I frowned. “How, exactly?”
“Listen attentively, don’t talk too much, and smile. This is an important dinner.”
“It is? Why?”
But he didn’t answer. We’d come to a round table in the corner of the restaurant. A prime location next to the tall, floor-to-ceiling windows that gave us a panoramic view. Black water glittered with lights from the boats sailing at night.
I smoothed my pink dress and sat down beside Colton, a pale, dark-haired, gray-eyed guy, a few inches taller than me, whose smug smirk seemed glued on.
If mansplaining were a facial expression…
“Well, this is just lovely, Grayson,” Charles Harrington said. He was tall, imposing, with a shock of gray hair. He turned to his wife. “Don’t you think so, Shar?”
“Newport is lovely, but I prefer DC.” Mrs. Harrington had dark brown eyes, and a fashionable streak of silver in her chestnut hair. She reached to touch my mother’s arm. “Cassandra, we must have you down to for a luncheon sometime.”
My mother smiled tightly and reached for the wine list. “We must.”
When Mom didn’t elaborate or engage in the small talk, Dad cleared his throat. “I understand you’re something of newlyweds.”
The senator covered his wife’s hand with his and chuckled. “Not quite but fairly new. Three years ago, now. We met at a fundraiser in DC. She’d just come back from France, and I snatched her up before she could fly off again.”
Mrs. Harrington shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sure they don’t want to hear our story, Charles.”
The waiter took our drink order—everyone had a cocktail or wine, while I had a Diet Coke. My mother had gone silent; I felt my father’s pointed stare to continue the conversation.
I turned to Colton beside me. “Did you go to Castle Hill Academy for high school?”
Six years ago?
Colton scoffed. “Definitely not. I attended Groton in Connecticut, then went on to Harvard, where I have graduate and postgraduate degrees in socioeconomics, information systems, and analytics.”
“Oh. Cool.”
Job done. I picked up my menu, perused the list of seafood dishes, and wished I was at the CHA party, dancing and celebrating with Xander. But immediately, I felt my dad’s glare on me again and so I put on a pretty smile for Colton.
“So, what do you do with all those degrees?”
He leaned back, sipping a gin and tonic. “Pragmatically speaking, I’m working on building another startup in the healthcare sector, but my real work is much more forward-thinking. Let me ask you a question, Emery. Do you know why our civilization is in danger of going extinct?”
“Global warming?”
“Wrong,” he said, relishing my wrongness. “The greatest existential threat to developed countries is underpopulation. Did you know that birthrates have plummeted over the last quarter century?”
“I did not know that,” I said into my soda.
“It’s true. The working class is aging out, and there are not enough younger workers to sustain the industry at its current levels. I’m part of a global movement to save humanity. We seek to restore population levels and increase the size of the American household, otherwise, we’re facing complete societal collapse.”
“That sounds…bad.”
Shoot me now.
“Colton is very fervent about this subject, aren’t you, son?” Senator Harrington said proudly.
“Well, obviously, father,” Colton replied. “It’s imperative we act now before it’s too late.”
“And what did you have in mind?” My mother carefully raised her glass of wine to her lips. “How do we solve this ‘existential threat?’”
“Cassandra,” my dad intoned.
