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“Wait a second,” Adam hedged. “I haven’t agreed to anything. I’m not comfortable being your spy.”
“Oh, honey, you’d be doing New Bern a favor.” His mom picked now to finally jump into the conversation. “From what Chuck says, the mayor really needs to be exposed and voted out. Chuck would be so great for the city. He has lots of wonderful ideas.” She grabbed Chuck’s hand and smiled broadly.
“Thanks, Scarlett,” Chuck said. “She’s right, Adam. You’d be doing the city a favor. Just think about it.”
Adam nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
They talked about inconsequential things for the rest of dinner, and at the end of the evening, Adam’s mom walked him to the door while Chuck stayed out on the porch, smoking his cigar.
“Mom, I don’t like this whole spying idea of Chuck’s. It doesn’t seem all that honorable. If I see anything blatant, I’ll say something, but I’m not snooping around anyone’s office.”
“I understand, honey, but this could help Chuck. He’s the underdog but wants to win so badly. He and Edward are rivals of sorts, and Edward has always bested Chuck.”
“Does he want to be mayor to better the city? Or just to beat Edward?”
“Well, I’m sure he’d do great things for the city, but he really does dislike Edward. Look, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. I was going to bring it up at dinner but chickened out. I’m moving in with Chuck. He’s going to arrange for all my stuff in Jacksonville to be packed up and brought here. We’re getting pretty serious,” she said.
“Oh, well, that is news. I was going to talk to you about moving to New Bern with me, but I guess I don’t have to. My plan was to buy you your own place somewhere near wherever I end up. Maybe we could do that instead? You’d be closer to Chuck, but without having to move in with him.” Adam didn’t like his mother’s plan any more than he liked her new boyfriend.
“He needs me,” she said. “It looks better on campaign materials when a man has a family.”
And there it was. Did Chuck love his mother, or was he using her for his campaign? He’d have to keep an eye on this guy.
“How do you know he’s not just using you to better his image?” Adam asked softly, not wanting to upset his mother.
“He loves me. And I love him. Adam, please do this for him—for me. It would mean a lot to us both.” She gave him that look that he couldn’t say no to. He’d been watching out for her since he was a teenager. He wouldn’t stop now.
“All right. No promises, but I’ll keep my eyes open.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Wednesday morning, Kate was ready for her meeting with Adam and was determined it would go better than the last one. She’d made time for her morning workout, was wearing a skirt that fit properly, and had Brooke babysitting Luna.
Kate liked order and tidiness. She liked having a schedule and sticking to it. She liked to have a place for everything and have everything be in its place. And she especially liked punctuality. It was ten minutes after ten, and Adam still hadn’t arrived.
While she waited, she restacked the papers on her desk one final time, brushed a speck of lint off her skirt, and made sure the pens in her Rae Dunn pen holder were all straight and positioned just right.
Adam showed up five minutes later, apologizing profusely. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had to drive in from Jacksonville, and there was a huge pile-up on the freeway. Only one lane was getting through.”
“No worries,” she said, tamping down her annoyance. “Let’s find you a house up here, so you don’t have to worry about that any longer.”
“Sounds good. I emailed my pre-approval letter yesterday. I assume you received it?”
“Yes, we’ve got a nice budget to work with. We should be able to find something fantastic in your price range.” Perched at her computer, she asked him questions about what he wanted in a house so she could set up an email notification of everything that met his criteria. After they’d narrowed down what he wanted, she did a quick search. She tried to turn the computer monitor around to show him some options, but it was awkward with him on the other side of the desk.
“Here, this will be easier.” He picked up the chair he was sitting in and brought it around to her side of the desk, plopping it down next to her. Totally in her personal space.
A whiff of aftershave, a very manly aftershave, filled her nostrils. He had a short goatee, but the rest of his face was clean-shaven. His hair was short in the back but long enough on top that he could spike it up or gel it over. Today it was gelled over. He could have walked off the cover ofGQmagazine.
She tried to focus, but whenever she pointed at something on the screen, he would lean in closer, and she could feel the heat rolling off of him. Or was she just heating up over his closeness?
“Oh, how about that one?” His shoulder touched hers as he leaned in to point to a two-story craftsman on the lake.
The pictures showed a vacant, recently remodeled, four-bedroom, three-bath home. It had a dock, a fire pit, a pool, and a built-in grill on the porch.
“That is lovely,” she said, scrolling through the pictures and listing information. “It only came on the market yesterday. I’d have to run a quick price comparison, but it looks reasonably priced too. We may have to act quickly.”
“Let’s go see it.” He stood.
