Cary shot me a grateful look and mouthed,Thanks, Rudy.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Kiki glanced at her notebook. “We’re thrilled you’re givingTexas Monthlythe exclusive on your announcement. I want to hear everything about your new venture. Ungoverned Advocates—where does that name come from?”
A loud crash sounded from the kitchen, and Lee popped around the corner. “Sorry! I was just trying to eavesdrop, and then I tripped over Patches’ water bowl, and it was a whole...you know what, never mind. I’m just a fan. Carry on.”
The sound of Ben softly snickering filled the room as we turned our attention back to Kiki and her photography crew from the magazine, who were angling light reflectors at our faces.
“Truthfully,” Logan said, “I wanted to name us the Hotspurs.” He reached for my hand and I laced my fingers through his. Even after six months of dating, sometimes I still couldn’t believe I could hold his hand whenever I wanted. “But Nora vetoed me. And since she’s the president, she wins.”
“We decided after Logan’s gubernatorial race that running for office isn’t how we’re best positioned to make a difference,” Nora said. She was dressed to the nines as always in a black suit and crisp white shirt. “The name Ungoverned Advocates reflects that.”
“Tell me more about that decision,” Kiki urged. “Logan got so close to winning. Why not run him for something else? senator, House rep?”
“I realized campaigning wasn’t the right fit for me.” Logan squeezed my hand, and I knew he was thinking of all the conversations he and I had had on this very couch, late into the night, weighing that decision. “It requires me to button up and play by a set of rules I don’t believe in.” He gestured at Nora and Cary. “We realized that if wereally wanted to speak truth to power and stand up for people, we needed to be freer.”
“Now Logan can be himself,” Cary added. “As angry and inflammatory as he wants. And instead of a liability, his personality’s a strength. Nora and I will direct his firepower at politicians. We’re going to keep them accountable.”
Kiki arched an eyebrow. “And you chose Ms. Igwe as president?”
“Nora’s always been the mastermind,” Logan said. “It fits. And I get to be the bulldog.” He looked inordinately pleased at that.
Nora nodded. “We’ll give you a peek at our plans when we head into the Ungoverned office.”
“Also known as Logan and Alexis’s spare bedroom.” Cary glared at me. “Which Alexis refuses to let me decorate.”
I bit back the urge to say our house wasn’t in need of any life-sized Matt Bomer cutouts. Patches and I had moved in with Logan only a month ago, and the truth was, we’d barely finished melding our things together. For example, Logan had an entire closet of Tottenham player bobbleheads we were in negotiations over (him: keep, possibly display; me: lose, possibly burn).
Kiki turned her attention to me. “Ms. Stone. Can the public expect to see you out leading rallies with the Ungoverned team?”
I laughed and crossed my legs, grateful Lee had convinced me to splurge on the fancy green suit I was wearing. Not only did I look as sharp as Nora, but green was Logan’s favorite color, a fact he’d reminded me of over and over again this morning...which was how we’d almost been late to an event in our very own house. “Not anytime soon. I’ve realized there are a lot of ways to contribute to a cause you believe in, and I’m happiest behind the scenes.”
“She’s one of our best education advisors,” Logan said.
“Whatareyou up to, then?” Kiki tapped her pen. “I know a lot of people were disappointed you didn’t run for TEA president.”
One of the photographers started snapping shots of me, but I managed to ignore it. “I’m comanaging the Barton Springs Elementary library and writing my first middle grade novel. It’s about a girl who’s so shy she prefers to disappear into books, until one day her favorite stories spring to life. Then she has to navigate a world with blurry boundaries between fact and fiction.”
“It’s genius,” said Logan, who didn’t even know he’d inspired it. “It’s going to sell like hotcakes.”
I patted his leg, but couldn’t help blushing. “No matter what happens, I’m fulfilled just writing it. This is what I was meant to do.”
Kiki leaned in. “Speaking of meant to be. Logan and Alexis, a lot of people fell for your unusual love story. From a one-night stand to a public scandal to a power couple. Would you say the two of you have finally found yourselves where you belong?”
Logan and I glanced at each other, surprised. That phrase—I’ve finally foundmyself where I belong—was something Lee used to say at her campaign rallies, so often it became a bit of a Lee Stone catchphrase. I squeezed Logan’s hand and smiled gently at Kiki. “With all due respect, Kiki, I’d like to put it in my own words. Logan and I fell in love while we were also learning to love ourselves. So for us, it was more a discovery that we were where we belonged all along. We didn’t have to change. We just had to open our eyes to see it.”
He took my hand and kissed it.
“A fitting end to your story,” Kiki said, motioning to the photographers to move to the spare bedroom.
“Wait,” I said, and the whole room stilled in a way that once would have made me nervous. “It’s not the end.” I looked around, buoyed by the people smiling back, including the ones peeking from the kitchen. These were the people I loved, who believed in me and made me feel safe being myself. “Trust me. Our story’s just beginning.”
