“Of course we’ll welcome them,” Melanie said, sounding more cheerful than she had at any time since their arrival. “I think this is going to turn out to be a match made in heaven.”
Richard winced as his aunt beamed.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Destiny said.
Mack choked back a laugh, then focused on his salmon. Richard looked around the table at the people who were apparently determined to drive him insane and sighed. This evening had not gone according to his roughly conceived plan. Not even close.
“I thought it went really well,” Melanie said as they were driving home.
Richard’s grim demeanor suggested he didn’t agree.
“Okay, you may as well say it,” she said. “You hate this, don’t you?”
“Hate it?” he echoed. “I went in there with the upper hand. I came out like a man on the ropes.”
“At least we’re not engaged,” Melanie said, determined to see the positives. “We’re not even faking an engagement.”
“Not yet,” Richard said. “If you think that issue’s off the table, you really are naive.”
“Not off the table,” she said defensively. “But we bought ourselves some time. Once Destiny gets all caught up in your campaign—”
“I do not want my aunt in the middle of my campaign,” he said fiercely.
“Why on earth not? She’s savvy. She knows people.”
“She’s sneaky, and I don’t like the people she knows.”
Melanie stared at him. “Don’t you know the same people?”
“Yes, which is why I want no part of them,” he said flatly. “Weren’t you the one who kept stressing that I need to broaden my constituency?”
“Yes, but you also need money to run an effective campaign.”
“I have money.”
She stared at him incredulously. “You’re going to spend your own money?”
“I have it,” he repeated. “And that way I won’t be beholden to a single special interest. That ought to make you happy.”
“It makes me delirious,” she said. “But are you sure it’s wise? This is the time to start putting together the kind of powerful backing you’ll need down the road.”
“For?”
“A run for governor, for the Senate, whatever. I imagine this is just the start of your political aspirations. You can’t finance all those campaigns out of your own pocket.”
“Who knows, maybe after this I’ll hate being a politician so much, I’ll never run for anything again. We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “In the meantime, I don’t want money from a bunch of people who’ll think it’s going to buy them access or favors.”
Melanie was stunned, but it gave her an incredible angle to pursue once Richard had officially announced his intention to run. The public would eat it up.
“Let’s get back to Destiny,” he said. “Watch her, Melanie.”
“Please, she’s just trying to be helpful.”
“There’s helpful and then there’s Destiny’s version of help. I’ve seen her decline to chair a dozen different fund-raisers, but guess who makes all the critical decisions?”
“Your aunt,” Melanie surmised, easily able to conceive of Destiny not staying behind the scenes.
“It won’t be any different with my campaign.”
“Let her make all the suggestions she wants to. We don’t have to use a single one. We just have to listen,” Melanie reminded him.
“No one will break our kneecaps if we don’t,” he agreed. “But there are other forms of coercion.” He glanced over at her. “Want me to tell you what her first suggestion is going to be?”
Melanie was willing to play along. “Sure.”
“She’s going to ask you if you don’t think I’d be a much stronger candidate if I were married,” he said. “It’s known as planting the seed. Destiny does love to dabble in her garden. She views me as one more plant she has to successfully nurture.”
“But I don’t think you have to be married to be successful, not that being a family man couldn’t add another element to your image,” Melanie said.
Richard gave her a triumphant look. “There you go. You just gave her the precise opening she’d need.”
Melanie stared at him blankly. “I did?”
“Sure. I’m a good candidate now, but put a wife by my side and I’d be even better. Guess who the wife’s supposed to be? You’re here. You’re handy. And we obviously get along well, don’t you agree?” he asked mockingly.