But then multiple births ran in the Westmoreland family.
When he reached his bedroom, he began stripping off his clothes, remembering when he had stripped for an audience of one the night before. He had been aware that Wonder Woman’s eyes had been directed on him while he’d taken off each piece…the same way his eyes had been on her.
As he slid between the covers, he promised himself that once he woke up, he would have slept off the memories and would be focused on the present again. That morning he’d thought about trying to find his mystery woman, and he still intended to do that, but he owed it to Brent and his campaign staff to stay focused and put all his time and energy into winning this election.
But still…
He thought about the lone earring he had in his dresser drawer. On the way into the office, he would stop by Jared’s favorite jewelry store, Garbella Jewelers, to see if they could possibly tell him anything about the earring, like who had made it and, possibly, from which store it had been purchased. Checking on something like that shouldn’t take too long and wouldn’t make him lose focus.
As he felt himself drifting off to sleep, his mind was flooded with more memories. He wondered how long this fascination, this mind-reeling, gut-wrenching obsession with his mystery woman, would last.
He wasn’t sure, but he intended to enjoy it while it did.
Olivia sat in the chair across the room, and her observant eye zeroed in on her father and Cathy. She tried not to chuckle when she noticed how they would look at each other when the other one wasn’t watching. Boy, they had it bad, but in a way, she was glad. Sooner or later, her father would realize that Cathy was the best thing to ever happen to him. Even now, after working as his secretary for over fifteen years, their relationship was still professional. She knew in time that would change, and she would do her part to help it along.
“Dad?”
Orin looked up from his seat behind his desk and glanced over at her. Cathy was standing next to his chair. They’d had their heads together while Cathy critiqued his speech. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“Why did you send for me to be your escort for all these fund-raising events when you had Cathy right here?”
As if on cue, Cathy blushed, and her father’s jaw dropped as if he was surprised she would ask something like that. Before he could pick up his jaw to respond, Cathy spoke, stammering through her explanation.
“T-there’s no way Orin can do something like that. I’m his secretary.”
Olivia smiled. “Oh.” What she was tempted to say was that secretary or no secretary, Cathy was also the woman her father couldn’t keep his eyes off. She couldn’t wait until she talked to Duan and Terrence.
And then, as if by luck or fate, since it also seemed to be on cue, her cell phone rang, and when she stood and pulled it out of her back jeans pocket, she saw the call was from Terrence.
Knowing it was best to take the call privately, she said, “Excuse me a moment while I take this.” She quickly walked out of the room and closed the office door behind her.
“Yes, Terrence?”
“What the hell is going on with you, Libby? Why did you text me from an unknown number and then call this morning and ask that the text be deleted?”
Olivia nervously licked her lips. One thing about Terrence was that he would ask questions, but if she gave him a reason that sounded remotely plausible, he would let it go, whereas Duan would continue to ask questions.
“Last night I went to this charity party in Dad’s place and met a guy. He asked me to follow him to a nightclub in Stone Mountain, and I did, but I felt I should take precautions.”
“That was a good idea. Smart girl. So how was the club?”
“Umm, nice, but it didn’t compare to Club Hurricane,” she said, knowing he would like to hear that she thought the nightclub he owned in the Keys was at the top of the list.
“You’re even smarter than I thought. So how’s Dad? He hasn’t dropped out of this Senate race yet?”
Olivia smiled. Terrence and Duan were taking bets that sooner or later, when Orin Jeffries got a taste of what real politics were like, he would call it quits. At first she had agreed with them, but now she wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know, Terrence. I think he’s going all the way with this one.”
“Umm, that’s interesting. I still think Reed pushed Dad into running for his own benefit. I’m going to give Duan a call. We might need to talk to Dad about this.”
“You might be too late. The first forum is tomorrow, and he’s giving a speech. He’s been working on it for two days. The only good thing coming out of all this is that he and Cathy are working together,” she said.
“Libby, they always work closely together. She’s his secretary.”
“Yes, but they are working closely together in a different way, on issues other than Nettleton Industries business. In fact, she’s over here now.”
She could hear her brother chuckle. “Still determined to play Cupid, are you?”
“I might as well while I’m here, since I have nothing else to do.” She thought of Jack Sprat. She had been tempted earlier to pull out her art pad and do some sketches to pass the time. She had thought about drawing her mystery man with the mask and then playing around to see if she could draw sketches of how she imagined he might look without the mask. She had eventually talked herself out of it.
“Well, I’ll be coming home in a couple of weeks, so stay out of trouble until then, sport.”
She laughed. “I can’t make you any promises, but I’ll try.”
Four
Brent had given his speech a thumbs-up, so Reggie felt confident it would go over well. He walked around the luncheon reception, greeting all those who had arrived to attend the forum. This would be the first of several gatherings designed to give voters a chance to learn each candidate’s agenda. He had met Orin Jeffries when he’d first arrived and thought the older man was a likable guy.
A number of his family members were present and a number of his friends as well. These were people who believed in him, supported him and were counting on him to make changes to some of the present policies.
A career in politics had been the last thing on his mind and had never been his heart’s desire, until recently. He’d become outraged at the present senators’ refusal to recognize the state’s need for an additional college. More and more young people were making the decision to acquire higher learning, and the lower tuition costs of state universities compared to private universities were a key factor in the process. It was hard enough for students to get the funds they needed to go to college, but when they were refused entrance into schools because of campus overcrowding, that was unacceptable. Anyone who wanted a college education should be able to get one. Georgia needed another state-run college, and he was willing to fight for it.
The University of Georgia was the oldest public university in the state and had been established by an act of the Georgia General Assembly over two centuries ago. Just as there had been a need for greater educational opportunities
