Conspiracy in the Capitol

by B Ivy Woods

  “Great.” Danielle paused before continuing, “Are you feeling okay?”

  Rae’s eyes darted to the left before focusing back on her boss. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You looked startled earlier when you walked past the conference room.”

  “I saw something strange, that’s all.” Well, that wasn’t a lie.

  “Okay. I’ll meet you back here in fifteen, and then we can chat.” Danielle softly closed Rae’s office door. Rae closed her eyes before sitting up. She was happy Danielle didn’t push any further and got back to work.

  Rae checked her email and the second knock on her door made her roll her eyes. With a huff, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was 2:14 p.m.

  “Come in!” Rae said. Danielle must have wrapped up whatever she needed to do earlier than planned.

  But that would be too much to hope for, because it wasn’t Danielle standing in the doorway.

  “Hey.”

  Rae’s mouth fell open for the second time that day. She could think of a million things she wanted to say in that exact moment, but her mouth wasn’t computing with her brain. Since she couldn’t form the words, she examined him instead. How had he changed in the years since she’d seen him? He had grown out his brown hair. It was still short on the sides but the top of it was longer and was swept back off of his forehead in a coif hairstyle. Her eyes skimmed down his face and body as she mentally made notes of the differences and similarities compared to the last time she’d seen him. He looked to be even stronger than he was when he was in the Air Force. Rae had never seen him in a suit in person before today, and just like how she thought years ago he was made to wear his military uniforms, his body was made to wear suits as well.

  There were a lot of things that were the same. The level of intensity and confidence that he manifested when he entered a room had not changed. Neither had the hard angles of his jaw or his crystal-clear blue eyes. And he had those same blue eyes trained on her.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  4

  “Wasn’t expecting that greeting.”

  Rae swallowed before saying, “My bad. Let’s rewind that.” She cleared her throat. “Hey.”

  Rae smiled because she sounded confident, but deep down, she wasn’t. She averted her eyes, but she could still feel his stare.

  “How’s everything going?” She was glad he was keeping it polite and neutral.

  Although he’d asked her a basic question, Rae could feel a rush of feelings coming back to her. Feelings she thought she’d buried over the years were now hitting her like a ton of bricks. Those feelings were attempting to take over her thoughts, but she did her best to keep them at bay so they wouldn’t cloud her judgment.

  “Not too bad. Super busy, but busy is good. How about yourself?”

  “Can’t complain, especially right now. You look great, Rae.”

  The wistfulness in his voice, the rich timbre she had fallen in love with years ago, led her to think about his featured article. If he was talking about their relationship, he was probably thinking back on the good times they’d had, not that she could blame him. But she couldn’t stop herself from running through the bad times. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her when she thought about the events leading up to their breakup.

  “Um. Thank you. What are you doing here?” Her words might have come out a little more curt than she’d intended, but she wanted him to get right to the chase.

  Flint didn’t have time to answer because Danielle appeared behind him.

  “Excuse me,” she said as she scooted past Flint. “Oh good, you’ve met. Rae, Flint is working on a few things for WPWL, mostly about administrative tasks like governing documents, risk management, etc. If he needs anything, please get it for him. It might help if you guys had a meeting at some point.”

  Couldn’t someone else help him? Plus, she had to prepare for the board meeting and find time to move. Why did she need to meet with him? Why couldn’t the floor turn into quicksand and swallow her whole right now?

  “Sounds like a great idea.” Rae forced another smile on her face.

  Danielle turned to Flint and said, “I’ll cc you two on an email with what we are envisioning. That way, you’ll have a way to contact one another.”

  Rae wanted to say that he already had her phone number anyway but bit her tongue. Flint glanced at Danielle before his eyes returned to Rae. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “It was nice meeting you, Mr. West.”

  “Likewise. I look forward to working with both you and Ms. Carter.”

  The only time that Flint had called her Ms. Carter was when he joked about her taking his last name when they got married. When. They. Got. Married.

  Rae gripped the edge of her desk until the pressure hurt her fingertips. It was the only thing that was keeping her from saying something that she would regret in front of her boss.

  “Great. Rae, are you ready?” Danielle headed down the hall before she could finish the question.

  As she nodded and stood up, Rae grabbed her phone and her laptop and walked to the door. She changed into her three-inch heels, all the while staring Flint down. Rae was thankful for the burst of confidence that came as she put the heels on. Unless his thoughts had changed, he loved when she wore heels. And by the look in his eye—one he had given her many times before—she could tell that was the only thing he wished she were wearing.

  Flint put his hand out to motion for her to pass, and she strutted past him. She was thankful that today was a day she dressed up. A beige dress and nude heels replaced her usual business casual outfit that included a pair of dark skinny jeans, a nice blouse, a dark blazer, and flats. She had worn her long wavy dark brown hair down today on a whim. As she was walking out the door this morning, she’d grabbed a few pieces of gold jewelry that she thought would look good with her outfit and black tote. She knew she looked fantastic, and he could eat his heart out.

  “I look forward to working with you, Ms. Carter.” His tone and the emphasis on her last name reminded her of the voice he used during foreplay, and it made her quiver. It reeked confidence that went along with the smirk he was sporting. But she was having none of it.

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “Please tell me you strutted your sexy looking self down the hallway, and he stared at you the entire time.”

  Rae chuckled at Liv’s comment as she scrolled through one of the online dating apps she had on her phone. Seeing nothing of interest, she placed the phone down and noticed that all eyes were on her. She nodded and grinned.

  “That’s my girl!” exclaimed Eve, which might have been the loudest she had ever heard Eve speak. The girls held up their drinks to cheers, brought their glasses to their lips, then placed them back down on the table in front of them. Liv had called an emergency happy hour session at the Green Hat after she heard the news about Flint. Rae didn’t see the text until she was about to leave the office, but changed her plans and headed to the Green Hat to hang out with her girls. After all, she was probably just going to sit on her couch and watch some episodes of a show she had already seen a million times.

  “So, Danielle has no idea that you guys dated?” Eve took another sip of her drink before dabbing a napkin on her lips.

  Rae shook her head. “Nope. And based on her reaction when she entered my office after Flint, he didn’t tell her either. Plus, I don’t know how that would come up in conversation at work.”

  “Touché.”

  “So, now what?” Jules asked. She glanced around the bar, but her eyes landed back on Rae.

  “I assume he will contact me. If I had to guess, he won’t keep this professional either.”

  “Not based on what you said,” snickered Liv. Rae glared at her, which made Liv giggle harder. “I’m just sayin’.” She placed a chip laced with spinach and artichoke dip into her mouth.

  “I’m not mentally prepared for how awkward this is going to be.”

 
; “It will be okay. Both of you are adults and will push aside any differences to solve any issues that come up while you work together.” Rae could always count on Jules to be optimistic about a situation.

  “Yeah, something or someone will have some things resolved, but I’m not sure that it will be WPWL’s administrative policies.” If glares could kill, Liv would be face-first into the dip she was snacking on.

  Eve shook her head at Liv. “Anyway, I’m curious to see how this will go. Did Danielle send that email connecting the two of you yet?”

  Rae nodded. “She sent it a few minutes after I left work to come here.”

  “And nothing from Flint yet?”

  Rae shook her head. “Not yet. And even if he had sent something, I would wait to read it at work tomorrow.”

  Liv stood up and clapped for Rae. Rae shook her head and said, “One day, you’ll be in a similar situation, and I will laugh at you. With a capital L.”

  “Yeah, yeah. When hell freezes over, and you get a guest spot on Sesame Street.” Liv waved her off.

  The rest of the table giggled at Liv’s antics before the topic changed.

  “How’s the packing going?” Jules asked.

  “To be honest, not well. I was planning on working on it this weekend. This week has been mentally exhausting because of work.” Rae’s three friends nodded in sympathy.

  Before anyone could say anything else, John appeared at their table with four drinks and told them it was on the house. When they protested, he shook his head and smiled. After the women thanked him, they each took sips of their new drink as he walked away.

  “This is so refreshing. We need to tell John that this needs to be on the menu as soon as possible,” Eve said as the rest of the group nodded.

  “Yeah, he can name it after me.”

  “Of course he can, Liv. Of course he can.” Eve shook her head as she continued to enjoy her drink.

  “Anyway, this might be off base, but maybe Flint would offer to help you move.”

  Rae turned her body in Jules’s direction and tilted her head. “How would he know I’m moving, Jules?”

  “I might have mentioned it to Flint.”

  Rae closed her eyes before opening them once more. “I thought you said you didn’t talk to him that long.”

  “I didn’t, but you know, sometimes when I get startled or nervous, I blurt things out and then I don’t realize what I’m saying until it’s already too late. Like I’m doing right now.” Jules took a deep breath after the rush of words came flying out of her mouth.

  Rae reached over and patted her hand. “It’s fine.” And it was. He hadn’t reached out to contact her, so she wasn’t going to worry about it.

  “It just came up when we talked about some people we knew back when we were kids. It was after I told him what you were up to—”

  “Jules, seriously, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” Rae offered a small smile. “The ball is in his court.”

  5

  The next day, Rae woke up to the sound of her alarm. Trying to shake the grogginess and minor hangover she had from their happy hour, Rae sat up in bed and stretched. She checked her phone and saw a text notification. Her heart skipped a beat but quickly settled down when she saw the text was from Eve.

  Eve: Anything from Flint?

  Eve freaked her out because of how well she knew her after all of these years.

  Rae: No, why?

  Eve: Because I know you’ve probably been racking your brain all night trying to figure out what to do if he contacted you.

  “Touché,” whispered Rae as she wandered into the bathroom.

  Rae: It wasn’t all night…only part of the night, thank you very much.

  Eve: Semantics. How are you taking it?

  Realizing she would be late for work if she didn’t get a move on, Rae put a shower cap on her head and jumped into the shower. She was out in fifteen minutes and finished up the rest of her morning routine in record time. Rae chose a dark green dress and brown knee-high boots to wear to work that morning. She grabbed her brown pea coat before haphazardly placing her hair into a ponytail. Double-checking to make sure she had everything she needed, she locked her front door and headed to the metro station.

  As she walked to the metro, she couldn’t help but smile as the thought this being one of the last weeks she would have to make this long trek to work. Rae lived in DuPont Circle and had to take two trains to make it to her office in Arlington. Her commute was about forty to fifty minutes if the trains were running on time each way, and she was tired of it. The only thing keeping her going was that her move was happening soon, meaning that her hellish commute would all be over soon.

  About sixty minutes later, Rae was sitting down at her desk and reviewing her schedule for the day and the rest of the week. She had to put her final touches on the policy slides for Danielle to check for the board meeting and had a few meetings with her boss and the CEO of their company. Rae took a moment to close her eyes and take a few deep breaths, and then she opened her eyes and headed to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee to start her day right. As she waited for her coffee to finish brewing, she realized she hadn’t responded to Eve’s text message.

  Rae: I’m okay, I guess. Seeing him in person yesterday was shocking, to say the least.

  Eve didn’t respond right away, so Rae grabbed her coffee from the break room and headed back to her desk, waving at a couple of people she passed on the way. She sat down in front of her laptop and was ready to get to work.

  Her work and meetings kept her busy until she could break for a late lunch. She grabbed her coat and walked outside to one of the food trucks that hadn’t yet packed up their equipment. She ordered a sandwich and checked her phone as she waited for her food.

  Eve: Yeah, I can see how that could be a shock. I’m not surprised that he attempted to hunt you down after his meeting at your office.

  Rae: Why is that?

  While Rae waited for Eve to answer back, she checked the group chat that all the girls were on, but it was eerily quiet when it was usually bursting with activity. She quickly typed out a message in that chat before turning her attention back to her conversation with Eve.

  Eve: Given how things ended with you guys, I’m shocked he approached Jules about it. Asking about her family and making small talk with her about the people they grew up with is one thing; talking about you is another. But the article and now his behavior makes me think he is trying to make amends and potentially get into your life again. Of course, this is if the article is about your relationship with him.

  Rae: That makes sense. But I guess we’ll never know unless he contacts me. I’m sure it will happen at some point soon.

  Eve: That’s true. Do you want him to contact you? On a personal level.

  Rae: Yes, and no. Part of me wants to talk to him to get a better sense of closure, but I think leaving things in the past might be for the best.

  Eve: Those are excellent points. Although I hate speaking for other people, I know I can speak for the other girls, so I want to reiterate that we have your back. No matter what you do.

  With that, Rae smiled, collected her lunch, and headed back to her desk to get more work done.

  Later that evening, Rae breathed a sigh of relief when she sat down on her couch at 8:00 p.m. She had just gotten home from work, and all she wanted to do was to go to bed again.

  “I don’t know if I have ever been as happy to see Friday in my entire life,” she mumbled as she got up and hung up her coat in the hall closet. She then went to her room and changed into her pj's before heading back out to the kitchen. She grabbed a pint of ice cream from the freezer and turned on one of her favorite reality TV shows and vegged out. During a commercial break, she picked up her phone and checked her messages. Seeing nothing of importance, she opened up the application with her contacts and scrolled until she found Flint West’s phone number. Although she knew the best course of action was to place her phone down, something was urgi
ng her to call him.

  Shaking her head, she tossed her phone onto the couch and continued eating her ice cream. About an hour later, she wandered into her bathroom and standing at the counter, stared at herself in the mirror. She could see some hint of the sleepless night she’d had last night. She played with the bags under her eyes that were kind of noticeable against her golden-brown skin. She glanced down at her phone and sighed at herself. Rae’s obsession with her phone began the moment she heard Danielle had connected them via email.

  “Get over yourself, Rae,” she said to herself as she started her bedtime routine. As she was getting into bed, she tried to resist the urge to check her phone once more.

  “Put the phone down and go to bed,” she muttered. Of course, she didn’t listen to herself because the next thing she knew, she was checking up on the group chat in which she, Liv, Jules, and Eve talked. As she was about to close the app, her phone buzzed.

  It wasn’t a text message, but an email. Rae’s heart rolled around in her throat when she saw that the message was from Flint West.

  To: Rachelle Carter

  From: Flint West

  Subject: Meeting

  Are you available to meet at your office on Monday to talk about the objectives Danielle laid out in her email? Just about any time works for me.

  Thanks,

  Flint

  Rae’s eyes darted to the clock on her phone and she saw that it was almost ten. Why was he emailing her this late? And on a Friday night? She knew for a fact that the project they were working on together didn’t require them to meet right away. Rae hoped to meet after she’d moved and finished up with the board meeting.

  She sent a short email asking why he wanted to meet on Monday, and that it would require some heavy lifting on her end. Then she mentioned that she’d get back to him with a time, but thought later next week or the following week would work better with her schedule. There. That would buy her some time before she had to face him.