little strange to be back in Texas socializing with many of her father’s constituents. She’d made a point of avoiding the political life he’d embraced for years.
However, she’d responded to the invitation out of a sense of loyalty toward the Callaways, particularly Cody and Carina Callaway. Her childhood would have been dismally lonely if Carina hadn’t stepped into her life and filled in the empty space left when Pam’s mother had died.
Pam knew that it was time for her to attempt to repay part of the debt she owed them, despite her personal feelings in the matter.
Ostensibly the party tonight was a benefit to raise money for various charitable causes, but anyone who knew the Callaways was aware this gathering was a bold statement made by the family: Don’t Tread on Me.
Her father, a U.S. senator from Texas, had sent one of his staff members, Adam Redmond, to be her escort for the evening. Pam had made her own way in life and jealously guarded her independence from her domineering father, but she saw no reason to be rude to Adam, who was a nice guy. He was tall, dark, handsome and charming…and only those close to him knew that he was gay.
He was also a dear friend.
She glanced at Adam and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here, Adam. I can’t imagine anything worse than coming to something like this alone.”
Adam looked around the room before he said, “I thought you knew some of these people, especially the Callaways.”
“Oh, I do. In fact, I was practically raised with Cody and Carina’s children from the time I started grade school. Their daughters are like sisters to me.” She continued to scan the room. “Speaking of whom, I haven’t seen them yet. I—oh, no,” she murmured.
“Is something wrong?”
Pam tried to make light of the moment. “Not really. I just hadn’t expected to see him here tonight,” she said, deliberately turning away from the room and facing Adam once more.
Adam chuckled. “Him? He doesn’t have a name?”
She attempted to hang on to her sense of humor as well as her emotional balance. “Sorry,” she said with a forced smile. “His name is Clay Callaway, the only son of Cody and Carina.”
“Why wouldn’t you expect him to be here? You’re the one who pointed out earlier that the Callaways had turned out in force tonight.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want to discuss Clay Callaway with anyone. Not even with a man as understanding as Adam. She should have expected him to be here, but as the years had passed without hearing anything about him, she’d managed to put him out of her mind. Or so she had told herself.
The twelve years since their last meeting seemed to have vanished as she noted the changes in him.
He’d been a nineteen-year-old boy back then.
He was all muscular, mature male now. She closed her eyes briefly. Seeing him again after all this time would not be a problem. She would not let it be a problem.
When Pam didn’t say anything more, Adam asked, “Which one is he?”
She nodded to the buffet table. “See the man standing next to the blond bombshell in red? That’s him.”
“Hmm. They make a very attractive couple,” Adam said amicably enough.
She watched Clay and his date leave the buffet line with loaded plates and thread their way through the crowd to a table she hadn’t noticed before. Cody and Carina were there, which meant she’d have to go over there some time tonight to say hello.
She took another sip of champagne and decided to postpone that particular meeting for as long as possible.
“Are you ready to get something to eat?” Adam asked several minutes later.
With a renewed determination to enjoy herself, Pam smiled gratefully at him and said, “Sure, let’s go.”
After eating more than was strictly comfortable, Clay could feel himself relaxing into a mellow mood. The drink that kept getting refilled also contributed to his overall sense of well-being. He and Melanie danced several times before someone came to the table to ask her to dance.
Clay smiled his acquiescence and moved over a chair so that he was now next to his mother, who had just returned from the ladies’ lounge.
“You look upset,” he said in a low tone. “Anything wrong?”
She shook her head. “Oh, not really. I just get so angry sometimes at the way things work out.”
“Such as…?”
“I happened to see Katie in the lounge. You know that louse, Arthur Henley, is still giving her a bad time, even though the divorce has been final for over six months.”
“Are you talking about Cole’s daughter, Katie?”
“Yes.”
“I hadn’t heard about the divorce. What happened?”
“She finally found out about all his extravagant spending, the other women, his many mistakes at work. Once she filed papers against Arthur, Cole fired him because so many of his management decisions had ended up costing the company a bunch of money.
“Arthur blamed Katie for losing his job, of course. I think he considered himself invincible, from the way he liked to live, throw his weight around, and in general be totally obnoxious. Your dad said the joke in the company for several years was that Arthur was only a divorce away from bankruptcy. I guess it never occurred to him that eventually Katie would get her fill of his behavior and toss him out on his ear. From what she was telling me just now, he’s doing anything he can either to harass and annoy her or to play on her sympathies.”
“Why’d she marry him in the first place?”
Carina smiled. “You know Katie. With her exuberance for life and her need to take care of everyone she meets, she fell headlong into the idea of helping Arthur meet his full potential. Let’s face it, the man is very charming when he wants to be, as well as highly intelligent. He played into her need to be needed, portraying a courageous man working to overcome his impoverished background. I swear he wanted to make Katie feel it was her fault that he’d come from such a poor family. I remember how she used to make all kinds of excuses for him, based on his miserable childhood. Eventually, even our optimistic Katie had to give up. I say that, sooner or later, a person has to take responsibility for himself, instead of looking for others to blame.”
“I’ve lost track of time. How old are Trisha and Amber now?”
Carina’s face softened. “They’re five and absolutely adorable. They remind me so much of Katie when she was at that age…so full of life.”
He glanced around the room. “Where’s Katie now?”
Carina looked around. “I think she’s sitting with her folks tonight. I found her crying in the lounge. I guess Arthur dropped by just long enough to upset her and try to ruin her evening, then left. Being Katie, she was fighting mad that she’d allowed him to get to her that way.” She spotted Katie making her way through the tables across the room
