Carla’s Prince

The place was eerily quiet and it should have been too since he had let go every worker he had in there except for his driver who had accompanied him from Denmark. He knew that he was out in his quarters anyway.

“Carla?” he called out again when he walked into the living room.

There was no one in there or any sign that Carla had been there. Even her clothes were gone. He suddenly felt overwhelmed with anger at the fact that Carla had just slipped out without a word and he would have given anything to see her again. To hold her again. To fu*k her again…but she was gone and he was all alone in his big mansion.

Moreover, his case was yet to be solved.

                                                            *****

“Let me get this straight,” Brenda said as she looked at Carla who was busy chowing down on her breakfast. “You slept over at Cristoff’s house?”

Carla nodded as she took another bite of her eggs.

“And?” Brenda pressed when Carla didn’t say anything more.

“We slept together.”

Brenda raised an eyebrow over the other.

“You are fu*king lying right now. You haven’t even let a man kiss you at the end of a date…not that you have been on that many dates anyway.”

Carla shook her head.

“One, I have only been on a few dates and all the time with men who I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole and two, I am not so sure what it is about Cristoff.” She put her fork down and took a long, deep breath. “He has this Christian Grey vibe going on but not all the way dominant. I mean, no whips or chains or nothing, but he has this way of showing me just who is in charge and I did not know until the other day, but I think I like it.”

“Being dominated?” Brenda asked and Carla nodded.

“Yeah, it is weird especially since it is not like I have experience or anything but somehow, I think I do have a little Anastasia Steele in me.”

She took another bite of her eggs oblivious of the look Brenda was giving her.

“What?” she asked. “Do I have something on my face or something?”

Brenda shook her head.

“No…it’s just this new Carla that I have to get used to.” She turned to look at Pete who was just as quiet as he looked at them. “Or is it just me?”

Pete shook his head.

“I am literally doing everything not to give you a million high fives right now,” he said.

Carla rolled her eyes and dabbed at the sides of her mouth.

“Shouldn’t you be at work or something?” she asked as she looked at Pete.

“No, not until nine. I have enough time to go to the farmer’s market and listen to your story before then.”

“You said that it takes forever at the farmer’s market,” Brenda said matter of factly.

“It does. I don’t want to pick out just any produce plus all the other chefs around and the dietary do gooders kind of crowd the place.”

“So, you need a lot of time at the market? Is that what you are saying?” Carla asked and he nodded again.

“Relax, I have got this in the bag. The farmer’s market is my second home after all.”

Carla looked at Brenda.

“Well, I hate to break this up but it is a few minutes to eight,” she said and Pete looked like he had suddenly seen a ghost.

“What?” He reached for his phone and looked around the table in a panic. He kissed Brenda and grabbed his jacket before springing for the door.

Carla giggled.

“What was that?” she asked and Brenda shook her head.

“Sometimes he gets carried away and sometimes it is all about me moving his clock back an hour so I can get more out of date night.”

Carla shook her head.

“You are evil.”

“Yes, but whatever happened today is not my fault. I haven’t done my own version of daylight savings on him in weeks.” Brenda shrugged. “I guess he was just surprised at the new turn of events with you suddenly being the most interesting person in this apartment and everything.”

Carla took the last bite of her eggs.

“It is not like I was some kind of nun or anything. I don’t know why you are making such a big deal of it.”

“You have no social life, Carla. It is a big deal.”

Carla rolled her eyes again.

“Now, listen. I was waiting until Pete left so I could talk to you about something.”

Brenda shrugged.

“What? Is everything all right?”

“Yeah…well, not really…” Carla exhaled loudly. It was not going to be easy to tell her friend that she had been given a gift from a street corner somewhere. Or that it had been a stolen pair of earrings.

“Carla, what’s going on?” Brenda asked, concern written all over her face.

“The earrings you gave me,” Carla started and Brenda nodded.

“Yeah, Pete gave them to me, but they were not really my style and I told him as much.”

Carla nodded.

“Yeah, I know. You told me. But I was wondering, do you know where he bought them?”

Brenda shrugged.

“He said that he got them on the corner of Fourth and Radisson. Some vintage store that also sells art.”

Carla raised an eyebrow over the other.

“Corner of Fourth and Radisson…I think I have seen that store. Maybe passed by it a couple of times.”

“Why?” Brenda asked.

Carla took a long deep breath and sighed.

“Well, I don’t know how to tell you this. I think there is really only one way to say it.”

“Carla, you are scaring me,” Brenda muttered and Carla shrugged.

“No, it’s nothing like that. It is just that the earrings as I found out last night were stolen.”

Brenda’s eyes grew wide.

“Really? From whom?”

“Cristoff. They were…are a family heirloom. Probably worth more than anything I could ever imagine.”

Brenda shook her head.

“What?” she asked.

“I know…it was a little uncomfortable to say the least.”

Brenda took a long, deep breath.

“So, does that mean that you finally caught a break in the case?” she asked and Carla nodded.

“It is the first real lead I have had since I started and maybe this might just be the answer to all the questions I have had.”

“I should probably have asked more questions when Pete showed up with the earrings,” Brenda said and Carla laughed.

“Really?” She shook her head. “So, your answer to handling a situation where your boyfriend bought you a gift to apologize for…whatever is to ask him where he bought your gift from? Are you serious?”

Brenda shrugged.

“Well, he did tell me that he had passed by a vintage store on the way here so I hardly think that would have been a valid question.”

“Brenda, there is no world that question would ever be valid.”

Brenda shrugged again.

“I hope the earrings were not a sore spot for you and Cristoff,” she said and Carla bit her lower lip.

“There was an ‘almost fight’ there for a minute or two. I mean, one minute we were walking through the orchard and…” she started before Brenda put a finger up interrupting her.

“Wait, did you say orchard?” she asked and Carla nodded.

“Yeah. He lives on an actual orchard.”

“Seriously?” Brenda asked. “We live in the city.”

“I know…but his property is a little outside the city. It is hardly as far as Manhattan to Greenwich,” Carla said matter of factly.

“Yeah, I guess.” Brenda looked at her phone and sighed loudly. “I better get going if I have any chance of catching that gallery owner before he gets out of town.”

Carla shook her head.

“What gallery owner?”

“This new artist from Slovenia has been photographing models wearing nothing but diamonds and the pieces are exclusively shown at this gallery downtown,” Brenda started as she stood up. “The artist has created such a buzz in the fashion world so much that Dolce and Gabbana and Vera Wang both want an exclusive contract.”

“Really?” Carla shook her head. “1 haven’t heard anything.”

“You shouldn’t have heard anything. The whole idea is all pretty hush and my magazine is running the story…” Her voice trailed off when she looked at her phone. “Huh, it goes live in twenty minutes.” She chuckled. “Su*k that, Elle.”

Carla laughed as Brenda got up leaving her to finish her breakfast alone.