I jumped up and followed her into the hallway. This past week I had spent more time with Meg than I had since we broke up. I liked it—loved it, in fact. Something about being around her made the world brighter, gave me more energy, caused me to stay focused.
“Stop following me,” she snapped over her shoulder.
“We could combine forces,” I suggested, placing a hand on her lower back and spinning her toward me. “You know, run on the same ticket.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You just want to be mayor and have me do the work while you take all the credit. No thanks.”
“You can’t deny that I’m a shoo-in to win,” I said, striding to catch up with her as she walked out of the double doors of the city hall building.
She turned to face me, strands of hair that had escaped from her bun blowing around her face. “If you want to pay fifty thousand dollars for every vote in this city, be my guest. If you’re that thirsty for the job, then you can have it.”
11
Meghan
Iwas done with Hunter. All he ever did was lie and manipulate people.
He was handsome, though, and he smelled really good. Because I had been sitting right next to him in the committee room, every time I inhaled, I got a breath of that clean, slightly woodsy, masculine scent that was so uniquely Hunter. There had been a time when all I had wanted to do was just lie next to him and breathe that in, feeling safe and cared for.
Unfortunately, that was not how the world worked.
People like my best friend Kate Holbrook and my sister Hazel married billionaires who worshiped them. I, however, had Hunter, who was a self-absorbed sociopath who reduced relationships to transactions. That was why when he had promised earlier that he was going to give me information on Uncle Barry’s finances, i.e., my sisters’ finances and mine, I knew he wasn’tactuallygoing to come clean. I was done relying on Hunter and done allowing him to jerk me around.
Frank, the manager of the Harrogate Community Bank, was waiting for me when I walked into his office in the historic classical building. He stood up nervously from behind his desk. “Deputy Mayor.” He stuck out his soft and doughy hand to shake.
“Were you able to find the information about Barry’s accounts?”
Frank picked up a paper clip and twisted it in his hands. “Now, Meg.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Do not,” I warned him, “tell me that I am not allowed to view my uncle’s financial situation that includes debt he took out in my name and my sisters’ names.”
Frank gulped then said in a rush, “He signed over power of attorney to Hunter Svensson.”
I blew out a breath through my nose.
“But…” Frank lowered his voice conspiratorially. “If you and I were, you know, dating, and I just happen to casually leave this information out, then, well, you know, sometimes these things happen.” He smiled up at me nervously.
I’ve been on worse dates.And it was clear Hunter was never going to hand over the complete package of financial information.
I cleared my throat. “Fine. Where are we going?”
* * *
Frank appearedin front of my apartment to pick me up at six that evening.
“I have coupons for Girl Meets Fig,” he said happily as he jogged around the front of the car to open the passenger-side door for me. “They’re running a big men’s health initiative sponsored by the Svenssons.”
“You don’t say,” I remarked as I sat in the car.At least his car is clean. It’s not like the guy with all the cats in the back seat.But it wasn’t Hunter’s fancy black sports car.
Maybe this will be nice. Frank isn’t the greatest, but he has a job at the bank. We could go out for early dinners then go home, where I could watch him fall asleep in front of Netflix.That future sounded dreadfully boring.
Hunter’s ruined you, I chastised myself as we pulled up in front of the Girl Meets Fig restaurant.
There was a line. Apparently, word had gotten around. The whole place was festooned in green penis balloons.
Zoe looked frazzled when she came by to take our names and hand Frank his free smoothie.
