Chapter Fifty-Three - Michaela Two Months Later
Chapter Fifty-Three
MICHAELA
TWO MONTHS LATER
ROYAL BLUE STANDS OUT in a sea of pink and red, and it transports me back to a night in New York City that I’ve kept under lock and key for almost four months now. The heat travels up the column of my neck and flushes my cheeks. I’m sure the man next to me can feel my pulse pick up speed, but if he does, he doesn’t say anything. He’s still preoccupied with a conversation about taxes — yawn . I try to keep my attention on their conversation, but it diverts every time there is a flash of blue in my peripheral.
What is he doing here?
“What is he doing here?” David reiterates my question as if he can read my mind. He turns to me, “Did you know about this?”
“Yes, David. I invited him.” My husband glares at me. “I don’t know why he’s here. Probably something to do with the company.”
“Well, he won’t find any support here.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Reed,” Robert Niven, a senator from North Carolina, calls to us with a wave. He whispers something to his counterpart with a small chuckle. The senator waves us over again, but David’s feet remain planted in the same spot.
“Don’t be a child, David,” I hiss with a gentle shove.
“There you are. I haven’t seen you all evening, where you been hiding, Reed?” Robert shakes David’s hand before he presses a kiss to the back of mine. “Always a pleasure, Michaela. You look ravishing this evening.”
“You flatter me, Mr. Niven.”
“Reed, I’ve been looking for you. I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine,” Niven says and starts walking, expecting David to follow. “He started an amazing program for kids in the system up in New York and is in the process of bringing it down to the Carolinas. I thought it might be a good opportunity to add some philanthropy to your campaign over in Virginia.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“We’ve been working with—”
“David,” Niven interrupts him, “trust me, this is the one you want. You have less than a month before the primaries — you gotta show ‘em you’re not all business.” Royal blue comes into view again just before Niven waves him down. A smile spreads across his face before he realizes who is with Niven. “Finn,” Niven exclaims. “Always one to stand out in a crowd.”
“Pink isn’t really my color.” His voice wraps around me and sends a shiver down my spine. It’s warm and inviting, the opposite of the look in his eyes. There’s a wall between us that I’ve never known before, not even when we were younger. His entire demeanor is cool and indifferent. “Mr. and Mrs. Reed, nice to see you.”
“Oh, you know one another already?” Senator Niven asks.
“My wife actually helped Mr. Sheffield with his…project.”
Senator Niven’s eyes widen when he looks between me and Finn. “I had no idea she’s the one you were talking about. Well, this is marvelous. It won’t be any trouble to get this off the ground in—”
“Actually, we already have a cause we’ve been putting some time into,” David stops Niven before he can get started. “We’re extremely passionate about education reform.”
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, Robert,” Finn adds. “We’re still a freshman company.”
Robert looks between the two men before his gaze lands on me. I hope he doesn’t notice the blush creeping into my cheeks or the sweat building on my brow. There’s a quirk in the corner of his mouth then he nods accepting whatever he believes he has figured out. “Well,” he extends his hand to David. “I look forward to seeing how you fair in the election, Dave.” He kisses the back of my hand, “Always a pleasure.”
When Robert turns to Finn, I take the chance to give him a once-over, and when my gaze finally reaches his face, his eyes bore into me. His gaze softens — a small crack in the wall — but he turns away when Robert claps him on the back.
“Is your Uncle Jack with you?” Robert asks.
“He is, c’mon, he’ll be happy to see you.” When Finn turns back to us, the crack has been reinforced, and the wall fortified. He extends his hand to David, and after a moment of hesitation, David takes it. An unspoken conversation between them before they release. Finn turns to me. “Mrs. Reed,” he says almost too politely. Warmth rises across my skin when his hand touches mine. The wall is down when his warm gaze meets mine from under his lashes, and my breath catches. He brings the back of my hand to his lips setting my body ablaze. Fire spreads across my skin as if I’m drenched in gasoline. Every touch we’ve shared flashes before me. It feels like hours until he releases my hand, and when he’s gone, I feel cold. He stands tall and takes a step back, the wall rebuilding before my eyes. “It was nice to see you again.”
David offers them both a tight-lipped smile as they walk away, but his smile begins to fail, and is replaced by a narrow-eyed glare. I touch his hand to get his attention, but he pulls away and walks outside without a word. I’m expected to follow, but right now, I want to do the opposite of what I’m expected to do. I reach for the heart charm that normally rests on my chest, but it’s not where it should be — actually, there’s nothing there. My heart drops. Then I remember why it’s not there: Cindy. Cindy is the head of David’s team, and last month, she showed up on the doorstep of David’s townhome ready to give me a makeover. The last part of that makeover just so happened to be my choice of jewelry.
“Absolutely not,” I said when she told me to take my locket off. I glared at the middle-aged woman in front of me. She drew back in shock. I’m not sure if it’s because it was the first time I had spoken since her team arrived that morning or because I told them no . I don’t think that’s a word they hear very often. I had let them poke and prod me, go through my closet before resigning to a simple navy-blue three-quarter sleeve, boat neck dress saying they’d send over a new wardrobe the next day, do my makeup three different times, and change my hair twice. I drew the line at removing my locket. “The necklace stays on.”
“It doesn’t go with the outfit.”
“It goes just fine.”
“Michaela.”
“Cindy.”
We were at a stalemate.
Cindy and I have been like oil and water, but I guess that’s my fault. Under normal circumstances, I’m sure she is a nice person and very helpful to the wives of future politicians who need a little help. Bless her heart, I couldn’t do what she does, but I don’t need her help. I’ve spent the past ten years around the Villa family, I think I can hold my own. That doesn’t seem to matter because she has taken a particular interest in me since the Barnes Christmas party two months ago.
“David, please speak to your wife,” Cindy called over her shoulder and David appeared from the kitchen.
“Michaela, whatever it is, just do it,” David said without looking up from his phone. “Don’t be so difficult.”
“David, it’s my locket, I never—”
“It’s only a necklace. It’s not that big of a deal.” He waved me off continuing to stare down at his phone. Not that big of a deal? This was the same necklace I’d worn every day since I turned eighteen — a gift from my family. He knew that.
Cindy smiled triumphantly. She stuck her hand out in anticipation. As much as I wanted to argue the topic more, I didn’t. My hands trembled as I undid the clasp and laid it in her palm. My heart leaped when she tossed it to one of her assistants. She tousled my hair lightly, letting a few pieces hang over my shoulders. When she is satisfied, she took a small step back so I could look at myself in the floor-length mirror they had brought with them. My fingers grazed across the skin where the locket should be, and my throat tightened. “See, doesn’t that look better?” Cindy beamed behind me, proud of her work. “Now, you look like a congressman’s wife.” I barely recognized the woman in the mirror.
I may look like a congressman’s wife, but it’s not how I feel. Every time I walk out of the house, I feel like I’m just playing a part, checking a box for David’s campaign. My nails trace the skin where my locket should be as my eyes scan the room for Royal Blue, but don’t find him. There’s no sign of him amongst the colors of love that fill the room to the brim. If it weren’t for the glare of the man standing by the door, I might think the last ten minutes were just a figment of my imagination. David beckons me, and I take a deep breath before heading towards the choice I made.