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“You do realize people will never be equal?” Brennan said, his eyes narrowing in thought. “And not just economically, but in beauty, talent, and desire. Not everyone can have a Rolls-Royce, a perfect set of teeth, or turn a perfect cartwheel. That’s just a reality.”
“You don’t get it,” she said, jerking a glass of champagne off the tray as a waiter passed by. “I’m not trying to make everyone equal or the same. I’m trying to show compassion, to treat others as I want to be treated, to use my talents and abilities to create a world where everyone gets the chance to better themselves. It’s not about writing a check or—”
“But even you took the check,” he said, taking the empty glass from her hand.
She stared down at his hand, registering she’d downed the entire glass of bubbly midtirade against Brennan’s asinine idea of social politics. “Yes, I took the check. I’m a hypocrite, so why don’t you go find someone else to bother and leave me alone.”
“Fine, but first you might want to take this.” He shoved her clutch, which he’d been holding, toward her.
“Why? You afraid one of the kids from Hope and Grace might take off with it?”
“No, but your ex-boyfriend might show up and need a loan,” he said with a smart-ass smile.
“Ugh.” Mary Paige grabbed the clutch, turned on her heel, tilted a little sideways, but corrected herself before making her way toward the ladies’ room. Her blood boiled, even though she knew Brennan’s words were partially true. No, she couldn’t fix greed and depravity, but she could do her part to respect all the people who inhabited her world—from strangers on the street to the idiot in the tuxedo who was too damn practical, too damn set in his ways, too damn…sexy. Okay, yes, she found Brennan sexy. But that attraction didn’t mean she had to agree with him.
Was her attraction what had her so angry?
And she hadn’t missed the smallness in his remark about Simon…or the overtone of jealousy.
She pushed through the gleaming oak door and headed to the sink, glad she’d retrieved her clutch. She pulled out her lipstick and stared at it. She didn’t really need a touch-up, simply needed to get out of there and grab some space.
“Oh, Mary Paige,” Judy said, stepping out from a stall, “glad you’re here. I can’t reach the closure for this dress.”
Darn. Just what she needed. Small talk. “Sure, I’ll be glad to help you.”
Judy washed her hands and then spun around, presenting her back. “I’m having such a good time. How about you?”
Peachy.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” she said, hooking the tiny closures at the neck of the dress.
“Brennan likes you, huh?”
“Brennan is an ass.”
Judy laughed, turning toward her. “He’s quite abrasive at times, but I’ve often found those brittle soldiers hide the gentlest of hearts.”
“Really? Because I’m pretty sure his heart has shriveled into a tiny, dried-up…thing.”
“Well, then he needs you more than you know.” She paused briefly before saying slowly, “And I think his grandfather feels the same way. I’m inferring he wanted Brennan to escort you to these events so you might teach his grandson something about love.”
Mary Paige shrank against the sink. “Love?”
“Oh, I don’t mean necessarily in a romantic fashion. More in learning what it means to love one another as Jesus suggested—love your neighbor.”
“Oh,” Mary Paige said, snapping her clutch closed and tucking an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear. Just hearing the wordlovein association with Brennan had given her shivers and a bit of indigestion.
“But you two do look rather nice together, and he watches you constantly.”
Another shivery thing did somersaults in her belly. “Probably making sure I don’t do something to make the investors and shareholders sew up their wallets.”
“I’m positive it’s not that.” Judy issued a small smile.
“Well, I’m not the kind of woman for Brennan Henry,” Mary Paige said, before she could think better of it. Why had she admitted she even had hope? Because that’s what her decree had sounded like.I’m not good enough, but I want to be.And she knew that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t a good-enough thing, more like a not-suitable thing.
Tilting her head, Judy looked hard at her. “I feel the same way.”
“I beg your pardon?”
