“ now that i’d pay to see. but, i mean, who’s the worst who’d bid on you guys ? i just bid on my friends ! ”

“ i’m afraid i’m not on the auction block tonight ! ” and she couldn’t help but thank the heavens for her choice not to after seeing the starting bid for parker. “ my sister-in-law is though, aisling, she’s just over there in the red ! ” 

𝐒𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 arrives to the charity date auction in tokyo, japan in 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐑𝐀 ( 𝟏𝟖.𝟎𝟗.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 )

“ i hate mom, ” she sighed as she flopped onto parker’s sofa. “ i mean, she keeps sebastian so busy, i don’t even think he has spare time to think. do you think it’s a plot to break him and i up ? that’s like, not at all out of the realm of possibility with her. ” she tossed her brother a pint of ice-cream she’d toted over for him so he could commiserate with her, while she popped the top of her own and dug in. “ i mean, i can’t start over again, i’m closer to thirty than twenty. if i was single i’d practically be a spinster. i’m already one cat down. what am i going to do ? ”

as sutton stood in front of the door she hoped her nervous energy wasn’t as apparent as she felt it was. building connections was important, she knew, but she couldn’t help but feel as if she was intruding on someone much more important than her. she shifted the weight of the basket to her left hand, and knocked with her right, waiting patiently for the door to open. 

sutton let out a dramatic gasp, leaning in closer to the irishwoman, “ you didn’t ! no you have to tell me everything, every saucy tidbit. ”

“ the french people are who he drains money from to fund his bombing of other countries on a whim. would you be so supportive of french brands if he bombed new york ? or dublin ? ” and who was to say one of them weren’t next ? perhaps not from the french, but considering the state of the world, there was always half a chance of another country being emboldened enough to strike out. “ oh parker, please tell me you didn’t try to educate king arnauld on shamu. ” how was diplomacy entirely lost on her brother ? she already knew she’d be using this as an example of why she so desperately wanted emerson here, whitmore’s could have intelligent conversations damn it ! “ it was a summer funeral in the south, our cousins wore t-shirts... ” it was redundant to argue with him, at this rate the best she could hope for was minimal offence. “ let’s not get blame-y with aisling, not to sound mom-like, but if you can’t be responsible for something, might be best to not to borrow priceless jewels. ”

“ how’d it go with that icelandic duke ? i want all of the details. ”

🦋 sutton 🐬 beau

“ they don’t have many royal patrons because they’re a french brand and their king decimated brussels parker. ” she felt like massaging her temples, wearing a french designer right now was as good as making a declaration of support. “ i could say so many things about the shorts... so many. i won’t, but i could. ” none nice because who wore shorts to a funeral ? sutton reached up to tuck a loose hair back under the tiara perched on his head, “ the tiara is a nice touch. you look handsome. ”

( 𝟐𝟏.𝟎𝟖.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 )

“ parker, please be responsible. ” she let out a heavy sigh, “ and don’t tease. wait until the girls go back to the states for school and we’ll drink all the vodka you want. ” the thought of it made her anticipate being child-free again, and then guilt washed over her at the thought. “ well then you convince dad to relinquish the only thing keeping him sane right now and i’ll bring him back with me when i make the round-trip to return the girls to seb. ” she couldn’t see their dad parting with their beloved family dog, when alone at the white house without his children, the first gentleman found his most affectionate company in the happy golden retriever. “ please don’t tell me you took red solo cups to buckingham palace... ” she groaned, how would any other country think america had even a drop of refinement if parker continued to act as if every event was a frat kegger ? “ i actually think she would fly here if i reported back that you did it. maybe if you did it before she got re-elected, she could have used it to curry favour with the gun lobbyists. ”

“ oh, tell me about it ! tokyo is nice because it isn’t remote but i dream of the beach. i loathe to think of the day whoever decides where everyone goes decides that we should go to like, siberia, or something. ” she couldn’t help but think that even d.c was partially preferable to whatever arctic temperatures russia conjured up. “ i’ve met them before, they were at the inauguration. but it was the first time that i tagged along with them on a vacation. ” the first time she felt like part of their family. “ well i would hope it’s being made now. but that’s wishful thinking, i think ! ” her hand felt bare without a ring on it. “ my birthday is in october... it’s more wishful thinking but i’m hoping it’ll happen then. ” 

it was a bad time to be reminded of paris, when one couldn't linger on thoughts of the french for too long without thinking of all the horror in belgium. but sutton still had such fond memories of her time in the city, and so many of them involved colette. “ you're right, of course ! we don't have to condense our catch up if we don't need to, it just means you'll get to meet alex and dora, you’ll love them. ” her hands clasped together and a soft smile slipped onto her face, “ so tell me all about your fiancé ! all of my knowledge of him comes from dianna. ” which was to say it was sparse and not overly pleasant.

“ it happens, i’m sure she’s on her best behaviour today because she misbehaved yesterday and she doesn’t want to miss out on her walk. ” she’d never tell anyone that the craziness of dogs was the reason why she’d have stuck with luna if not for the pack of dogs that came in a bundle with sebastian and the girls, she adored dogs but there was certainly never a lack of silence. “ it’s certainly keeping him occupied, he’s been hard to get a meeting with, or so i’m told. ” she knew it was a nugget of information that was slipped in knowing both of his children were in tokyo, as if something she could say would sway him into stepping into the oval with her mother. “ stepmom, technically, but... yeah ! talk about a life development, huh ? ”