“Thank you.” She put the card into her purse. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Please do, Elena. I think you sell yourself short. A lot of women do.”
Claudia brought the starters—bright, paper-thin sliced watermelon and tomato drizzled with reduced balsamic and sprinkled with fresh basil. It tasted sweet and fresh and cool, perfect for the hot day outside.
“You like helping people, don’t you?” Elena said, taking another bite.
“I do. Women, especially. Sometimes, we just need a little boost and don’t always know where to look or how to ask. I like to help with that.” She took a bite of watermelon. “This is delicious.”
Elena agreed. “So many politicians are out of touch or just don’t seem to care past their own voters. You aren’t like that. I wouldn’t mind ifyouwere the one running for office.”
Cici’s face fell. She looked at her plate. “I never would. And now I wish Roger weren’t,” she said to herself. She looked up suddenly, eyes round with shock. “I shouldn’t have said—”
Elena reached across the table and touched Cici’s forearm much as she had back at the office. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re just friends here, talking. You don’t need to campaign in front of me or anything.” She felt terrible for bringing up such a touchy topic. She should have known from the party that everything was not all right.
Cici dabbed at her mouth with a cloth napkin and blinked rapidly. “Thank you. You have no idea how hard it is to be ‘on’ all the time. I was raised to be perfect. There’s so much…” She glanced around as if everyone in the restaurant had suddenly stopped to listen. No one paid them any attention, each table involved in their own small talk.
Cici grabbed Elena’s hand. “I believe in what Roger is doing. He’s a good man, the best man I know. He wants to make a difference, especially now that our country is so divided. But I worry, Elena. I worry so much. We’re going under a microscope, and I just….”
“What?” Elena leaned closer.
Cici shook her head. “Nobody’s perfect, right?” She gulped down some water. “We all make mistakes. We all have regrets.” She blinked back tears. “Sometimes, the only choices you have are bad ones, and you’re left trying to make the best bad choice.” Cici looked her straight in the eye. “You must know what I’m talking about, right? After the story you told me at the party. We do what we have to do to keep our families safe.Whateverit takes.”
Elena’s stomach dropped. Her first thought was that she should have listened to Camden and stayed away from Cici.Who does she think I am? But then again, what did Elena know about politics and the intrigue surrounding them? Cici was obviously distraught and needed a friend right now. She deserved help as much as she loved to help others.
“Sure, we’ve all made mistakes, Cici. I can’t imagine there’s anythingyou’dneed to worry about.”
Cici leaned in closer. “You and Camden are dating, right? Do you know if Watchdog has done any…how can I put it? Havetheylooked into—”
“Cici, is that you?”
So engrossed in their conversation, Elena hadn’t noticed the man now standing at their table. He was good-looking in a professional way, his chestnut hair neatly trimmed with a razor part and just beginning to whiten at the temples. His suit murmured success and his tie screamed power. He was all smiles, and the smiles were all for Cici.
“Larry, what a surprise,” Cici’s demeanor immediately brightened. “Elena, I’d love for you to meet Lawrence Franklin, Roger’s campaign manager and a dear old friend of mine from college.”
Lawrence touched the white hair over his ear. “I hope the latter is more important than the former, but did you have to say ‘old’ friend?” He winked at Elena, and she tried not to feel skeeved out. Strange men who winked like that always bothered her; they were right up there with the ones who told her she’d be prettier if she smiled more.
Cici laughed. “Nonsense. You look wonderful as always.” She stood and accepted a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve seen you around but we haven’t talked in ages.”
“Roger has me busy, busy, busy.” Lawrence looked around as if a brilliant thought had just occurred to him. “I’m down here for a meeting that just got canceled. I was about to leave when I saw you. Mind if I pull up a chair?” Without waiting for an answer, he swiped an extra chair from the table next to them, winking at the two women sitting there instead of asking their permission.
Ugh. Really?Elena gave him a tight-lipped smile while he made himself comfortable. Her conversation with Cici was effectively over, since Lawrence drained the restaurant of oxygen while he talked almost non-stop about himself, his work with the campaign, himself, asked Cici and Elena a question or two, and then went back to talking about his favorite topic. Oh, but in the three minutes of asking Elena about herself, he did manage to get in some passive-aggressive remarks about Elena’s job, her home state of New Mexico, and single moms. Subtle enough that they could be taken as compliments, but Elena knew that game by now—they weren’t.
How did this asshole convince Roger he was the best man to run his campaign? Funny, but Cici seemed completely enraptured, though she did cringe at the single mom jab.
Elena breathed a sigh of relief when she got back to the office. Cici and Lawrence both walked her back, which she found a little odd. She didn’t have time to think about it—Julia was waiting, actuallywaitingwith her foot tapping, by Elena’s desk. Her relief melted into a cold puddle of dread in her stomach when she realized she’d been gone an hour and a half.
“Sorry to have kidnapped your wonderful receptionist, Julia,” Cici said, “but I owed her a nice lunch after myfaux paswhile we were at Bette Collins’ party on Saturday. I trust she isn’t in trouble?”
Julia blinked once, slowly. She looked at Elena like she’d never seen her before. “Not at all. Perfectly understandable. We certainly value Elena around here. Wonderful to see you, Mrs. Bennett. I hope we can offer your husband our services, should he ever need them.”
“Well, Lawrence and Roger are shopping for a new ad firm and we’d love to set up a meeting with Mr. Brant, actually. Think you can make that happen?”
Elena opened her scheduling software. “Here, let me look at Mr. Brant’s schedule real quick.”
Julia laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got it, Elena.”
Cici went around the desk and kissed Elena on the cheek. Lawrence, thankfully, left with barely a wave. Julia marched back to her office without another word.Thank God for small victories. She did a mental happy dance.
