The Prince and I - 24

Sadron sent us out of the office so he and Arthur could discuss business. He suggested we go to the kitchen and get something to eat as it was late enough that supper should be ready.

“You don’t eat in some fancy dining room?”

Connor shrugged. “Most of the time, but I suspect since he and Arthur will probably be tied up for hours they’ll have supper brought to them so we’re on our own.”

“What about AJ?”

“AJ spends more time gone than here. It was just luck he was home when I needed to borrow some of his clothes for you.”

By then we were at the kitchen. The cook, a grandmotherly woman Connor introduced as Mrs. Roberts, hugged him tightly then turned to look at me.

“When was the last time you had a good meal?”

“Umm… does a burger and fries a few days ago count?” I don’t know how she pegged me as someone who didn’t eat regularly, but she did.

“Absolutely not. Sit and I’ll fix you something that won’t make you sick.” She eyed Connor, shook her head, and told him he’d be eating what I did.

Whatever she’d been cooking made my mouth water. It smelled like the pot roasts I remember my mom cooking when I was a kid. It turned out to be exactly that but she didn’t just dish some out for us. She cut very thin slices from the roast to make sandwiches with no trimmings. Then she scooped out carrots and potatoes, drained off the gravy or whatever you call it, putting them on the plate with the sandwiches. That and water was supper, and damned if it wasn’t good.

She stood over us like a mother hen, cautioning us to eat slowly which was hard to do until I was halfway finished. That was when I realized I was almost full. After taking a couple more bites I gave up. Connor had no problem eating everything but when he asked for seconds she shook her head. “This is it until we’re sure it doesn’t do bad things to your systems.”

I got it, even if Connor didn’t. I remembered a while ago when I thought I lucked out. A nice woman gave me a big meal she’d bought for me at a local restaurant. I ate the whole damned thing and was sick as a dog an hour later. That’s when I learned that fancy food was not really good for someone who existed on what they could dig out of a dumpster or buy from a fast-food joint if they had the change.

We thanked her for supper and I offered to do the dishes. She laughed, pointed to the huge dishwasher, and told us to go to bed. “You both look as if you could use twenty hours of sleep.”

I was ready for just that, especially when I thought of the bed in my room. Apparently so was Connor because when we got upstairs all he said, with a yawn, was that he’d see me in the morning.

I didn’t care that it was only nine at night, as soon as I got into my room I undressed, carefully hanging up the shirt and pants, washed my face and hands since I showered only a few hours earlier, and then crawled under the bedcovers. I fell asleep almost instantly, feeling safe for the first time in forever.