“Good for you for admitting it,” I said, somewhat surprised that he had. I assumed Grayson would be of the mind that if he didn’t acknowledge it, it wasn’t true.
“I have found it serves me well to see situations as they truly are, not as I would wish them to be.”
“Damn, good line. I’ll have to remember that one.”
He smiled again. “You can have it—use it at will. What’s more, try to live by it.”
I thought that was pretty good advice. Advice I was going to take.
“So, back to me and the campaign. Or, in other words, why would you want me within ten feet of it, and why would I bother?”
He liked cutting to the chase; he was that kind of man. And I found I was becoming that kind of woman.
“We’ll get out in front of it. We can’t hide it—obviously. So instead we use it to our advantage.”
“Having a child with your mistress while your wife was undergoing cancer treatments? How the hell do you take advantage of that?” But I knew how before he even said it.
“Because the two people he wronged the most—Caroline by cheating on her, and you by denying you—will have forgiven him and be by his side during his campaign.”
“Holy shit, Caroline is willing to do that?”
I’d played my cards wrong, and just the tiniest tic at the corner of his eye alerted me to that fact.
By jumping right to Caroline, it made him think that either I’d do it if Caroline would, or that I found Caroline’s involvement more shocking than the idea of helping myself, so maybe I’d be open to the idea.
Damn. And he’d be right, too, if that was indeed what he thought. And it was. I was coming late to the party, but I learned the rules quickly.
I always had.
“I mean, not that I’m willing to…”
He quirked a brow up at me. Yeah, he had me, and he knew that I knew he had me.
I rolled my eyes (Iwasn’t above it) at him. “Whatever. Seriously. Caroline is going to go out and stump for her slimeball ex-husband?”
“She will make herself available as needed for the father of her children.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay, I get it now. She’ll toe the line so her kids’ father isn’t dragged through the dirt. Again.”
“Something like that. And, of course, for their legacy.”
“Doesn’t seem like Joey wants anything to do with that legacy. He’s hightailing it to Africa just to get away from it.”
Grayson didn’t seem all too happy being reminded of that fact. “Yes, the timing of that trip is…unfortunate. As well as Betsy being in Europe. But we can spin it into something positive.”
“Do-gooding runs in the family? Something like that?”
“Jane, you do catch on quickly. It’s going to be a pleasure working with you on this.”
“Whoa. Haven’t agreed to anything yet.”
He quirked a brow again.
“Or even begun discussing terms,” I added, which garnered me another smile. “Plus, the new semester starts next week.” Which, of course, he knew because of Lily. He only nodded. “I don’t want to miss school. I’m not going to leave school to get on some campaign bus or anything. I just want to clarify that right now, before we go any further in discussing this whole ludicrous idea.”
“I can fix things at Bribury if you’re—”
“It’s not that I’m afraid I’ll flunk freshman courses or anything. I just don’t want to…miss out.”
