Charlotte leaned back against her, reaching up behind her to stroke her fingers lightly through Sutton’s hair. “I’m so glad you enjoy it, as I’m not quite sure it’s something that could ever not be a part of me.”
Sutton’s stomach swooped low, anticipation filtering through her. “I know.”
After another few seconds, Charlotte turned in her arms to face her. “Hello, darling.”
Sutton ducked down as Charlotte pushed herself up, their lips brushing in a familiar kiss. It was simple and quick, something that never failed to make Sutton feel completely at peace.
“Lucy’s all settled at camp?” Charlotte asked as they broke their kiss.
“She is,” Sutton confirmed, stroking her hands down so they hovered over the small of Charlotte’s back. “She found your letter to her in her backpack, and she is very excited to read it tonight.”
Charlotte smiled, warmly and radiantly, as she nodded. “Good. I wish I’d been able to join you on the drive.”
Sutton paused as the bells in her head went off and signaled to her thatthis was the moment. “Um, well… it was a good drive to have with just the two of us. We had a really good conversation.”
Her stomach flip-flopped as she could see the curiosity glint in Charlotte’s eyes.
“Oh? What about?”
Sutton wondered if Charlotte could feel how her heart started pounding just a little bit faster. “I guess there really is no point in dragging this out or anything. But I know it’s a big deal, so I wanted to make sure all of thei’s were dotted and thet’s were crossed before bringing it up to you.”
The lightness in Charlotte’s expression faded, replaced by something much more serious. She slid her hand up, cupping Sutton’s jaw. “Darling, what is it? Is something wrong? Are you okay?”
Quickly, Sutton shook her head, reaching up to take Charlotte’s hand in her own. “I’m okay, I swear to you. There’s nothing wrong.”
Skepticism was still etched into Charlotte’s features as she squeezed Sutton’s hand. “All right, I’m listening.”
“I’ve just—I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It started last summer and has been in the back of my mind since then.”
Ever since the last Democratic National Convention regarding this past election. They’d all watched—Sutton, Charlotte, and Lucy—as the candidate Charlotte had endorsed for months and had put the full power of the Thompson name, money, and influence behind had officially been announced the nominee.
The thoughts had only grown more intent, bigger, and louder in November, when she’d won. Again at January’s inauguration.
“I know we’ve talked about this through the years, Charlotte, but I can’t stomach the idea of being the thing that holds you back from your lifelong dream forever.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows drew down in confusion as she slowly shook her head. “You aren’t holding me back fromanything, Sutton. What are you talking about?”
“But I am,” she insisted, reaching out to take Charlotte’s other hand, needing Charlotte tohearher. To see how serious she was. “When we decided to be together, I told you that it had to come at the cost of your future in politics. And I have to stand by that decision because I really do think it was the best thing for Lucy.”
“I agree with you.” There was no room for doubt in Charlotte’s tone. “I didn’t necessarily see if from your point of view then because I wasn’t a parent yet, but I know how I was raised. I know how much attention was on me, how much pressure there was because of my grandmother. And it was a life I wanted, so it was okay with me. But I wouldn’t have wanted that for Lucy either.” A comforting, crooked smile pulled up the corners of Charlotte’s mouth. “Darling, I do hope this isn’t something that has been eating you up inside for years.”
“It’s not,” she promised. She didn’t think she could have hidden that from Charlotte, and she wouldn’t have wanted to. “I trust that you made all of your own decisions and that you chose the path you wanted in life.”
“Thank you, because I did. I love our life,” Charlotte assured, softly.
“I believe you do, and I do, too. But what I want to tell you is that… I think our family is ready now. If you’re ready to go back into politics, then we’re ready to support that,” Sutton finally said the words she’d been wanting to tell Charlotte for months.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. If it was up to me and only me, Charlotte, I would have never done anything but support you. But by the next election cycle, Lucy will be over eighteen. I’ve talked to her about this, about how she’d feel if you were to run. We’ve discussed the publicity, how it would affect her life. We had the final conversation about it today, and she wanted me to officially pass on her endorsement.” A smile broke over Sutton’s lips as she squeezed Charlotte’s hands in hers once again.
“And I’ve talked about it with Layla as well because the last thing we would need in a campaign would be her publicly being unsupportive. But given Lucy’s age and how involved Layla is now with her other children, she has no issues with it.”
Sutton paused, her excitement only starting to dwindle when Charlotte stared up at her, not saying a word.
Confused, Sutton wondered if she was not being clear enough. “I really mean this, Charlotte. I would have brought it up to you sooner, but I wanted to have these conversations with Lucy and Layla and make sure that I could mean it without a shadow of a doubt that you have all of our absolute support.”
Sutton had anticipated multiple outcomes from this moment. Most of them included Charlotte breaking into a wide, beaming smile, throwing her arms around Sutton in unfettered excitement. They included anything after that, from Charlotte tearing Sutton’s clothing off for celebratory sex to hopping immediately into planning mode.
Nothing she’d imagined looked like this. Like Charlotte staring blankly at her—well, perhaps this wasn’t necessarily ablanklook. On second glance it looked more like consternation. Conflict, even.
