here. We also joked that they didn’t own any clothing from the current century. We’d never seen them in any, at least. Just like the press’s tendency to give one name to famous power couples, Harrison and I had named Mary and Nigel, Migel. Of course, we didn’t call them that to their faces, but Jeremy was about to meet our biggest competition next to Harrison and Lacey.
“Dr. Knightley,” Mary said in her perfect, upper crust, old English accent. Her thin eyebrows raised so high they formed tight lines over her eyes. Her perceptive gaze swept the room. “Wherever is Dr. Macomb?”
“Harrison and I decided to split up,” I blurted. “For the competition I mean, not as a couple.” I hadn’t been on the forums in the last two weeks. I’d been too busy planning everything and teaching Jeremy. Plus, if the truth be told, I didn’t want to have to admit to my computer friends that my boyfriend had dumped me for another partner. I had vaguely wondered if Harrison had gone on the forums and told everyone that Lacey Lewis was coming and would be his partner. But the look of surprise on Migel’s faces made me think he hadn’t. It was clearly news to them.
“Ooh,” Marianne said from her seat. “Does that mean you and Mr. Remington aren’t together? As a couple, I mean.”
I frowned at Marianne’s question but said “No!” a bit too emphatically. “I mean, I’m still with Dr. Macomb.”
“I thought you said you were sharing a room,” Elinor said to Jeremy.
“We are,” I blurted again. Why was I explaining myself to these people? And why was I suddenly feeling jealous that Marianne and Elinor, who were both single, were going to make a move on Jeremy? That would be awkward, coming back to our shared hotel room with...what, a sock on the doorknob to tell me that he was entertaining in there? I suddenly wished I’d taken the bed.
“There was a mix-up with the rooms,” Jeremy clarified. “We only got one.”
“So, the two of you are sharing a room?” Mary asked, her eyebrows still totally judging me.
“Yes, Jeremy and I are sharing a room.” I said this far too loudly and exactly at the moment that Harrison and Lacey strode through the doors.
“Frick,” I mumbled under my breath.
Harrison stopped next to us. “You’re what?”
“I think she said they’re sharing a room,” Lacey said, folding her arms across her chest and smiling at me tightly. She had on a giant hat and her manicure had changed to a soft pink color. Still, it was anachronistic. Surely Harrison would have told her that. No doubt she’d insisted upon keeping it.
“Yes.” I nodded. “We are. There was a mix-up. No more rooms available.”
“You can share my room with me,” Harrison offered. “Lacey’s got her own room.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Lacey said in a stage whisper to Harrison. “She is the competition.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” he replied.
“Yes, and the competition,” Lacey insisted.
“No, it’s fine,” I rushed to say, wondering why Harrison didn’t realize that I wasn’t about to jump to share a room with him after he’d told me I was making a bad decision by coming here. “We have a bed and a couch. Plenty of room. Besides,” I said for everyone else’s benefit, “Jeremy and I have known each other since we were children.” As if that would make us sharing a room less problematic.
Just like her namesake in the book she recited from, Marianne looked as though she might actually swoon. She stood, leaned toward Jeremy, and sighed. “I must say I’m glad to hear that.”
He opened his mouth to reply when the doors to the parlor busted open for a third time and paparazzi rushed in to surround Lacey. Lacey pulled her big hat over her face and turned away, while the hotel security guards hurried in to get rid of the press. Harrison hustled Lacey out of the room. They were both led to safety through a side door by one of the security guards.
I decided to use the commotion to get out of there. “Well, we’re off to have dinner, see you later,” I said to Marianne, Elinor, and Migel as I tugged Jeremy’s hand, and we slid out the parlor doors on either side of the paparazzi. We made it into the lobby and outside in a matter of moments and moved to the side to get out of the melee.
“Let’s go.” I motioned to Jeremy. “I