Instagram, carolross_.
Carol
For Janet.
Thank you. Without you, no one would even know it was me who’d written this book.
Contents
“HOW DOES IT feel to be dirt free?”
“Honestly?” Tag James gave his cousin Bering a sober look and whooshed out a breath. “I totally lucked out. Can’t believe that private investigator didn’t find out about the insider trading or the body buried in my backyard. What an amateur.”
Bering laughed. “I know. The background check seems a little over the top to me, too, but you know Jack.”
“Jack” was United States Senator Marsh, longtime client and friend of Bering’s, who was helping them prepare for Tag’s future political run.
“Yes, I do. ‘Find the dirt and clean it up before your opponent finds it first and smears it all over you.’ I believe that’s the quote?”
“That’s it,” Bering agreed. “Senator James...” the snap of the metal tape measure retracting in his hand was like a loud punctuation mark “...has such a nice ring to it.” Wielding a pencil in his other hand, he drew a tiny line on the freshly painted lavender-colored wall in his daughter’s bedroom.
“It certainly does,” Tag agreed. Despite his outward nonchalance, the topic always caused a twinge of nerves. Plenty of time, he reminded himself, before he needed to start worrying about it. Lots of time to prepare.
Wordlessly, they each took an end of a bookcase and adjusted it to line up with the pencil marks and the units they’d already installed. Tag wound the screws through the brackets, securing the shelving against the wall. Neither earthquake nor climbing toddler would bring it down now. “Violet proofing,” Bering’s wife, Emily, called it, although with baby Brady walking now, Tag figured she would soon have to broaden the term.
He stepped back and eyed his cousin. “And you’re sure you don’t want that senator title for yourself?”
“Ha. Positive. We’ve had this conversation, my friend, and you and I both know I’d be no good as a politician.”
Tag couldn’t dispute that fact. His cousin and best friend wasn’t exactly the most diplomatic person in
