“Having dinner with my biography writer,” she shot back smartly, even as her stomach turned.
The truth was, for the first time in her adult life, Charlotte truly didn’t know what she was doing. She hadn’t really thought it out when she’d requested Sutton to be her writer.
Her thought process started and stopped with this unquenchable desire to not lose Sutton completely before they could eventalkor reconnect or, or… she didn’t know.
The truth was that she just did not know what she was doing or what she intended to come out of this. At the very least, she did trust Sutton’s insight and her writing abilities, and that was all she truly did have at the moment.
“Okay…” Caleb trailed off before he cleared his throat. “I mean, youareout now.”
“I’m aware.” She really, really was. She glimpsed at the antique clock on her wall. “Shit.”
She now only had twenty minutes to get to the restaurant… and in this traffic? Charlotte never made a habit of running late, and the last person she wanted to be late for right now was Sutton.
“I have to go. Tell your husband he’s a rat and I’ll talk to you both soon.”
Sutton beather to the restaurant.
Charlotte almost cursed under her breath, but then her breath caught in her throat. The sight of Sutton sitting at a table in Charlotte’s favorite restaurant, her hair delicately tucked behind one ear, as she typed out a message on her phone was literally breathtaking.
“Senator Thompson! Your table is ready, and the other member of your party is already seated.” The host shook her out of her thoughts. “Would you like me to take you to the table?”
Charlotte blinked a few times, taking herself out of the moment as she shook her head. “I—no, that’s quite all right. Thank you, Arnold.”
That feeling fluttered in her stomach as she approached, the one she’d felt tinges of all day. What was it? It struck her then—nerves. She wasnervous! To have dinner with Sutton, even in a professional capacity. Of course.
The idea was so absurd to her, she couldn’t help but chuckle minutely. She’d been nervous on her election night, but it hadn’t felt quite the same. Professionally, Charlotte was solid. She knew she was. Even if she couldn’t get a bill to pass or had she lost an election, she could control those things. She was capable.
Sutton looked up at her then, fingers freezing on her phone, as Charlotte stood a few feet away.
With this new territory, she had to admit the ground was less than stable beneath her feet.
Shaking herself out of it, Charlotte cleared her throat. “Sorry I’m late.”
Sutton waved her off. “It’s only a few minutes; I assume you had some giant filibuster or congressional emergency?”
She was joking. Charlotte hadn’t known what to expect, after their last encounter, but she hadn’t anticipated Sutton’s little jokes. Their last meeting had been charged and entirely unexpected, though in all honesty, Charlotte couldn’t have said what she’d expected either.
As promised, in their contact since, Charlotte had personally reached out to Sutton to set up their twice-weekly meetings, but their conversations had always been very short.
She relaxed into a smile. “Yes, actually. I’ve fixed the entire infrastructure of the country.”
“Just in time for dinner.” Sutton sent her a soft grin.
A piece inside of her relaxed, and the feeling of it utterly baffled Charlotte. She hadn’t known what to anticipate at all, and because of that, she hadn’t been able to predict her own reactions.
Then again, she’d often not known what to expect with Sutton in their past, even when she thought she did. Maybe that was a part of her appeal?
It definitely was. Charlotte just hadn’t experienced it in so long.
Sutton’s phone lit up again, and Charlotte watched as blue eyes looked down to skim the words on the screen, a smile tugging at her lips as she did.
“Do you have to respond? It’s all right if you do.” Charlottewantedto ask, desperately, who it was. Who made Sutton smile like that.
But Sutton shook her head. “It’s just Regan, telling me something Lucy said.”
“Your daughter.” Charlotte tasted the words the same way she had when she’d learned of the daughter in question.
She didn’t know why she’d been surprised; Sutton had always wanted children. It only made sense that she now had one.
