It had been a long time since I’d had anyone to cook for. Heidi had been on a weird vegan diet and barely ate at all during our time together. Charley insisted that she didn’t have any dietary restrictions, so I was free to make whatever I wanted. While I chopped the vegetables, she peppered me with questions about my past.
“How did you learn to cook?”
“My mom,” I answered without looking up from the knife and cutting board. “Or rather, because of my mom leaving. My dad couldn’t cook worth a damn and someone had to feed the family. My brothers and I took turns cooking while I was growing up. Eventually, I just got good at it.”
“What else were you into as a kid? Wait, let me guess– sports and video games?” she guessed.
“Sports, yes. Not so much with video games. As you’ll remember, I was a nerd, so I read a lot.” I gestured to her living room with the knife. “I see you’ve got quite a book selection yourself.”
When I said “book selection,” I was referring to the four over-filled bookcases that lined her walls. I loved that she was an avid reader.
“Are you really going to run for President some day?” She stole a carrot from my freshly chopped pile and took a crunchy bite.
I laughed spontaneously. “Are you working for the pundits now?”
Charley shrugged. “Everyone says you will. Figured I might as well go straight to the source.”
“It’s a fair question. I wish I knew the answer.” I set the knife down carefully and leaned on the counter. “It’s a pretty bold thing to declare that you are going to run for President.”
“You seem like a bold person to me.” She fixed me with a level gaze.
Afraid of getting sucked into her amazing green eyes, I looked away. “If I do decide to run, everything changes. And if by some miracle I would win, my life would no longer be my own. You never come back from being President.”
“That might be true,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be worth it. Meeting you has changed me and for better or worse, I don’t regret that.”
I smiled. “You are such a girl.”
“Thank you.” She reached for another carrot and I grabbed her hand. I pulled it to my lips, kissing the back of it softly.
“You’ve changed me, too, Charlotte Tanner. And definitely for the better.” I let go of her hand and turned back to the food. “Now stop ruining your appetite.”
In less than thirty minutes, we were seated at her dining table with a delicious meal on our plates. We finished off the first bottle of wine and I opened a second.
“You’re not planning on hiding in your apartment again tomorrow, are you?” My concern for Charley had returned.
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I have a work thing in New York. I’m leaving on an early morning train.” She didn’t sound disappointed about that.
I tried not to take her mood toward the trip personally. I had to agree that it was good timing. “Good. You could use some time away from this. How long will you be gone?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I’m thinking of staying through the week. We have quite a few supporters in the city that I’d like to meet with while I’m there.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” I swirled my wine. “Do you like your job?”
Charley tilted her head as she considered my question. “I do. It’s worthy work, and I enjoy helping people.”
“But…”
“But I wish I could do more. I feel like I spend most of my days cutting through political red tape only to get wrapped up in it again the next day. Sometimes my job feels like an exercise in futility.”
“What would you do if you weren’t working for Eva?” I held out my hands, palms facing up. “Any job in the world.”
“I’d be a teacher,” she answered instantly.
I tried to hide my surprise, but failed. “A teacher? Really? Over any other job?”
“Is there something wrong with that?” she replied, somewhat defensively.
“No, not at all. It just surprised me.” I recovered by taking a bite of my food. “What would you teach?”
“History. In high school, I think.” She still seemed bothered by my reaction. “Why did that surprise you so much?”
I studied my food before replying. “I just figured you wouldn’t be anxious to be back in a school. I mean, considering what happened…”
“Oh.” She slowly processed that thought.
“Sorry. Let’s talk about something else,” he said, trying to change the subject.
“I haven’t been to a school since that day,” she said, not hearing me. “I’m not sure what affect it would have on me because I haven’t been to a school in ten years.”
“What about college?”
“Yeah, I went to college. But it’s not really the same thing. I’m talking about a school where everyone is in the same building all day, eating together in the same cafeteria. A place where you’ve known the people since you were a small child.” She had a pained look on her face and I could tell that she was remembering the kids that were there with her that day.
I contemplated whether or not to continue our line of conversation. “You never went back into your high school after it happened?”
“Nope. We only had a couple of weeks left until graduation, so the school just gave us a pass on finals. Our graduation ceremony was held outside in a park because the school was still a crime scene. I never had a reason to go back.” She took a long drink of her wine.
I opened my mouth a couple of times, but I chickened out before I could say anything.
“Spit it out, Moore.”
“They mentioned on the news this morning that they are planning a reunion of sorts for people affected by the Danville shooting.” I couldn’t have sounded more uncomfortable than I did right then.
“My parents mentioned it to me.” Charley’s expression was unreadable.
“I take it you’re not planning to attend?”
“Nothing good can possibly come from me revisiting that place.” She sighed deeply. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Sure.” I was happy to acquiesce. “Why don’t we talk about that thing you did in the bedroom earlier. How did you learn to do that?”
She shook her head and gave me a coy smile. “A girl’s gotta have her secrets, Senator Moore.”
After a significant amount of insisting, I let Charley clear the table and wash the dishes while I settled in to watch some television while answering emails on my phone. Sensing someone watching me, I glanced over and caught Charley staring at me with a small smile turning up her lips.
“Stop being a creeper and come over here,” I said.
She was more than happy to snuggle in close, her head resting comfortably on my shoulder. “What are we watching?”
“I have no idea.” I put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
“Sounds thrilling.” She reached for the remote and flipped through the channels until stumbling across my favorite show.
“Yes!” We both chimed simultaneously.
“No way,” Charley said. “There’s no way you like this show. No one likes this show.”
I scoffed in mock hurt. “Death and War is the best show on television right now. You don’t get to claim it for yourself.”
Death and War was a drama set in a small town in Germany during World War II. The premise was that the small town was under attack by a serial killer while the war raged on, and a quirky Detective and his beautiful partner were the only hope for catching the killer. I had never met a single other person that even knew what the show was about, let alone actually enjoyed watching it.
“There’s no way this is real,” she muttered to herself.
“What’s wrong?”
She turned up the volume and burrowed in closer. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is just right.”
“I guess we agree on more than just this show,” I said as I gave her a long squeeze. “If only thi
s agreeability was transferable to our political philosophies,” I said wistfully.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Moore. Until you’re willing to admit that I’m always right, we’re going to remain adversaries.”
I let out an exaggerated, suffering sigh. “Let’s just watch the show.”
I didn’t even realize I was tired but I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, the television was off and the room was dark. Charley was still snuggled close to me and had pulled a blanket around us. I held her closer and felt an overwhelming sense of calm, like nothing I had ever felt before. Her heartbeat, her warm body rising and falling with each breath, her soft skin– this was my new home and I never wanted to leave.
CHAPTER NINE
Riley
The next morning, Nick insisted on dropping me off at the train station despite my reassurances that I would be fine taking a cab. We put on our game faces before stepping outside and I tried to ignore the cameras that were shoved in our faces. Nick carried my bag in one hand and held my hand in the other as he led us to his car. Once we were safely inside, he smiled at me. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“It certainly could’ve been worse.”
We drew a lot of intrigued looks when Nick retrieved my bag at Union Station. He even offered to walk me inside, but I firmly turned him down. His presence would cause more issues than I was in the mood to deal with so early in the day. After a relatively chaste kiss, I was on my own. I noticed several people staring at me as I made my way to my train, but I pretended not to see them. I certainly didn’t want to encourage conversation with anyone. Thankfully, the train wasn’t super crowded, so I was able to have a seat to myself.
After just about three hours, I was standing in Penn Station, a place that is always super crowded. I had booked a hotel room in midtown and I checked in there before heading off to my meeting. It was a long meeting, led by one of our largest benefactors. Cash Decker was a wealthy old man. He had made his money in oil many years ago and was now looking for charitable ways to spend it before he died. He was so invested in saving his soul that he had compiled a board of trustees to help spend the money. Now I was forced to sit in front of them for many hours, answering questions about Children First and laying out the vision of our cause.
During one of Cash’s longer bathroom breaks, one of the board members approached me with a smile on his face.
“Charley Tanner?” His smile grew at the look of confusion on my face. He somehow looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure out why. “You’re Nick’s Charley, right?”
“You know Nick?”
“I’m Jeff. Jeff Harper.” He held out his hand for me to shake. “I went to college with Nick.”
“Oh. Wow.” I took a closer look at Jeff and realized that I had seen him at the wedding on Saturday. We hadn’t been formerly introduced. “It’s nice to meet you, Jeff.”
“I meant to introduce myself at the wedding, but I couldn’t find you guys when I looked for you at the reception.” He reached for the pitcher of water and filled his glass.
I reached for the coffee. “So you and Nick are still close?”
“Absolutely. We still meet up every week for a beer.” Jeff grimaced just a bit. “We drifted apart while he was dating that Heidi girl, but things are back to normal now.”
“She wasn’t a fan of you?” I teased.
Jeff laughed. “No, she wasn’t. But then she wasn’t a fan of any of Nick’s friends. Or of fun in general.”
“I know the type.”
“Well, I’m just glad Nick seems to have found himself a normal girlfriend for once.” Jeff coughed uncomfortably. “That was supposed to be a compliment.”
“I took it as one.” I smiled reassuringly.
“Just don’t let this Heidi business scare you away,” he suggested.
“Heidi business?”
He waved a hand like he was swatting at a fly. “The Heidi baby thing.”
“Baby thing?” My voice was weak and hoarse.
“She says it’s Nick’s baby, but Heidi lies about everything. I wouldn’t believe her until a paternity test comes back positive, you know what I’m saying?” Jeff finished his sentence before he realized I had no idea what he was talking about. “Oh shit. You don’t know.”
“Back to work!” Cash clapped his hands and everyone scampered back to their seats. Jeff shot me an apologetic look and backed away.
I stayed in my seat for ten minutes, but every minute was torture. When I finally excused myself to use the restroom, I had to force myself not to run from the room. I had my phone out and the browser open before the door had even shut behind me.
A search for “Senator Moore baby” returned ten pages of results. I started with the first one and was given all the information I needed. Nick’s former fiancé was alleging that she was three months pregnant with his child. Senator Moore had yet to comment. My phone rang just as I reached the end of the article. It was Nick. I pushed the ignore button and marched back into the meeting.
Nick called six more times while I listened to Cash’s worries about tax write-offs. As soon as the meeting was over, I excused myself, claiming that I had to hurry to another meeting. Instead, I hurried to the nearest bar and ordered a scotch neat.
The television above the bar was tuned to one of the news channels and I looked up just in time to see Nick’s face plastered on the screen. The caption beneath his picture proclaimed, “Senator Baby Daddy?” The scroll running along the bottom filled me in on the necessary details– rumors started circulating last week that the senator’s former fiancé was carrying his child. Heidi’s spokesman confirmed the rumor on Sunday.
This time when my phone rang, I answered it after the first ring. “Are you kidding me, Nick?”
“Charley, let me explain.” Nick spoke in a rush.
“Sunday? This shit was confirmed on Sunday and you didn’t want to mention it to me?” I was speaking loud enough that nearby patrons began to stare.
Nick said, “Charley, I’m sorry. I should’ve said something.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“We had such a great time these last few days and I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“Oh, you didn’t want to ruin all the sex we were having by telling me that your girlfriend is pregnant?” This turned several more heads.
“Ex-girlfriend, Charley.”
“Yeah, because that’s the only important part of that sentence.” I pushed my empty glass toward the barkeep and he dutifully refilled it.
“Look, I’m sorry. I screwed up.” Nick sounded pretty pitiful.
“I’m not in the mood to deal with this right now, Nick. I didn’t sign up for this,” I said.
“I know.” Nick sighed.
I took a healthy drink and said, “I’m not built to be a political mistress, Nick. I don’t want to be part of a ridiculous political scandal.”
“It’s not as bad as it seems right now, Charley.”
“I’ve got to go, Nick.”
I had a charity event to attend later in the evening, but nothing on my agenda prior to that, so I kept my seat warm. After two more drinks, I started to feel guilty about drinking alone. Fortunately, I had a few friends in the city, so I sent out some texts until I got a hit. My old friend Brian was available for a quick drink. I met him the bar in my hotel and we got a quiet table near the back where we could talk freely.
“It’s been awhile, Charley. What’s the occasion?” Brian wasn’t one to make small talk. He preferred to cut through the bull shit.
“Bad day. Didn’t want to drink alone.”
“Considering you’re already drunk, I don’t think the drinking alone thing is really an issue for you,” Brian said with a laugh.
I toasted him with my glass. “Touché.”
“Why did you really reach out?”
“We’ve been friends for nearly ten years. Do I really need a reason to want to see you?”
“Yes.” Brian gave m
e a pointed look. “Is this about the senator?”
“How did you know?”
“I watch the news, babe. It’s not exactly a secret.”
I told Brian everything– about meeting Nick and agreeing to go to the wedding with him. About our inexplicable connection and how stupid I felt for falling for a man I barely knew. The mere fact that Nick had kept such an important secret was proof that I hadn’t really known him at all.
“You made a mistake, kid. It happens. Men are good at hiding the bits of their life they don’t want you to see.” Brian winked playfully. “Trust me, I would know.”
“Yeah, you would know.” I smiled at our private joke.
Brian glanced at his phone. “You gonna be okay?”
“Yes. If you need to go, please go. I’ll be fine.”
Brian was already slipping on his jacket. “I wouldn’t normally bail on you like this but I’ve got a hot date.”
“Of course you do. I’ll walk out with you.”
Brian offered his arm to steady me as we headed to the lobby.
“Have fun tonight,” I said, leaning in to hug him goodbye.
Brian smiled devilishly. “I’m sure I will.” His eyes widened slightly as he looked over my shoulder. “Maybe you will, too.”
He kissed me on the cheek and vanished before I even managed to turn around. When I did, my eyes landed directly on Nick.
“What are you doing here, Nick?” I snapped, mostly from surprise.
Nick looked to where Brian was exiting and then looked back at me. “I’m not sure.”
“I don’t have time for games, Nick. I have to be at the Rockford Fundraiser downtown in an hour and I still need to change.”
“I’m headed there, too,” he said quietly.
I looked at him closer and saw that his hair was disheveled and his eyes looked tired. For the first time, Nick looked broken to me. I felt my resolve crumble.
“Fine. You can come up to the room. We can talk while I get ready.”
My hotel room was essentially a bed with four walls around it which made for a less than ideal setting for the conversation we were about to have. We sat on opposite ends of the bed and I waited for Nick to speak.
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