hugged Renee. “I think what Bethany is means is do you—” she made air quotes “—know who she is, as in her parents are the king and queen of El Bahar.”
Renee’s green eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Am I supposed to call you something like ma’am or Your Highness?”
“No. Just Bethany.” She groaned and explained how her mother, an American schoolteacher, had gone to El Bahar to teach at the international school and had met and fallen in love with then–Crown Prince Malik.
“When my dad died, Malik adopted me,” she continued. “So while I have El Baharian citizenship, I was born in Riverside, California.”
Pallas smiled. “She brought over a stallion that my brother bought and they fell madly in love and now they’re getting married.”
“Maybe,” Bethany grumbled.
Silver stared at her. “What? No! What happened to madly in love? Why didn’t anyone say anything?” Silver might not be looking for love herself, but she very much wanted her friends to be happy.
“We’re fine,” Bethany said hastily. “It’s not us, it’s tradition.” She drew in a breath. “My parents really want me to get married in El Bahar. They want to do the big royal wedding. But that means not having the wedding here, where Cade grew up. We’re still working it all out.”
Natalie leaned toward Renee. “Apparently marrying a princess can be complicated.”
“It was never on my to-do list,” Renee murmured. “But I will keep it in mind.”
Everyone laughed.
“We’ll figure it out,” Pallas told her future sister-in-law. “I promise. You, me and your mom are still talking options.”
No one knew weddings better than Pallas, Silver thought fondly, but before she could say anything, she heard an odd rustling sound in the bushes on the other side of the tree. One of the zebras stepped out into the clearing and eyed them.
“That’s strange,” Natalie said, pointing to the handsome boy. “I thought the zebras pretty much kept to themselves.”
“They do.” Carol smiled. “Don’t worry—they’re perfectly safe.”
“Maybe they like taquitos,” Pallas said, waving one. “I know I do.”
Conversation shifted to Natalie’s recent success at the gallery where she worked part-time and showed her art. She’d been featured in a show and had sold everything. Wynn talked about how her son, Hunter, was doing in school this year.
Silver looked around at her friends. They were an interesting mix. Only Pallas had been born in Happily Inc. Natalie, Bethany and Renee were the most recent transplants. Carol had moved here a few years before that and Wynn had arrived maybe ten years ago. Silver couldn’t remember exactly. One day Wynn had arrived with a baby and enough cash to buy a print shop. There’d been no husband/father or other family. Wynn never talked about her past. She had secrets, but then who didn’t. Silver had moved to Happily Inc when she’d been fifteen.
“What are you thinking?” Natalie asked her. “You have the strangest look on your face.”
“Nothing specific,” Silver said with a laugh. “Just enjoying time with my friends.”
“Not me, though, right?” Pallas groaned. “You hate me. You have to.”
“I could never hate you.”
“Okay, but you hate my mother.” She sighed. “I really can’t blame you for that.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Crap. I shouldn’t have said that, should I? Now we have to talk about it. I’m sorry. It was private.”
Silver smiled, knowing Pallas would never deliberately say anything hurtful. Plus, she was going to tell everyone everything anyway. Once she started working with Drew, the truth would come out.
She turned to her friends. “The bank turned down my loan request for the trailers.”
“No!” Carol’s expression turned indignant. “Why would they do that?”
“They didn’t.” Pallas’s expression turned grim. “It was my mother. I know it was. Libby’s horrible. I swear she’s still pissed because you dated Drew all those years ago. Let me talk to Grandpa Frank. He would hate to know that she’s acting like this.”
“Who’s Drew?” Renee asked. “And Grandpa Frank? What trailers? You’re getting more trailers? They’re for the business, aren’t they? Because our clients love what you do.”
Silver smiled at her. “Yes, I wanted to buy two Airstreams. They’re gorgeous and perfect.”
“There’s a little one that could go up to Honeymoon Falls,” Wynn said as she picked up a taquito. “A lot of people want to have small weddings there but getting any kind of food or bar up that tiny, steep road has been impossible.”
“I’d worry about the competition but we’re turning away business every single week,” Renee said.
Pallas beamed. “This is so why I hired her.”
Everyone laughed except Carol.
“But what about the trailers?” she asked, worrying her lower lip. “Can we talk to someone else or do a GoFundMe or something?”
Silver sipped her nonalcoholic mimosa. “Yes, well, I have that covered. I’m taking on a business partner. Drew bought the trailers and he’s going to be a minority owner in the company.”
Those who didn’t know her history with Drew looked relieved. Pallas and Natalie, on the other hand, stared at her with identical looks of disbelief. Wynn’s smile was a combination of smug and I-told-you-so.
Renee groaned. “I hate being the new girl. What am I missing?”
“Drew and I have a past.” Silver shrugged. “We dated some in high school.”
Pallas rolled her eyes. “Dated some? Is that what we’re calling it? You didn’t date some. You two were the hot item. You nearly set the town on fire.” She sighed. “It was so romantic. And then Drew went to college and was a total butthead.”
“We broke up before he went,” Silver said mildly. “Although I appreciate the name-calling.”
“He wasn’t supposed to fall for someone else, but he did. He brought that snooty bitch home and everything.”
“There was a snooty bitch?” Carol asked. “Why didn’t I know about that?”
“Welcome to my world,” Renee murmured.
“She was awful,” Pallas continued. “I can never remember her name.”
“Ashley Lauren Grantham-Greene.”
“She sounds very hateable,” Natalie said.
Pallas nodded vigorously. “She was so awful. They
