while, even the uncomfortable things feel normal.”
“I suppose,” I shrugged. I thought about poor Dash, who had to deal with his share of bullying. It was unfair to see that happen to any kid. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Another pause. “You’re a kind person, Peaches. I’m sorry that this is the price of admission into my world.”
I lifted my chin. “I can take it. I’m a McPhee, for fuck’s sake.”
He chuckled again, this time lower, softer. “Then I guess I chose well,” he declared softly. “But if you ever need to talk about it, this is a dedicated, secure phone. Call me anytime it gets to be too much.”
“I will,” I promised. I only prayed he didn’t hear the tremor in my voice.
“Good,” he said, stifling a yawn. “I’m flying to New York in the morning. I like to get into the city early, absorb the energy so I can take that into the performance. Besides, I have some music interviews to do. The publicity never ends, as you can tell. If you need anything locally, Audra will be available until you all fly out at the end of the month.”
“I think I’m okay. Sean has been tremendously helpful.”
“Sean?” he asked.
“My driver. He was no match for Fernie. Try as he might to stay in the background, she got his name out of him.”
“I see.”
“I’d apologize on her behalf, but I don’t want to lose a zero. Especially now that I’ve cashed the check.”
He laughed. “There’s my girl,” he said in that soft voice that set my nerve endings on fire. “Then I shall restrain myself from having her drawn and quartered. But tell her if she isn’t careful, she might just get enlisted.”
I laughed too. “Yes, sir.”
His voice poured over my senses. “Goodnight, Peaches.”
“Goodnight, Auggie.”
I won’t lie. I did hold that phone a little longer than truly necessary before I put it on the nightstand and turned over to sleep. I shamelessly drifted into a peaceful dreamland where a valiant prince kept me safe from all the smirking vultures with video cams in their talons.
Chapter Eleven
Fern and I decided to stay with the family until the trip to New York, to spend as much time with them as possible. We did everything we needed to do remotely, and for those things we couldn’t do, there was Sean. He closed our apartment in North Hollywood, sending all our non-essential belongings to storage. It wasn’t a minute too soon, since PING was all over the place, lying in wait for us to return.
Fern suspended her workout videos for the time being for the same reason. She never had taken video at the farm and she wasn’t about to start now, considering it was the last bastion of privacy we had left. She couldn’t risk PING disrupting video of us working out anywhere publicly, which was the only other option. We certainly weren’t going to subject Dash to that.
But PING was already at work unearthing my family, starting with Fern and Dash, simply because we had been in videos together.
After reading what the trolls said about Dash, suffice it to say I wanted to strangle some of them with his tutu. It would never make any sense to me how anyone could say such hateful things about children, simply because they dared to shine their light in some other color.
Mom ended up pulling Dallas and Dash from public school after PING identified them as my family, connecting the dots a little too easily. Audra aided the process, making sure that anything regarding the children was classified and confidential, so they couldn’t get any information of their whereabouts. I wasn’t sure how one would do that in the real world, but the McPhees no longer lived in the real world. We lived under the shadow of the Prince of Aldayne, which made us quite privileged indeed.
Everybody’s life changed so much within the space of a week that I wasn’t really sure it was all worth it. But they were all excited about my new endeavor. Dash went immediately to work studying about Aldayne. He wanted to impress Auggie the next time they saw each other.
He had also agreed to horse-riding lessons from Dad.
Likewise, Dallas chose one of Auggie’s songs to create a routine around, all to impress our new royal friend.
“You can’t use a song without permission, Dallas,” I gently reminded.
Within two emails, she got it. I shook my head, face securely in palm, noting that my family was breaking