by K. A. Linde
“Nothing I can do to change your mind?”
“I’m sorry. No.”
He blew out his breath heavily. “All right. Well . . . I hope he really is the one then.”
Liz hung up the phone after that and sighed. She knew that she had done the right thing. Trust was hard earned once lost, but closure was as easy as shutting the door and being willing to move on.
She felt kind of drained, so she just jotted out a text to Brady letting him know about the article. He would get back to her later when he was out of his committee meeting.
Deciding that she would be better off with some exercise while she waited for Brady, Liz grabbed her racket and drove over to the tennis complex. Easton was just striding into the lobby drenched head to toe in sweat with a doe-eyed high school student when she arrived.
“Liz! I didn’t know you’d be in today. You here for lessons?” he said, waggling his eyebrows up and down.
“Hardly. I’m here to kick your ass,” she said.
“Have you ever beaten me before?”
“First time for everything.”
“But not today, kid.” He winked at her.
“I’m not a kid. I’m older than you. I’m graduating on Sunday.”
“Oh, right! My cousin is graduating too. I’ll be at the ceremony,” he said, placing his racket on the counter and signing out the student he was with.
“Fun! You’ll have to find me.”
“Yes, because it’s easy to locate one person in Kenan Stadium.”
“Whatever. Are we going to play?” Her phone buzzed in her purse and, thinking it might be Brady, she pulled it out. Savannah.
Just saw Hayden on Franklin. Are you meeting him? Did you know Calleigh was with him?
Liz’s mind buzzed. Calleigh, the redhead reporter who had sold them out to the press, and Hayden’s ex-girlfriend. They worked together at the Charlotte Times.
He called me earlier and I told him I wasn’t going to meet him, but he didn’t tell me he was with Calleigh.
Good! Don’t see him. Come have lunch with me. I’m so bored now that I’m done with finals. Just avoid Qdoba.
I’m at tennis. After?
Savannah agreed.
“Did you hear anything I just said?” Easton asked.
“What?” Liz questioned, looking up. “No. Sorry.”
“I haven’t eaten all day. I was about to get lunch. Can we do this later?”
“You want me to play tennis after I’ve eaten? If I vomit on you, it’s your fault.”
“Why don’t we just get lunch together instead?” Easton suggested.
“I guess. Can my friend join us? She was just asking about lunch.”
“Is she hot?” he asked.
Liz rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“Then definitely.”
Liz shot Savannah a text message and then hopped into Easton’s Jeep. Parking was kind of limited downtown, especially with the graduation crowd already coming in, so they thought it would be better to take one car.
They met Savannah at Mediterranean Deli, as far away from Qdoba as possible on Franklin Street. It boasted the best Greek food in town.
“Liz!” Savannah called when they walked in. She waved at them from a table in the corner.
“Hey. This is my tennis instructor, Easton.”
Savannah looked him up and down as if she were going to have him for dinner. Liz admitted he was hot, especially after working up a sweat on the courts, but she just didn’t really get the appeal. She figured she was a little biased to Brady.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, taking her hand in his and working his charm.
Liz left them to ogle each other and ordered some hummus and a gyro. Easton hopped up to go order the food when Liz returned, and Savannah’s eyes had that same expression every other one of Easton’s students had.
“Okay. Why haven’t I met him before?” Savannah asked as soon as he was gone.
“You were dating someone?” Liz said.
“I dated a couple people. But come on, look at him. Wait, don’t. You’re dating my brother. It makes me look like a bad sister.”
“He’s a good-looking guy. Plus he’s smart, wants to go to law school, become a politician.”
Savannah wrinkled her nose. “You’re losing me. I’ve had enough of law school and politicians.”
“I thought you’d only been into motorcycles, tattoos, and drug dealers,” Liz teased.
“Hey! Forrest was not a drug dealer. He just . . . was on drugs.”
Liz arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like a winner.”
“Why can’t Easton be hot and into something that’s not related to my family?”
“Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“I’m not begging,” Savannah said stubbornly.
“You’re a lot like your brother, you know?”
“Clay or Brady?”
“Both!”
“How insulting.”
Easton returned at that moment and took the seat across from Savannah. They immediately took up a conversation as if they had known each other for years. Easton was an expert conversationalist. Liz had never felt a dull moment while around him. It made sense to her that he would want to be a politician.
They had just dug into their food when Liz’s phone rang again. She glanced down at the screen. Still no Brady.
“I have to take this. It’s Heather,” Liz told them.
Savannah’s brow furrowed. “That’s strange. What does she want?”
“We’re about to find out.” She walked away from the table and found a seat on a bench outside. “Hello?”
“What did I say about staying out of the papers?” Heather asked icily.
“What are you talking about?”
“I said anything that might be suspicious, anything that might show up in the papers, anything that might make Brady look bad went through me,” she all but growled. “I thought we were clear on this. We haven’t had any negative incidents recently.”
“Heather, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But she sure didn’t like the sound of it.
“You were out gallivanting around with your ex-boyfriend? The one who, I don’t know if you remember, wrote the article outing your relationship to the press!” Heather cried. “What made you think that was a good idea?”
Liz sat up straighter. How did Heather know that, and what did it have to do with the press? “Did Brady tell you that I saw him?”
“Brady knew about this?”
“I talked to him about it Monday. Why?”
“And neither of you thought to inform me of your catastrophic error? You allowed yourself to be photographed.”
“Photographed?” Liz nearly shrieked.
“Yes, congratulations! Tomorrow your photo with your ex will be in the tabloids. I’m sure with some stupid slogan about cheating on Brady. Just what we need.”
“No.” Liz shook her head. “I did the right thing. I told him that I didn’t want to see him. I told him Brady was more important.”
“Well, none of that is going to show up in the tabloids,” Heather said, giving her a reality check. “You became complacent. But you can’t be complacent in this job. I don’t care what you want to say about your relationship with Brady, but because he is in the public eye part of your relationship is a job.”
“Heather!” Liz cried, her emotions all over the place. She couldn’t believe how she was talking to her, but the worst part was that she was right in some ways. She had tried to treat her relationship with Brady like any other relationship and her life as it had been before showing up in the papers. Now she was about to be in them all over again because of it.
“I could have prevented this. Now we just have to deal with your poor choices,” Heather said. “Be on the lo
okout for more information from me regarding the severity of the situation. In the meantime, hole up somewhere and try not to cause any more problems.”
Click.
Liz stared down at her phone in disbelief. Heather had hung up on her again. She had done everything right in this situation except happening to walk for five minutes with Hayden and the whole thing backfired in her face.
Tears marred her vision and she tried to keep everything under control. She was simply too choked up. She glanced up and down the road that she was on and decided it wasn’t safe. Heather was right: she should hole up. Now she would have her face in the papers two days before graduation. Just what she needed.
She stumbled back into the restaurant and over to Savannah and Easton. They were speaking animatedly when she approached, but their conversation cut off when they got a look at her.
“What happened?” Savannah asked. “Is Brady okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine.” Liz wiped at the tears in her eyes. Easton didn’t really know anything about her life and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as she could. “Can you take me back to my house? I need to call Brady.”
“Of course.” Savannah grabbed her purse. “Sorry. Maybe we can meet up later?”
“Yeah, of course. Liz has my number,” he said, and then turned to look at Liz. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Fine. Just fine.” She turned away from him. The last thing she wanted was sympathy.
“Okay. Get home safe. Let me know if you need anything,” Easton said.
Savannah and Liz quickly exited the restaurant, and Liz pulled her phone back out to call Brady.
“What happened?” Savannah asked.
“Pictures of me and Hayden together are going to show up in the tabloids tomorrow. Heather just got wind of it.”
“Shit! Was she pissed?” Liz just stared at her. “Of course she was. Brady should really handle her. She’s getting out of control. She shouldn’t take this shit out on you.”
“Shouldn’t she? It’s my fault. I should have thought about this. I let my guard down.”
“Hey,” Savannah said, grabbing her arm. “Listen to yourself. You are not the campaign. You’re not running for office. You weren’t born into this. It’s okay to let your guard down. You’re dating my brother, and that doesn’t mean that you can’t walk down the street with Hayden. Don’t let her get to you.”
“Okay,” Liz said. She had no will to argue. She dialed Brady’s number and he answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Heather just called and told me pictures of Hayden and me are going to show up in the paper tomorrow.”
“Did you go see him?” Brady asked, clearly frustrated.
“No! I told him no,” she told him. She wiped her eyes once more and sniffled. “I told him I didn’t want to see him, that it wasn’t worth it. These are from Monday when I first saw him.”
“Shit! Where are you right now?”
“I’m with Savannah. We were out to lunch when Heather called,” Liz said, leaning back in the seat of Savannah’s BMW.
“All right. I’m going to deal with Heather. She shouldn’t be calling you and sending you into tears. I can’t have that,” he growled. “I’m tired of her shit. You’re with me. She needs to fucking get over it and treat you like you belong with me.”
“She’s only doing her job,” she whispered. She had no idea why she was defending Heather’s actions except that she felt like complete shit about what had occurred.
“Her job is on the line if she doesn’t start treating you right and trying to make you happy.”
Liz laughed lightly. “She’s not going to like that.”
“Well, if she doesn’t like it, then she can find someone else to work for. She acts like she’s irreplaceable. She’s not. You are.”
Chapter 16
GRADUATION
Liz couldn’t stomach the pictures of her and Hayden together in the tabloids. Victoria had to read the attached article and give running commentary about what was said. By the end, Liz was doubled over in laughter from Victoria’s ridiculousness. It didn’t push aside the suggestions that, as Heather had predicted, she was cheating on Brady, or that she and Hayden had rekindled their romance.
Clearly none of it was true, but having it in print didn’t look good for her, and it certainly didn’t look good for Brady. Brady didn’t say anything about his disapproval about the pictures. She knew he didn’t like to see them, but most of his anger was directed at Heather.
Brady and Heather had gotten into a huge argument about how she had treated Liz. She figured Heather deserved to get chewed out for her actions, but Liz didn’t like to see a rift in his campaign right before primary season.
Luckily, she didn’t have much time to dwell on it, because her parents arrived that afternoon. They lived in Tampa, where her father worked as a calculus professor at the University of South Florida. Her mother was a third grade teacher at a local elementary school. Liz hadn’t seen them since Christmas, and it was a reunion filled with tears, especially on her mother’s part, about her baby girl growing up.
They ate dinner at a low-key restaurant and then stayed up to chat until late in the evening. Her parents seemed as anxious to meet Brady as Liz was for them to finally be introduced. It probably was never going to be easy to introduce a sitting congressman as her boyfriend.
Brady’s flight was getting in early Saturday morning and, once he picked up his Lexus from his house, he met them for brunch. As Liz stepped inside the small diner, she was reminded of the first time they had come here together. They had agreed to continue their relationship on Brady’s terms. She could have walked away at that point, but she hadn’t. Maybe she never really could.
He was seated in the back of the restaurant when they arrived, and Liz directed her parents toward him. Her heart fluttered. He looked incredible in a blue button-down and khakis. Really casual for him.
He stood and gave her a quick hug. She folded into his arms and could have stayed there all day to avoid what was about to happen. Brady didn’t even look fazed by this at all. She had been insanely nervous to meet his parents, sweaty palms and all. But he went on autopilot.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Brady Maxwell,” he said, extending his hand to her parents.
“We’ve heard so much about you,” her mother said, taking his hand. She gave him what Liz knew was her “social” smile. “Please call me Julie. This is my husband, Lewis.”
Brady shook her father’s hand too. “Lewis,” he said cordially. Her father’s lips were tight as he returned the handshake.
Brady gestured for everyone to take a seat. Liz breathed a sigh of relief when she sat down next to Brady and he laced their fingers together.
Liz was anxious to have everyone in the same place, even knowing that Brady was incredibly charming, because her father in particular still had reservations about Liz dating Brady. The fact that he was a congressman, that she had shown up in the papers because of him, the age difference, the drastic shift in her career trajectory all were strikes against him.
“How was the flight from Tampa?” Brady asked. He shot Liz a mischievous glance, and she couldn’t hold back her smirk. Airplanes.
“Not too bad,” Lewis said, frowning at them. “We were just happy to get into town early to spend more time with Liz.”
“She’s always so busy,” Julie needlessly explained. She ran a hand back through her short brown hair. Liz had always thought she looked more like her mother, with her bright blue eyes and clear complexion, but she had her father’s blond hair, even if it was graying at the temples now.
“I know,” Liz said. “It’s hard to find time to come home.”
“Well, it’s good that y’all are here now,” Brady said. “I see my father all the time, but usually for work. I finally get to spend some
quality time with them tomorrow night. Will you be joining us for dinner?”
“Oh, I’d been meaning to tell you about that,” Liz said to her parents.
Her mother gave her a warm smile and then nodded. “That sounds lovely. We’d love to go,” Julie said, nudging her husband. “Wouldn’t we, Lewis?”
Her father nodded. “Yes. Unless we have other plans.”
“I don’t think we do?” Julie asked, turning to Liz.
“No. Plus, you’ll love Brady’s parents. They’re really nice,” Liz said.
“Meeting the boyfriend and his parents all in one weekend,” her father said, flourishing his hand. “Trying to overload us?”
“Obviously,” Liz said, shaking her head. She cracked a smile. “I’m overloading you.”
“Don’t tell us you were nervous,” her mother said with the real smile that Liz knew and loved. “You’ve been telling us that everyone likes Brady all weekend.”
“Oh, yes, we’ve heard it nonstop,” Lewis said. He finally seemed to relax back into his chair.
“Convincing yourself or them?” Brady asked. He chuckled and squeezed her arm.
Liz threw her hands up and laughed. “Don’t gang up on me. I can’t take it.”
Everyone broke into laughter, and seemed to dissipate the lingering tension. The way that Brady managed to fall rather easily into their joking attitude was good news. It meant her parents were starting to accept him.
By the end of brunch, it was clear that she had worried for absolutely nothing.
The day passed easily with her parents and Brady. They went back to her place and she changed into graduation attire so that her parents could take pictures. They walked around campus and her father played photographer with a giant SLR. He had been taking lessons in his spare time and was eager to showcase his newfound talent. They ended at the Old Well, where people were lined up to take pictures in front of the iconic symbol of the university.
When it was her turn, they snapped a few shots of her posing before her mother pushed Brady into the picture. He jogged over and grabbed her around the middle as he had in the airport and swung her around. Liz laughed when he placed her back on her feet and stared up into his face. He dropped a quick peck onto her mouth and she sighed.