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Jenny gave a curtsy and left the room. Palmer entered and closed the door behind herself.

“Hi,” she greeted with a smile.

“Hi,” Elizabeth replied, smiling at Palmer, too.

For some reason, a blush crept up her cheeks. Elizabeth lowered her head to try to keep Palmer from noticing.

“So, are we eating in here?”

“Yes, they’ll bring it in shortly. I asked them not to until you arrived. Please, have a seat.” Elizabeth motioned with an open palm to the small table over by the bay window. “I’ve been eating here alone most days. It’ll be nice to have some company.”

“This company is tired,” Palmer replied.

“I kept you up last night.” Elizabeth nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not that.” Palmer chuckled as they both walked to the table. “Ididstay up late last night, but I had to talk to my editor about the piece this morning, tell him I’m taking some time off around your coronation, and then check out of a second hotel in as many days. I have my stuff out in the hallway. I didn’t know what else to do with it.”

“I’ll have a car take you to the house after lunch. You can make yourself at home there. I was able to remove most of my clothes from the wardrobe, so please, use whatever space you need. I’ve asked my staff to make sure it’s fully stocked with wood, food, and coffee, of course.”

“You didn’t have to do that. I could have gone shopping.”

“I wanted to,” Elizabeth said as she sat down. She noted Palmer didn’t wait for her to sit down first, which made Elizabeth smile. “You’ll also have a car at your disposal, and two security officers will be staying in the house next door should you need anything.”

“Idon’t need security,” Palmer remarked.

“It’smyhouse, Palmer. It’s better to be safe. People know I’m at the palace leading up to the coronation, so nothing should happen there, but I don’t want you to be alone in case something does.”

“Thank you. I hadn’t thought about that, honestly.”

“Of course,” she replied.

The door opened, and Jenny came back in with a cart carrying their lunch. She pushed it over to their table and began placing their food, tea, and coffee for Palmer in front of them. Palmer and Elizabeth were silent until Jenny left with a thank you from Elizabeth.

“Are you no longer here for the paper?”

“Technically, I’m working today and tomorrow, but the day after, I am no longer here on the paper’s dime. I promised my editor I’d have a rough draft of the story for him to review. I’d like to give it to you and Rebecca today to check it over first, if that’s okay. It’s not done yet. It’s rough, but I think it’ll makeThe Courierhappy. I hope it makes you happy, too,” Palmer added. “I am on my lunch break, though, so anything we say or do is off the record.”

“That’s good to hear. Are you hungry?”

“Yes, I skipped breakfast.”

They ate in comfortable silence for a while. Then, Palmer asked a few questions about what she could expect at the coronation, and Elizabeth did her best answering but reminded Palmer that she’d never been to one herself. After they ate, they sat on the sofa. After that, Elizabeth brought up the video on the television of her father’s coronation. Palmer asked if she was sure she wanted to watch this, but Elizabeth needed to watch it. Her own coronation was in nine days, and she needed to know what to expect for herself. She wanted to watch her father go through the same process and do her best to emulate him if she could.

“He’s so young there,” Palmer noted.

Elizabeth’s father was walking down the middle aisle of the cathedral draped in reds and purples.

“He is,” Elizabeth agreed.

“How old was he when he became King?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Not much older than you,” Palmer replied.

“No, but he was born for this.”

“So were you.” Palmer looked over at her then. “You don’t see it, do you?”