by Ewens, Tracy
They both laughed, and Kate handed Reagan a paper plate with two slices of pizza.
“Everything you’re saying, all of those feelings and all the other ones you will have until your wedding day are normal, honey.” Kate took her own pizza and sat on the yellow paisley couch next to Reagan’s chair. “It’s big deal, getting married, Rea. I kind of think the people who don’t have a bit of a meltdown are the weird ones. Ya know?”
Reagan folded her pizza, took a bite, and moaned up at the ceiling. “Nona’s?” she asked, with her mouth still full.
Kate smiled. “Nothing but the best for you, Mrs. Frazier.” Reagan almost choked at the sound of her married name.
“Holy shit. That’s right. I mean I’m keeping my maiden name professionally, but legally I will be Reagan Frazier.” She took another bite of pizza and then added, “Eh, it’s not that bad. Has a nice ring, don’t you think?”
Kate hugged her dearest friend and said, “It sounds perfect, Rea.”
She smiled at Kate like a hesitant child waiting for parental approval before jumping in the pool. Nerves were normal. Kate remembered not being nervous at all the weeks leading up to and the day she married Nick. Like she told Reagan, those people, the calm oblivious ones, were the ones to watch out for.
“Okay. I’m going to get us some caffeine and we are going to beat this tulle into submission,” Kate said, heading into the kitchen.
“Oh God. Please, no more tulle. Can’t we just give all of these people a damn gift card and a pat on the back?” Reagan laughed from the living room.
“We could do that, but I’m guessing these hand-made bowls from the super successful artsy bride would probably be a nicer gesture.”
Reagan sighed and started on her second piece of pizza as Kate set the drinks on the steamer trunk that acted as Reagan’s coffee table.
“Well, if we must. It’s all right there.” Reagan gestured to her overflowing dining area. “Let’s finish eating first. Maybe you could tell me a story while we work.” Reagan batted her eyelashes and Kate laughed.
“Well, I could tell you a story about the campaign I’m working on and a certain someone who kissed me in the dark campaign headquarters. Sounds sort of slutty and totally unprofessional, because it really was.”
“Oh hell, yeah he did! Tongues, tell me about the tongues.” Reagan jumped up and sat next to Kate on the couch.
“There were tongues, and his knows what it’s doing.”
“Sweet Baby Jesus, should we open a window?”
Kate laughed so hard her sides hurt as Reagan grilled her for every detail. By the time they both fell asleep in Reagan’s living room, the pizza was gone and the wedding favors were finished.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next evening, most of the senator’s staff and a few people from Bracknell flew to Washington, D.C. on a private jet. Kate had been in first class once, but she had never been on a private plane. She felt awkward as her heels clinked up the metal stairs and she tried not to look down. Taking a deep breath, she entered the leather-smelling, neutral beauty of a plane that was nicer than most apartments, her apartment in fact. It looked nothing like a commercial airline, and as she set her bags down on the seat, she pretended not to notice. A model-like blonde touched her shoulder and quietly asked if she could get Kate a drink.
“Yes, um, I’d like sparkling water. With a lime?”
The supermodel nodded and walked away.
Kate sunk into the soft beige leather seat. It was high-backed and swiveled. Kate tried not to act like a five-year-old, but she really wanted to spin around despite it being late and her eyes feeling scratchy. There were blankets draped over each seat, luxurious navy blankets. Kate reached up and pulled one across her lap. Cashmere, of course they were cashmere. Kate was getting situated for a long flight when the woman returned with her drink. She smiled and notified Kate when dinner would be served and where the assortment of snacks were located, should she need anything. Kate thanked her, turned on the light just over her shoulder, sipped her water that was served in a crystal glass, and felt . . . calm. It had been a long time since she felt relaxed, calm, and she wondered, not for the first time in her life, if the wealthy and privileged always felt this way. Was calm for sale?
Kate was raised believing that hard work was the key to success, a fulfilling life. She’d worked hard, shunned excess as frivolous, and made her father proud. Kate could change her own tire in record time and never called roadside assistance. Roadside assistance was for weak or silly girls. Certainly not the only daughter of the Flanagan clan. Kate had always painted her own apartment walls, hauled her own groceries up the stairs, Christ, she even licked her own envelopes. Self-stick was for sissies. Most of the time she appreciated, felt good about her abilities, but there were times she was tired. Tired of proving herself, standing on her own for the sake of saying she stood on her own. Sometimes she thought she overdid it. Worked too hard to show everyone. Who exactly was everyone? She wondered now trying to read over Grady’s speech for tomorrow. No one cared if she changed her own tire. It’s not like there was a gold star for that type of thing, and AAA was only $29 for the year. Why didn’t she have AAA? God help her, maybe Grady was right. People ask for help and lean on each other all of the time. That hadn’t been her experience. She made a couple of notes in pencil on the speech, flipped to the next page, and let out another deep breath as Grady took the seat across from her. He looked good in the rich leather and the soft cabin light. He fit right in.
“Kate,” he said in a whisper that made her smile. In the dim light of the cabin it seemed like they were children sharing secrets by flashlight.
She looked up. “Yes, Grady.”
“Favorite part of Washington, D.C.? I assume you’ve been?”
“I have, a few times. Although never like this,” she smoothed her hands over the cashmere blanket across her lap. “Not even close to this actually.”
Grady moved to the seat next her and took some pretzels from the dish the flight attendant had placed in the center of the table.
“Favorite part?” he repeated.
Kate thought for a moment. She already knew her favorite part, but was hesitant to share. She decided it wasn’t a big deal, so she told him.
“The cherry blossoms.”
Grady nodded. “Flowers are always a hit. They are beautiful.”
“It’s not just their beauty. That is lovely, but I like that they bloom in such an otherwise cold town. To me, they feel like the pink of Washington’s cheeks, you know? Everything else is so upright, neat. The blossoms mess that up and give it life, a pulse. I like that they bloom where they probably shouldn’t.”
Grady was quiet, looking at her.
“Eh, I guess that’s silly, childish, but you asked, so that’s my favorite part,” Kate said, feeling awkward.
“I know exactly what you’re saying,” Grady finally said.
When she looked up at him his eyes practically glowed in the dim cabin light. The man was really more than she could take sometimes. He was effortlessly sexy.
“I mean, I can’t say I’ve ever thought of cherry blossoms that way, but I like the way you see things,” Grady continued.
“Thanks,” she said quickly, and then returned to reading. When she looked up again, Grady was asleep. With the blanket up around his shoulder, he looked so calm and vulnerable. There was a part of Kate that wanted to protect him. Even though she was certain he could take care of himself, she wanted to help, keep him safe. That was her last thought before she clicked the light off and tried to get some rest.
They checked into the hotel just after midnight and Kate fell into bed. Grady had helped with her bag and she pushed him out the door before she did something stupid and asked him to stay. Kate was tossing and turning; she could never sleep after a long flight. Her body was sensitive to everything, the blue glow of the alarm clock, the streetlights peeking through the heavy drawn curtain of her room.
She f
inally resolved that she was awake and grabbed her laptop. Her phone vibrated. It was Grady.
“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly.
“I was hoping to hear your sleepy sexy voice, Kate, but clearly you are always on alert,” he said in a sleepy sexy voice all his own.
“Grady, it’s two in the morning.”
“I know. My room has a clock too, Kate. I’m done trying to sleep, so I thought, if you were up for it, I’d take you somewhere?”
“Not much is open right now,” Kate said, closing her laptop and enjoying the sound of his voice. Her stomach fluttered.
“Yeah, well I’ve got some connections.”
Kate smiled and could think of nothing she would rather do than drive through the city at two in the morning with Grady. Christ, you have it bad.
“Okay. I’ll meet you in the lobby in ten minutes.”
They sat in the back of a Lincoln Town Car as they passed by most of the monuments, lit and ethereal against the night sky. When they got to the gate at Arlington, they were met by a guard. Grady got out of the car, spoke with the man for a few minutes, and got back in the car. The gates opened and they were ushered in.
Kate shook her head. “Do I even want to know how that just happened?”
Grady smiled and looked out the window.
“I’m not sure who gets into Arlington National Cemetery in the middle of the night,” she said.
“Rich and I go way back. He’s been the night guard since before I was born.” Grady looked at Kate. “It’s a favor.”
“That’s some favor,” she said, and then they were both silent as the car wound through the white headstones.
Generations of fallen men and women, alone and inexplicably breath-taking.
A few minutes later, Grady and Kate were standing in the viewing section at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“I’ve always been fascinated with this place,” he said, sitting down like a kid on a field trip.
“Arlington?”
“Yes. Well, actually this spot, these guys. The times I was allowed to come to D. C. with my dad, our driver would take me here and I’d sit and watch the changing of the guard over and over again,” Grady said softly. He looked straight ahead at the impeccably dressed guard pacing the Tomb. There was not a trace of charm or charisma, just fascination, serious and genuine fascination.
“I remember memorizing the steps, you know, counting all twenty-one, and then the twenty-one-second pause before the about face. It’s really a dance they do every hour, well, I guess it’s every thirty minutes during this time. It’s always crowded in the summer.”
Kate nodded.
“I prefer winter,” Grady confessed.
“Why?”
“Because that’s when it really counts, winter. Not that it’s ever easy, but these guys are here doing their routine 365 days a year. Summer may get a little hot, but winter is cold and lonely and they are still here, even when no one is watching. They are at their best, pushing their limits and no one is watching. That’s important.”
He looked at Kate and she couldn’t have looked away from him if her life depended on it. She was mesmerized. Kate thought she was done being mesmerized by anything.
“These guys, the sentinels, they commit for two years. Did you know that?” Grady asked.
Kate shook her head.
“They spend the first six months studying. No outside contact, no television. It’s an honor, really.” Grady turned toward her and continued quietly. “During Hurricane Isabel, they were told to stand down for safety reasons and they disobeyed, didn’t want to leave the Tomb. Isn’t that incredible? I mean in a town with so much bullshit, that kind of genuine commitment . . .”
Kate would look back on this moment in the glow of her nation’s capital, the summer air, a place, at a time most people never get to experience it, as the very moment she knew she loved him, as in, was in love with him. She would never have been able to admit it then, but that was the moment.
“Alone?” slipped off her lips.
“What?” He turned back to watch the guard.
“When you were young, you watched alone?”
“Sometimes Ray, our driver at the time, would get bored and come out to sit with me, but I was usually alone. I liked being alone. Still do.” He turned and looked at her again.
“Well, that’s interesting, because you never seem to be alone.”
“That’s all just a game, Kate. The summer months, ya know?”
Yes, she thought she did. Standing there with Grady as the second guard made his approach, Kate began to truly understand him for the first time. She turned to watch the iconic ceremony. Grady was fine sharing his summer months with the world, but he was determined to keep the hard-fought winter months for himself.
The benefit was a success and the campaign raised the money they needed to get them through election night. Grady’s speech went off without a hitch. He brought youth and humor into a room that desperately needed it. He sat with his father on the plane ride home. It was the first time Kate had seen the senator smile since they left California. He clearly loved his son, but there seemed to be a complicated relationship between the two. Kate wasn’t sure why theirs should be any different from the rest of the world. She supposed money didn’t change family.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kate was not anxious to attend the Carousel of Hope Ball this year, for obvious reasons, but a few days after returning from Washington, D. C., there she was. Her mother had already commented that Kate’s dress was cut too low in the back, but she also added that Senator Malendar’s speech was informative and moving. She approved, that’s what she said. As if the whole of the Malendar family was waiting for Mary Flanagan’s stamp of approval.
Kate found Grady with her father. Police Chief Flanagan was looking dapper in his tuxedo, a “penguin suit,” as he referred to it once every two years when he broke it out for just this event. Her father was a handsome man. Dark hair cut very short and balding in the back. His mustache was perfectly trimmed for the evening and for some reason, Kate remembered that when she was a little girl he went through a stage where he curled his mustache up just a little at the corners. Her mother had hated it, but Kate recalled fondly now, standing at a distance watching her dad, that she loved sitting in his lap and twirling his big dark mustache. Her father was a good man, a hard-working man. In that moment, she realized her father and Grady had a lot more in common than most people would think. They were already talking as she approached.
“Not very many people are fans of the LAPD these days. Are you blowing smoke up my ass to get to my daughter? Because that’s not going to work.”
Grady looked at Kate, seemingly not shocked one bit by her father’s candor. In fact, he almost looked like he enjoyed it.
“Sir, I’m not really looking to ‘get to’ your daughter. I’m guessing you’ve already formed an opinion of me, and probably one well-deserved, so no, I’m not blowing smoke up your ass. I’m genuinely impressed with the changes you’ve implemented over the past few years. The police department is just one spoke in the wheel. With all due respect, you guys aren’t responsible for all of the city’s success, nor are you to blame for all its faults. Communities, governments, non-profits, are all part of the problem and the solution. I do think you should rotate your vice and narcotics cops out, promote them even, as it seems like some of them stay too long at the party and end up lost.”
“Is that so? And how exactly would you know that?” her dad asked, standing a little taller. Kate recognized his shoulders thrown back a bit as his defensive stance. She had seen him do it with her brothers. He was preparing to put Grady in his place, but she could have told him there was no need. A few more words and he would not only respect Grady, he would actually like him, but that was for her father to figure out.
“Just my opinion, sir. I watch the news, read the papers, just like everyone else.”
“From your gilded cage?”
/> Kate began to interrupt, explain to her father that he had no idea what Grady did, but she felt Grady’s hand at the base of her back. She stopped, unable to move because his hand was on her skin. Her mother had said the dress was cut too low, maybe she was right. Kate steadied her breath.
Grady glanced at her quickly and smiled. “Sure, if that’s what you want to call it. From my cage, that’s what I see. Some of those officers are good men and women who seem like they’re pushed too long, too thin. At the same time, I’m sure you train the hell out of them and it’s hard to move them along, but . . . ” Grady took a pull of his beer, “hell, I don’t know. You manage the third largest police department in the country, I don’t. None of the work you do is simple.”
Kate’s father seemed speechless. “You get this from your dad?” he asked.
“My opinions?”
“Yeah.”
“No, they’re all mine.” Grady looked Chief Flanagan square in the eye and it was Kate’s turn to smile. Not many men, people in general, could take on her father, but Grady had found a way to discuss the job without sounding like he was trying to fit in. He was still himself, even acknowledged his gilded cage, but got his point across. He would probably make a great politician, but then Kate realized he was far too good a person for that game. Her father and Grady launched into another discussion, and Kate excused herself to go talk with her brothers. As she turned away, she ran right into the one man she could have gone the entire evening without seeing. Her heart immediately shifted into overdrive with a mix of nerves and something else far too complicated to figure out.
“Nick.”
“Kate. You look beautiful,” he said, steadying her by her shoulders. Kate immediately found her balance and stepped back.
She looked down and ran her hand along the eggplant-colored silk of her dress and willed herself to relax. She had felt fantastic tonight when she had left her apartment, sexy even, and she was not about to let Nick “change her energy,” as Reagan would say.