My fellow romantics,

Here’s this week’s excerpt! As mentioned on the community earlier this week, I will not be able to release the full audio episode until Tuesday. This weekend and the next weekend are all about family for me.

The excerpt is extra long to keep you busy until Tuesday, though 😉

Have a great weekend,

Sigrid

Milly couldn’t take her eyes off of Hannah. She had nearly forgotten she was at the reception, despite the loud chatter around her.

Suzanne was talking to her parents and Milly knew she should be participating in the conversation. But she wasn’t in the mood.

Milly had seen Hannah flinch a couple of times since Suzanne had joined them. She wished she could let Hannah know there was no reason to feel bad.

She liked Suzanne, sure. But not in the way she liked Hannah. Suzanne was a wonderful person and Milly hoped they would become friends over time.

With Hannah? She didn’t want to be friends. From Hannah, she wanted everything. Her chest literally ached now that she was thinking about it.

There was a hunger inside her she had never felt before. Not just a physical hunger, although she wished she could drag Hannah to a dark corner and explore what was under that sexy suit.

No, this was more than just lust. A lot more. Knowing Hannah would fly back to New York tomorrow morning was already filling Milly with dread.

They would have to sit down and talk about what had happened sooner or later. Might as well make it sooner, Milly decided. She didn’t want to spend 3 weeks not knowing what all of this meant.

She wasn’t sure what she would say, or even what she wanted out of this, but she had to do something. She would try to talk to Hannah tonight.

“Please do excuse me,” Suzanne said.

Milly quickly focused back on the conversation around her.

“I have to say hello to a few other guests.”

Oh, right. The other guests. Milly should probably make an effort to talk to some people too. She had made a beeline for her parents when she had walked in.

But part of tonight’s job was networking. She was expected to talk to patrons of the Houston opera, visitors from other opera houses and, of course, reporters.

“I should probably do the same,” Milly told her parents. She turned to Hannah and started speaking before she could think about it too much.

“Will you still be here in a little while? I’d like to talk to you before you go back to New York.”

She held her breath as she watched Hannah think about the request.

“Of course.”

Butterflies fluttered in Milly’s stomach.

“I’ll…”

“Actually, I’d like to introduce Hannah to someone,” Suzanne suddenly said.

The butterflies immediately disappeared. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach instead. Milly looked at Suzanne suspiciously.

“Shall we?” Suzanne asked, smiling way too smugly and pulling at Hannah’s arm.

The skin on the back of Milly’s neck was tingling. When she met Hannah’s eyes, she knew Hannah would see jealousy in them.

She let out a slow breath to calm down as Hannah followed Suzanne sheepishly. Milly watched them walk away into the crowd. Her nostrils flared.

“Milly?”

Milly reluctantly turned to face her mother. Lorrie was giving her a peculiar look.

“I said, Suzanne is so nice, isn’t she?”

Milly smiled thinly.

“Yes,” she said.

Her dad poked her side like he often did to make her giggle. “You don’t seem to like her.”

Milly swatted his hand away. “Dad, seriously, not here,” she said, unable to hide her irritation.

Lorrie cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at Milly.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit tense after the premiere and nervous about talking to all these people,” Milly said.

Lorrie just kept looking at her in the same way.

John chuckled. He never was able to keep things subtle. “Sure that’s what you’re nervous about?”

Milly’s cheeks instantly flushed. She felt like she was 15 and caught staring at a girl. She sucked in her lips.

Lorrie too now laughed. “Oh honey…” She shook her head. “Go mingle. You don’t need us to point out the obvious.”

Milly grabbed her clutch bag. “Yeah, I really should go,” she said before she would snap again. Her parents were just being… well, her parents.

She looked around the room, trying to decide where to go first. Or rather, where Hannah was so she could get close to her But she didn’t see Hannah or Suzanne anywhere.

“Damn it!” she thought. This place wasn’t that big. How was it even possible for them to disappear together? Milly’s head was spinning. Why had she let this happen? She frowned and looked down at the bag in her hands.

“Hey, honey, actually, before you go, let’s take a selfie for your aunt!” her mother said from behind her.

Milly almost rolled her eyes. She was in no mood to take selfies. But she made an effort.

“Great idea! I can post it on my Instagram too.” Milly’s agent was always complaining she didn’t promote herself enough.

Milly took out her phone from the clutch. Her pulse picked up when she noticed the name at the top of her notifications list. She had gotten a message from Hannah.

Her dad was already wrapping his arm around her waist for the picture, though. She would have to wait to read the text until she was alone. Milly opened the camera app.

Her mom and dad leaned in and smiled brightly at the camera. They looked so happy and proud on the screen, Milly couldn’t help but beam at the camera too. She snapped a couple of pictures and showed them to her mom for inspection.

“Perfect!” Lorrie said. “Send one of those to your aunt and then go find your friend.”

Milly looked up in surprise.

Her mom was already looking away, though. “John, let’s find ourselves another drink,” she said and grabbed her husband’s arm.

“I’ll see you later,” Milly stammered.

John winked at her. “Good luck!”

Milly threw up her hands and walked into the crowd. She moved to the side of the room as fast as she could. She avoided eye contact with the guests around her.

Once she had found a quieter spot, she focused on her phone again. Holding her breath, she opened Hannah’s message. It was short.

“Good luck tonight! Looking forward to seeing you on stage again” was all the message said.

Milly exhaled in disappointment. “She must have sent this before the premiere,” Milly realised.

She sucked in her lips, frustrated. “I guess I could send her a text now. I kind of have an excuse to because I didn’t reply to hers earlier…”

She started typing. “Sorry I didn’t see your text earlier.” Milly’s thumbs hovered over the screen while she thought. “I’m glad you’re here tonight,” she added.

Milly hit send. She then quickly shared the pictures with her aunt through Facebook Messenger and tucked the phone away in her bag.

She knew the chance of Hannah seeing the message any time soon was slim, but at least she had done something. She felt a bit better because of it.

“Ok,” Milly thought, “Maybe I should find someone to strut around with too. Two can play that game.” She straightened her back and went on her way.

It didn’t take her long to run into a charming couple she had met at one the rehearsals. They were kind people and seemed pretty down-to-earth despite their obvious wealth.

She greeted them warmly, accepting their kisses. “Congratulations, Miss North. You were terrific tonight. A brilliant Cherubino,” the wife said. Her husband nodded.

Milly thanked them. They started the usual polite conversation about the production, the cast and even how the ticket sales were going.

Milly was about to ask if they often travelled to visit other opera houses when she felt a slight vibration coming from the bag in her hand.

For a second, she wondered if she had imagined it. So she smiled and asked her question anyway. “What other productions have you seen lately?”

As soon as the couple started talking about their recent trip to Italy, Milly couldn’t stop her mind from wondering back to her phone, though.

She was pretty sure it had indeed vibrated and that there was a message waiting for her. The butterflies came back to life. “That was fast,” she thought smugly.

By now, the couple was talking about the ludicrous opera ticket prices in Milan. “How did you like the rest of the city?” Milly asked politely.

She had never been to Milan herself and was usually fascinated by these bastions of high art around the world, but found herself a lot less interested tonight.

Milly decided she would try to wrap up this conversation and find new people to talk to. She had already seen several guests glancing in her direction eagerly.

She wanted to read that message first, though. She was dying to find out what Hannah had replied. She still hadn’t seen her anywhere in the room.

A few minutes later, Milly found an opportunity to say goodbye politely. She immediately opened her bag to check her phone as discreetly as she could.

Milly’s heart was racing as she hit the button to light up the screen. A message appeared on her screen “You three look so lovely! Congratulations, hon!!”

Shit. It was her aunt. Her cheeks flushed. She felt like a fool for thinking Hannah would reply to her message so soon. Actually, for thinking she would reply at all. Hannah was probably having a jolly good time with Suzanne somewhere.

Milly was afraid to look up. She knew several people were waiting to make eye contact with her so they could invite her over for a chat. She wasn’t ready. She was too grumpy.

All of a sudden, the phone vibrated again. She nearly dropped it in surprise. She immediately noticed Hannah’s name on the lock screen. Milly’s heart soared.

She opened the message.

That’s it! See you soon 😉