ready to be a queen, that it would break me. Sometimes, I wondered if he was right. I didn't have the political prowess, knowledge, or even scheming temperament of someone like Queen Klara. "It's kind of tiring, at some point," I continued.