“Chardonnay, and make sure the glass doesn’t have spots on it.” Neal Barclay said, his longtime chief of staff. Neal looked around, frowning. Theo knew that look. Neal had inspected the interior of the pub and found it lacking. Theo didn’t care. He liked it here. There was an unpretentious charm to the dark interior that was a welcome change from the formal events he usually attended.
“You got it. No spots. Spotless. Free of spots,” Amber said. She popped her hip out, making her long, feathered earrings dance around her face. Theo turned back to his phone call.
“No,” he said into the phone. “That won’t work. It was supposed to be for the twenty-first. Yes, I realize this is short notice. Who? Beckerman booked it? Damn it. No, not you. I meant?—”
“Theo, did you hear me?” His date, Addison, tugged on his sleeve. “I think we should order something really special.”
Theo covered the mouthpiece on his phone. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to take care of this.”
“Do you remember what today is?” she added with a coy smile.
Theo looked at her blankly. “Friday?”
Addison pouted. “It’s my birthday month, Theo. You said you were going to take me out somewhere nice, and instead you took me to this shitty little bar.”
Birthday month? Theo held back a groan. “Right. Just give me a minute to?—”
The woman slid off the chair and stood over the table. “This is so boring. I’m going to meet my friends. Call me if you want to join me later.” She blew him a kiss and waltzed out of the pub.
“Well, that was awkward,” Amber said brightly, leaning over to take back the extra coaster. Theo raised an eyebrow at her obvious enjoyment of the situation. She smirked. “I’ll get you a beer, Mr. Mayor. You look like you could use it. Be right back with those.”
“Really, Theo? You forgot her birthday?” Charlotte, his director of communications asked, disapproval written all over her face.
“Yeah.” Theo sighed. “In my defense, I met her last week.” Still, he felt like an asshole. He knew agreeing to take Addison out was a bad idea. She was funny and, okay, he wasn’t going to deny it, she had legs for days. He was a leg guy, through and through, but he knew it was a bad idea the first time they went out. He worked way too much to give a relationship the time and attention it deserved.
Neal frowned at him. “Stunts like that,” he nodded toward Addison, who had stopped to talk to a table of off-duty officers, “do not go over well with your voters. Your approval rating is already down 33 percent and Beckerman’s has doubled. I knowyou don’t want to hear this, but these numbers tell us you’ve got to make some serious changes to your image to have any chance of being reelected in November.”
“What’s wrong with Theo’s image?” Ford, his youngest brother, slid into a chair. “Did you suddenly start mugging old ladies?” He tossed a handful of complimentary peanuts into his mouth.
“Theo, Neal’s right,” Charlotte said quietly, putting a hand on Theo’s arm. “The polls are consistently favoring Beckerman. He’s painting himself as a family man in his ad campaign, and voters are eating it up. They see him as more stable and reliable.” Theo knew Charlotte was right, but it didn’t take the sting out of her words.
“Beckerman’s a prick,” Ford said. “I played golf with him once, and he was bragging about shagging the waitress while his wife was pregnant.”
“It doesn’t matter who he shags as long as he looks like a family man,” Neal said bluntly. “It’s all about optics.”
Theo winced. While Neal was incredibly successful at getting Theo’s father reelected for multiple terms, they didn’t see eye to eye on everything. Theo usually kept the peace because he respected Neal, but sometimes things came out of his mouth that made him wonder how similar they were at all.
“His family image is resonating with voters,” Charlotte said.
“What do you want me to do? Adopt a golden retriever and start baking apple pies?” Theo asked sarcastically.
“That’d be better than the gossip about who you’re dating this month all over the town’s Facebook page. People want to see their mayor settled down,” Neal said.
That damn Facebook page would be the death of him. Whomever ran it had too much time on their hands and Theo was their favorite subject. He dated, yes. But Theo wasn’t anindiscreet lover. He didn’t flaunt his dates or talk about them at all. In fact, he tried his best to avoid the spotlight as much as possible when it involved his personal life.
His last relationship was over a year ago with a local reporter, Pippa Shelton, before they decided their demanding careers left little time for a relationship, and he had only dated casually since.
But lately, he had been thinking about the future. At thirty-five, the thought of meeting a woman and starting a family had crossed his mind more often than not. It would certainly make his grandmother happy.
His record leading Northfield spoke for itself, despite what his constituents thought of his personal life. He poured his heart and soul into protecting Northfield’s charm and sustainability, only to be reduced to his dating history.
The Clairmonts had been shaping Northfield for generations. Theo’s father held the title of mayor for twenty-eight years before he retired and Theo was elected in his place. The following year, in a shocking accident that had shaken the entire town, his parents’ privately chartered plane went down not long after takeoff, and no one survived. The pain of losing his parents was still deep and raw.
It was why Philip Beckerman’s campaign was so distasteful. Beckerman, with his car salesman talks and grandiose plans, represented everything Theo opposed. His latest proposal to pave over the village green—a space the Clairmonts had protected for generations—was a clue to his short-sighted, profit-driven mindset.
Theo couldn’t stand the guy. Beckerman’s vision for Northfield threatened to undo everything Theo and his family had worked for hard for all these years. Losing the election in November wasn’t an option.
“We need something to replace the speculation. Something that shows you’ve turned a new leaf.”Charlotte said.
