Conspiracy in the Capitol

by B Ivy Woods

  As she was about to turn her phone on do not disturb, another buzz stopped her in her tracks. She flipped back to her inbox and saw that Flint had sent her another email.

  According to him, it was dire because things needed to start moving ahead of WPWL’s board meeting. But meeting Monday wasn’t going to work for Rae because she needed to make preparations for their meeting. Professionally and personally. She told him that in another email before quickly putting her phone on do not disturb and went to bed.

  Rae woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Most mornings that came only after several cups of coffee, so she would take it. She grabbed her phone and headed into the kitchen. Once she started her coffeemaker, she turned her attention to the clock over her oven. There was plenty of time for her to head to a barre class if there were any spots available.

  She checked her phone and signed up for a class that would start in two hours, giving her plenty of time to get herself together. When she closed the barre studio’s app, she noticed she had a text message. Thinking one of the girls might have sent a text at some point, she opened her messages. Her eyes widened as she read the text.

  Flint: Figured it might be easier to text. What’s wrong with a meeting on Monday?

  So this was how he was going to play it.

  Rae: As I mentioned in the email, I’d need to make preparations for the meeting. What documents do you need so I can get them together? I won’t be ready to meet on this short notice.

  There. End of that.

  She quickly sent a message to her girlfriends, stating that Flint had reached out to her before she hopped into the shower.

  Once she changed into her workout gear, she reached over and checked her phone.

  Flint: Danielle wanted us to meet on Monday after I meet with her.

  Rae threw back her head and held in a scream. Monday it was.

  6

  Rae tapped her pen on the table in one of the conference rooms at work on Monday afternoon. The plan was to have Flint meet her in this room after he wrapped up his meeting with Danielle. She couldn’t wait to get this meeting finished. Although she was curious about what he’d been up to over the years, she’d realized that just being within four feet of him was enough to short-circuit her brain and lead her to probably saying something she should have kept to herself.

  It was 12:57 p.m., according to Rae’s laptop. She had spent most of the morning, pulling together potential files for their meeting. Still, she felt as if she was looking for a needle in a haystack. A few more taps of the pen drove her to the brink of insanity so she put it down and looked through her phone to find something to entertain her while she waited.

  “You look busy.”

  Rae jumped at the sound of his voice but played it off. She glanced at the time and saw that it was 12:59 p.m. Of course, he wouldn’t be late. He never was.

  “I was, and you interrupted me, which in many cultures is rude… Hi, Flint.”

  “Rae. It’s nice to see you again.”

  “You saw me on Thursday.”

  “You know what I mean. How have you been doing? Changing the world for the better?”

  Rae knew he wasn’t being sarcastic with that compliment, but let his words roll off her like water off a duck’s back. She shook her head at the image.

  “Thanks. I heard you weren’t doing too bad yourself. Pick a seat, and we can get started. Do you want any water? I can grab some for you. It won’t take long.”

  “I’m good, and thanks. I think I’ll sit right here.” Rae watched as he walked around the table and picked a seat to the right of her.

  “I’m going to be blunt. Why pick that seat out of all the seats in this room?”

  “Well, I don’t have my laptop with me, and I figured it would be easier to look over your shoulder versus you having to turn your laptop around to face me whenever you wanted to show me something.” The smirk Flint sent her way sent shivers down her spine. That smirk led to quite a few long nights when they… She cleared her brain for the second time to prevent herself from going down that route again.

  “Trust me, turning my laptop around for you wouldn’t be a hardship.”

  He didn’t reply for a moment, and she didn’t know how close he was to her until she felt his breath on the back of her neck.

  “But where’s the fun in that?”

  She could confirm that he still wore the same cologne that he wore five years ago. Rae closed her eyes as the scent brought back wonderful memories from their time together and how she missed him after his scent remained on her sheets. Blinking her eyes a few times to remove those thoughts from the front of her brain, Rae turned back to her computer and started typing an email. She didn’t have to send it right that second, but it gave her something to do while she thought of what to say. But before Rae could say anything, Flint moved back and placed the notepad he had brought with him on the table. She could hear him rifling through his notes; it was taking him a long time to find whatever he was looking for to share with her.

  “So, how have you been?”

  “Not too bad. Working a lot. I got my master’s degree two years ago. Overall, I would say I’m doing pretty well. How about yourself?”

  “Well, I’m a lawyer and started working for the same firm as my dad. I moved back here, and I’ve been working and volunteering when I can to keep me busy when work doesn’t.”

  “That sounds like a great plan. I need to volunteer more, but I still do barre classes in my spare time.”

  “Still? I’m glad you kept up with it because it was something you loved when—” Flint cut himself off. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m here to talk about some of the work I’m doing with WPWL.”

  “Yes. So what’s up, and why couldn’t it wait?”

  “Most of the things related to this I’m working with Danielle on.”

  Flint now had her full and undivided attention. “Then why are we meeting? Are you trying to waste my time?”

  “No. The short answer is that there might be quite a bit of restructuring going on within Wild Parks, Wild Lands, and their Board of Directors, and we might need documents and other items on short notice. There haven’t been any lawsuits yet, but we are trying to prevent one. Danielle thought you would be the best person for the job.”

  Rae’s hands flew up to her face. She stopped just short of rubbing her hands over her eyes in frustration because she didn’t want to look like a raccoon if she smudged her makeup. “So, this is pretty serious.”

  “Yep and the information will be based on all of the things that I’m allowed to tell you. The project might become tedious, but we can do it. Together.”

  “What have I gotten myself into?” Rae asked as she looked around her apartment. It was the weekend after she met with Flint. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of her living room, tabulating what she needed to do to prepare for her upcoming move.

  “Why did I decide to move this month?” Although nothing but silence answered her question, it confirmed what she already knew.

  She looked around her and decided which things she needed for the next couple of weeks and which things she could start packing away. Rae finished wrapping the first few items and placing them a cardboard box labeled “Living Room” when her phone rang. Liv’s name popped up on her phone’s screen.

  “Hello?”

  “Open the door.” What in the world was going on?

  Rae looked through her door’s peephole before opening the door, standing there dumbfounded as Eve and Liv greeted her with big smiles.

  “What are you two doing here? Where’s Jules?”

  “We knew you needed help with packing, so we figured we would come over now and maybe do a barre class afterward? Hence the workout clothes we’re wearing. Jules had a family event to attend, but I think she might have just said that to get out of helping us. Kidding!” Rae knew that Eve was kidding since Jules was usually the first one to volunteer to help anyone.

  “You guys
are too sweet. Let me grab more packing tape and markers, and we can get to packing. Everything else is already in the living room.”

  “We know,” Liv called after her.

  Rae grabbed the extra supplies, and the three women got to work. After a few hours, the friends decided that there was no way they were making it to the barre class that day. Instead, they ordered pizza and grabbed a bottle of wine from Rae’s kitchen to open when the pizza arrived. Just as Eve opened the bottle of wine, the pizza arrived. Liv brought the pizza to Rae’s dining room table as Eve was pouring wine for each person.

  “So I meant to say something earlier, but I went on this date with this guy and—” Rae’s phone cut off Liv’s comment. Liv continued with her story, but Rae wasn’t paying attention since the text she’d received distracted her.

  “Rae, what’s up?”

  “Um. Read this.” Rae placed her phone on the table and Eve and Liv leaned over to look at it.

  “I was going to ask you if he reached out to you. I must be psychic.”

  Eve playfully rolled her eyes at Liv. “Let me know when you can predict Lotto numbers.” She turned to Rae and said, “I guess I thought he would have texted you right after he talked to Jules, so I figured he just decided not to say anything.”

  “I forgot to mention that he emailed and texted me before this. When planning something for work,” said Rae. Eve softly shoved her shoulder. “What?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “I forgot. My bad.” She turned her attention back to the text.

  Flint: I wanted to ask if you wanted to get together for drinks sometime? For old times’ sake? This is unrelated to work.

  “I’m not sure what I should say.”

  “Surprisingly, neither do I. I mean the answer is usually yes, no, or maybe, but which answer should you pick? Who knows, and either answer might make it awkward when you have to see him at work. However, I do know more wine is in order.” Eve stood up and walked into Rae’s small kitchen to retrieve a second bottle from Rae’s wine rack. She opened it with ease and refilled their glasses.

  The three sat in silence after Eve sat down in her seat. The longer everyone was quiet, the more time she had to process the text message.

  “You know this isn’t even that big of a deal. It’s just a drink.”

  “Yeah, with an ex that you haven’t heard from in years. That broke your heart by ignoring you instead of being a decent human being and telling you in person, especially after you had been together for over a year.” Liv snapped. Rae was taken aback and shifted her gaze from Liv to Eve, where she saw her other friend nodding her head along.

  “That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

  “Rae, I didn’t mean it like that—”

  “No, it’s fine. You’re right. I should keep things professional. After all, what we had was over a long time ago. In hindsight, I’m surprised we lasted as long as we did. We were just a mess.”

  “You guys were young, had fallen in love, and then he moved away. The fact that you made it for over a year long distance was amazing.” Eve gently laid a hand on Rae’s shoulder.

  Rae nodded and rubbed her hands together. These interactions with him plus talking about it with the girls were bringing back so many memories. Not that she hadn’t thought about him since they broke up, but hearing from him brought up thoughts and feelings she didn’t know she still had.

  “Do you know what you’re going to do?” Eve asked as she leaned forward in her seat.

  Rae shook her head. “I don’t think meeting with him alone outside of a professional capacity is in the cards right now. But I’m also polite enough not to leave him on read so I’ll come up with a response to his message.”

  “Fair.” Liv swirled her wine around in her glass.

  “What do you think, Eve?”

  “I don’t blame you for not wanting to see him. Even if it’s been years. I wouldn’t want to see my exes either. Especially given how you guys ended.” Liv nodded her head in agreement as Eve continued. “To play devil’s advocate, maybe going out with him to catch up wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world? Sometimes you have to leave things in the past, but other times you can leaving the door open to a second chance. I'm not saying date him again if that's what he wants, but at the very least you can show him how well you're doing and get the closure you need.”

  Rae shrugged but didn’t have a response, as she stood up and walked to her living room window. She gazed out to the street below and took several deep breaths. Being back in the same city as Flint would be interesting. She knew that at some point, she would see him again, whether on purpose or by chance. However, she wanted to buy herself enough time to decide, and right now, too many things were going on, including him entering her life. Rae pulled out her phone and composed a message to Flint.

  Rae: I’m super busy with work and moving at the moment, but maybe we can get together for drinks sometime in the future.

  She reread what she typed before reading it out loud to Liv and Eve.

  “That sounds good.”

  “Yeah. It isn’t closing the door, but it’s pushing a personal reunion down the road. And since you aren’t against meeting up for drinks, I think that’s the right thing to do. Also, it won’t make things awkward when you have to see or talk to one another for work.”

  Rae agreed and pressed send. She then put her phone on silent and facedown on the dining room table. “I know I’ll be obsessing over it as is. I don’t need to stare at my phone screen besides that.”

  “Makes sense. Do you want to pack more?” Liv stood up and stretched. Rae and Eve joined her, and the three packed for a few more hours before Eve and Liv had to leave. The ladies promised they would come back to help and would drag Jules along with them as Rae walked them to the door. After Rae shut the door behind them, she brought their wine glasses in the kitchen to be washed, but couldn’t remove her gaze from her phone. Should she check to see if Flint texted her back? She took several more steps before turning around again to stare at her phone. Rae repeated the motion before rolling her eyes at herself.

  She set the wine glasses next to the sink and walked back over to her phone. There was a text notification from Flint. Taking a deep breath, Rae read the message.

  Flint: Oh that’s right. Jules mentioned that when I saw her last.

  Well, she knew she didn’t have to reply to that so she placed her phone back on the table and went about cleaning up the mess they had made.

  She checked the time. Noticing that it was getting late, she headed to her living room to watch some television before bed.

  Flint: If you need any help moving, let me know. I’m happy to help. Looking forward to that drink at some point.

  Rae left him on read and continued to relax for the rest of the night.

  “Guess what?” The voice paused as he looked up from his screen and watched Rae settle into her couch.

  The voice on the other end of the phone didn’t respond right away.

  “What happened?”

  “Flint is talking to Rae Carter again.”

  The gasp and loud boom on the phone made him think she might have fainted. That had not been his intent, but he knew that she needed to know the truth. He patiently waited for her to get herself together. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I thought we were in the clear once Flint moved back to the area.”

  “Should I go back to plan A? And then go from there?”

  “Sounds like a plan. Let me know how it goes.”

  “Will do.”

  7

  “So, I saw Flint again.” All heads in the room swerved to Jules as she broke the silence in the room. The ladies were busy helping Rae bring a few things into her new apartment and unpack what they could fit into her and Jules’s cars.

  Rae said, “Oh, really? How is he?” She hoped the sweat that was now forming on her golden-brown skin wouldn’t raise any suspicions since she’d been moving boxes around. She
wiped her arm across her forehead and kept walking.

  It had been about a week since she last heard from him in person or over text. They had shared a couple of emails back and forth about work-related things and that had annoyed her more than she would like to admit.

  “He’s doing good. He mentioned he reached out to you about getting drinks with him.”

  “Yep.” Rae offered no explanation other than that. She slammed the box she was carrying down on the kitchen counter a little harder than necessary. She busied herself by removing the tape and placing some smaller utensils and tools into where she wanted them in the kitchen.

  “Well, since she won’t ask, what did he say?” Liv asked from her place on the floor. She was resting after doing her share of clearing out the two vehicles.

  “I think he was trying to figure out what we were up to over the last few years. He focused on Rae, of course, but he seemed genuine. We chatted for a while at this event this time around because we lost our parents in the crowd.”

  “What event was this?” Rae thanked Liv in her head for asking one of the questions she was thinking of asking.

  “This was a political fundraiser. Virginia state politics.”

  “Was he there for his firm or with his father?” Rae figured she could take over the questioning at this point.

  “I think he was Terry’s plus-one. I didn’t see Gladys at all, and she loves attending these events.”

  Rae’s eyebrow rose at Jules’s explanation. Mentioning his parents didn’t bring warm, fuzzy feelings to Rae. She held nothing against them, but there was a level of indifference from his mother that didn’t rest easy with her. His dad was nice, so she couldn’t complain. It was interesting that Flint was attending political fundraisers, according to the article. It wasn’t work-related if he was attending as his father’s plus-one.

  “Have you thought more about going out to drinks with him?”