Stop it.
“Sorry,” she said, stepping back. “I…”
“I should get Lila ready for bed.” Senator Brandt’s voice was brisk, professional, the moment already gone. “Thank you for dinner, Miss Hollis.”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”
Senator Brandt nodded once, then turned and left the kitchen, Lila trailing behind her.
June stood at the sink for a long moment, staring at the dishes, her pulse faster than it should have been.
It’s just a job, she told herself.She’s your boss. She’s a senator. She’s probably straight, and even if she weren’t, she’s so far outof your league it’s not even funny. For God’s sakes, don’t start crushing on her.
It’s just a job.
She turned on the water and started washing the dishes, and tried very hard not to think about the way Senator Brandt’s eyes had looked in the kitchen light.
It didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t mean anything.
She had a summer to get through, a paycheck to earn, a future to figure out. She didn’t have time for whatever that moment had been.
Just a job, she repeated, scrubbing at a plate that was already clean.Nothing more.
Chapter 5
Making Pasta
Melissa
Thursday, June 18th
The afternoon light filtered through the tall windows of the committee room in the Oregon State Capitol building, catching the dust motes suspended in the air. Melissa had spent countless hours in rooms like this over the past several years, but today she found herself distracted, her attention drifting during a recess that had already stretched fifteen minutes too long.
She stood near the windows, coffee cup in hand, watching the other legislators cluster in their usual groups. Democrats by the water cooler, Republicans near the door, the handful of independents scattered between like children unsure which lunch table to join. The infrastructure bill was on the agenda for next week’s session, and she should have been working the room, shoring up support, counting votes.
Instead, she was watching Catherine Aldridge laugh at something Senator Morrison had said.
Catherine was sixty-three now, her silver hair cropped short in a style that suited her sharp features. She’d been Melissa’s first mentor in Salem—had taken a young, ambitious aide under her wing and taught her how to navigate the treacherous waters of state politics. How to count votes. How to build coalitions. How to smile at people you despised and make them think you meant it.
Melissa remembered those early years with a clarity that surprised her. Late nights in Catherine’s office, poring over policy briefs while Catherine explained the subtleties of legislative language. The way Catherine’s approval had felt like sunlight after a long winter. The way Melissa had caught herself watching Catherine’s hands as she marked up documents, elegant and sure, and wondering what it would feel like to—
To what?
She’d never finished that thought. Had never let herself finish it. She’d filed it all under admiration, under wanting to be like her, under the natural intensity of a mentorship that had shaped her entire career. Catherine had been brilliant and commanding and everything Melissa wanted to become. Of course she’d been fascinated by her. Of course she’d hung on her every word.
That was all it had been. All it could have been.
Catherine glanced across the room, and for a moment their eyes met. She smiled—polite, distant, the smile of a colleague rather than a mentor—and tightness twisted in Melissa’s chest that she refused to examine.
“Senator Brandt?” Her aide David appeared at her elbow, tablet in hand. “The recess is almost over. Did you want to speak with Senator Webb about the broadband amendment before we reconvene?”
“Yes. Of course.” Melissa set down her coffee cup and smoothed her blazer, pushing the memories back into whateverbox they’d escaped from. She didn’t have time for this. She had a bill to pass, a career to maintain, a daughter waiting at home.
Home.
The word felt different lately. Warmer, somehow. Less like a place she slept between obligations and more like somewhere she actually wanted to be.
She pushed that thought aside too, and went to find Senator Webb.
