3: Regan and Emma indeed were married and were happy?! Regan watched Lucy every Tuesday during their meetings.
4: Sutton’s favorite part of the week was picking Lucy up from school on Mondays; their custody agreement saw that Sutton had Lucy from Monday afternoon to Saturday morning.
5: Her ex-wife was a doctor. (But could she face down the Speaker of the House about civil rights issues at seven on a Monday morning?)
6: She was still very close to her parents.
7: She adored her job.
These were some of the facts Charlotte had managed to squirrel away into her memory over the first month of damningly professional meetings.
But before she could get more information out of Sutton, Sutton always seemed to catch herself in the process of divulging another small factoid before aiming alookat Charlotte. “This is aboutyou.”
She learned that Sutton took care to make sure they did not touch in any way. She was very careful as to where she sat in relation to Charlotte.
And Charlotte learned that she had this intense drive toproveherself to Sutton.
She found this as she divulged anecdotes from her childhood, tales from the last decade. She… she needed to prove that she was reliable and good-natured— as much as she could be—and determined.
And, well, she needed to prove that it had all been worth it. That the pain they’d both suffered, the sacrifice she’d made—I’m in love with you. I think you could love me, too, but that you’re just too afraid—had been worth it, for her to get where she was. For her to have made the advances she’d been able to make in the last decade.
She had toprovethat to Sutton.
And perhaps to herself as well.
“You were approached then for the first time regarding writing a biography. Right?” Sutton asked, three and a half weeks into their meetings.
It was the sixth meeting—Sutton had to cancel one, when her ex had reneged on taking Lucy for the weekend at the last minute—and they were discussing her successful run for governor in 2024.
Charlotte blinked from where she’d been focusing on Sutton’s right ear, behind which her red hair was carefully tucked. She’d had an errant curiosity to learn if she was still sensitive when kissed just there.
Those thoughts happened a bit more frequently than she’d like during these meetings, Charlotte found. Especially because, with every meeting, she felt it became increasingly clear that Sutton did not have the same thoughts.
Charlotte cleared her throat as she took a second to process the question. “Right, yes. That was the first time. This deal, the one I accepted, was the third attempt to sway me.”
Sutton arched an eyebrow. “Why did you agree now?” She made anI know, I knowgesture, holding up her hands. “Publicity, sure. But…somethinghappened.” She stared so astutely at Charlotte that it stole her breath away.
How did Sutton still know her like that? How did Sutton still see her so clearly?
She swallowed hard. “Yes. I… my grandmother.” She cleared her throat. “She left us all these letters that she’d written about six weeks before she died.” Charlotte closed her eyes tightly, warding off the sting behind them.
“I didn’t think she was sick?” Sutton’s voice was low and caring. It had a timbre that Charlotte knew was genuine, something she wasn’t sure other people would be capable of.
God, thatwaswhy she’d chosen Sutton for this. She was still genuine. Time hadn’t changed that.
“She wasn’t.” Charlotte cleared her throat and opened her eyes. “She wasn’t, but she was… I think she knew she wasn’t quite well.” Her voice lowered beyond her control as her eyebrows furrowed and the memories took over.
Her grandmother never said a damn word that she hadn’t felt one hundred percent, but that didn’t shock Charlotte.
“She would never slow down.” Her throat felt tight as a whisper worked its way out. “Not at all, not even for a day. The last time I saw her, she had to use her walker to get around, and I made a comment about her hip.” She attempted a smile. “It was two weeks before she died.”
Silence settled, and she stared hard, down at her knees. This was the kind of stuff she was so reticent about sharing, but… she had to.
She startled when Sutton sat next to her, on the loveseat in her office. Sutton always deliberately sat across from her, in one of the armchairs. Charlotte stared at her in surprise as Sutton gave her the smallest smile, her hand falling onto Charlotte’s, grasping and holding it tight.
Charlotte clung back, her heart pounding at the same time that it warmed with the comfort.
“We can come back to this, if you want,” Sutton murmured. “The bit I have outlined for your grandmother isn’t for a while; I figured we should ease into that.”
