Or maybe because Anthony was her father, and she’d become queen at such a young age, it had been dispensed with in private.
Regardless, unless and until he had permission to do so, Jake needed to do better.
He wouldn't ask either. Catherine would have to offer.
He'd ordered his lunch to be sent to Catherine's office, so it should be waiting for him when he arrived.
Though he'd gone in the side way with Anthony earlier, Jake did as he believed appropriate unless invited and went through the front, waiting for the queen's aide to announce him before entering.
When the door closed behind him, Catherine glanced up from her desk. "Hey. Lunch is here." She tilted her head toward the conference table. "I've got to finish up a couple of things. I'll be right there."
He bowed his head as he should have done a couple of times already during the day.
She rolled her eyes as he started toward the conference table, but didn't say anything about it. The silver cart had been left next to the table. Jake took the domed serving plates off and peeked underneath. He didn'trecognize the meal so he set it at the head of the table. Double checking the other one, he set it to the side of hers. Cutlery went next followed by beverages.
About the time he finished setting everything out, Catherine pushed away from her desk.
"Thank you for setting it up," she told him, taking the cloth napkin and settling it in her lap after she took her seat.
Jake took his seat after she did. "How did your morning go?" He knew it would be easy for them to settle into a silent lunch, and he didn't want that to happen.
Catherine gave a half-shrug. "Fine. I've taken over almost everything from my father, which means there's always a million things to do. The plans for my birthday ball are being finalized. Same with the coronation. I don't see what the big deal is about either one. I've had two dozen other birthdays. I've been queen for fifteen years. Why do we have to make a big deal out of this one and have a big to-do that's costing a lot of money?"
"I don't know. Why do you think?" He had suspicions but wanted to hear her answers.
She pushed a bit of food around with her fork. "I guess my birthday is a big deal since I'm officially taking over from my father and no longer need a regent. I suppose that's why now was chosen for the coronation, but I still wish neither needed to be a spectacle."
"Those sound like logical reasons for both." He watched her carefully as he took a bite.
"I know." She still pushed food around. "I'm honest enough to know that if it was anyone but me, I'd understand the reasons and enthusiastically support them. But since it is me..."
"You don't understand why anyone wants to make a fuss," Jake finished for her.
"Exactly." She slumped back in her chair in a very un-queen-like way. "I really just want to do my job and forget the pompand ceremony. I can do that from here, for the most part. Why does everything have to be such a big deal?"
Jake didn't think she really wanted an answer, so he didn't give one. Instead, he kept an eye on her, watching her carefully as he ate. He began to suspect his wife had some serious introvert tendencies. That could make the "outside the office" part of the job more difficult than it would be for someone more extroverted in nature.
"What do you like to do when you're not here?" he asked, changing the subject. "When you don't have work to do."
"I read books or watch movies. Binge television shows. Maybe play games with my family one night a week." She finally took a bite of her entree.
The biggest thing Jake noticed about the things she mentioned? They were all solitary endeavors, or could be, except for time with her family. They were still part of her very small protective bubble, though. People she'd known literally their whole lives and most of hers.
"What books do you like? More of the fant-sy-roman things?" He wasn't quite sure how to pronounce what she'd called the Trilunium series, but he knew that wasn't it.
"Romantasy?" she asked, raising one eyebrow his direction.
"That's it!" He tried to keep from smirking but failed miserably.
Catherine rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yes. I like romantasy, but I read a wide variety of genres. I also read non-fiction books in a lot of different subjects." She wrinkled her nose. "I read a lot for work, like contracts and treaties and stuff. It's a lot harder to stay awake while reading those."
Jake couldn't stop his laugh. "I would have a hard time reading those, too. The only documents like that I can read without falling asleep are ancient ones."
"I don't think the age of the document would matter to me. They all put me to sleep."
He leaned toward her. "I'll make sure to have a few ancient documents queued up on my iPad for you when insomnia strikes."
This time she laughed, which meant he'd succeeded in part of what he wanted to do.
