“It’s within reach, Richard. We can almost touch it.” M.J. was trying so hard to keep it together that her voice cracked. “You said if I came to Washington with you I would have a desk in the West Wing one day. And now we’re closer than we’ve ever been. You’re on the short list for VP in two years. This is the promise you gave me. Why would you blow it all to hell and back now?”
“I know the timing isn’t good.”
M.J. produced a foul-tempered cackle. For the first time in their partnership, she reminded him of Tamara. He shuddered.
“I’ve sacrificed my life for you. Every day and week and month of the last eighteen years I gave to you. Why? Because you made me a promise. How stupid I was! I actually believed you!”
“I never intended for this to happen.”
“You are making a huge mistake. You will regret it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as you will be, and very soon.”
“M.J., please.”
“You’ll have my resignation by the end of the week.”
Eighteen years ago . . .
“So, do you believe in the mermaid?”
Evie asked that as she brushed a wind chime with her long fingers, smiling when it released a random series of dings, tinkles, and hollow notes. Clancy knew it was one of a million like it hanging from display racks in Island Day vendor tents up and down Main Street, but to Evie it was exotic.
They’d spent the day together and he’d actually had fun, even though he’d been through fourteen of these events in his life. And that was one of the reasons—everything was an adventure for Evie. She asked questions. She oohed and awed over stuff that surprised her. Since Evie was seeing everything for the first time, it made everything a lot less boring than usual for Clancy.
“Ooh! I think this one is really pretty, do you?”
Clancy checked it out. The chime was made of blown glass shaped like mermaids and dolphins and decorated with shiny abalone beads, pieces of sea glass, and tiny shells. “Sure. It’s nice. But I was busy staring at something much prettier.”
Evelyn smiled shyly, but didn’t make eye contact with him. In the two days he’d been hanging out with her, he decided she wasn’t like most of the tourist girls he’d met. She didn’t talk about Madonna or her tan lines or that she cried when New Kids on the Block broke up. Evie was a Red Sox fan. She played soccer, ran track, and rode horses. She wanted to be a doctor when she grew up and was a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But while all this awesome stuff was going on with her, she was still one hundred percent girl. She smelled like sea air and wildflowers after it rained. Her skin was soft. She was curvy where curves were nice and flat where flat was fine. And she was nice to people. When Clancy bought her a funnel cake a while ago, Evie thanked him and then thanked the food truck dude who handed it to her.
But the best thing about Evie had to be that she had no idea how beautiful and great she really was. She wasn’t stuck on herself. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to live so long without her head swelling up. He wondered if maybe all the guys in Maine were blind dweebs. But Clancy was happy Evie was so . . . cool.
“I bet you see a thousand wind chimes like this one every summer, don’t you?”
“Nah.”
“No?”
Clancy shook his head. “More like a million.”
Each time Evie laughed the way she just did, some kind of electrical storm went off inside him. His blood was filled with hot sparks that went zooming around all over his body, and he got light-headed. Yeah, he’d asked the mermaid for his first piece of ass, but as stupid as he sounded to himself inside his head right at that moment, he had to admit that this was even better—Evie was so much more than that.