by Ewens, Tracy
“Kate, I love those sandals,” Mrs. Malendar said as they approached.
“Oh, thank you. On sale, Nordstrom Rack.”
Grady smiled, leaned into Kate and whispered, “If I wasn’t already falling desperately in love with you, that comment just sealed it.” Kate shot him her best “be quiet” look, and Grady fell back a little, in step with the senator, and anxiously awaited his mother’s response.
“Really? Well I didn’t know Nordstrom had a sister store.”
“It’s fantastic really. Everything that doesn’t sell, or is out of season in the regular Nordstrom eventually moves to The Rack.”
“I’ll bet there are some great deals there. I’ll have to check that out.”
Grady and his father both looked at each other, amused that his mother was trying to relate. She’d never been to an outlet store in her life.
“So, Kate. I gather you went to Columbia,” the senator prompted.
“I did, sir. Go Lions!”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure Grady is the sir today.” He nudged Grady, who was shaking his head while Kate laughed.
“Indeed he is,” Kate said. “That’s a smart girl, our tour guide.”
“Glad to see you’re giving him grief about that.”
“Oh, yes. It’s all part of the service at Bracknell and Stevens.”
The senator laughed as they caught up with the tour group at White Plaza just in time to hear the tour guide ask if anyone would like to explain or participate in the tradition of fountain hopping. The entire group looked expectantly at Grady.
“Right. Fountain hopping is a tradition dating back long before my time,” he started.
Kate laughed as Grady still tried to validate his youth.
“It is where students basically fall into the fountain. It’s fun. Yes, I’ve done it. No, I will not demonstrate.”
The group laughed and they moved on toward the Cantor Arts Center.
“So, Kate,” the senator said, “I wanted to thank you for agreeing to be the point person for Bracknell today. I know Mark was supposed to be here, but it’s nice having you.”
“You are very welcome. I’ve never been to Stanford’s campus, so this is a treat for me too. It’s beautiful.”
“We’ve actually never been on the campus either,” Grady’s mother added. “I mean we’ve been to the stadium, when Grady graduated, but it is nice to see the campus now that my husband is speaking here.”
Grady flashed Kate his big cheesy grin, the one normally saved for jokes or people he could barely tolerate, and she felt as if she should tread lightly.
“Oh, I . . . well I thought Grady went to Stanford,” she said.
“He did,” Bindi confirmed, taking the senator’s sunglasses from him and cleaning the lenses with a cloth she pulled from her purse.
“So, being senator, I’m sure you just never had the time,” Kate continued carefully.
“We had the time.” Senator Malendar chimed in, putting his glasses back on. “Grady was supposed to go UCLA. He was accepted into their honors program, but he decided to go to Stanford instead. I went to UCLA, and my father before me and his father before him. Malendars are UCLA men.”
“Except for me,” Grady said, putting his arm around his father. Something he clearly didn’t do much of these days. Kate wasn’t sure what to say.
“Except for you, that’s right. So in protest, I never set foot on this campus until he graduated,” the senator finished.
“With honors,” Grady added.
“Right, with honors, but a damn history degree.”
“You know what they say. How can we ever lead into the future—”
“Oh, Grady. Stop harassing your father. He’s here now,” Bindi spoke up.
Grady shook his head, looking around and forward. Kate suddenly felt desperately uncomfortable and prayed no one asked her for her opinion, because she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be welcomed. Thankfully, they had reached the end of the tour. The senator shook hands, took pictures, and Stanley arrived to take him to the law school for his speech. Senator Malendar was gracious and the crowd loved him. Kate felt good about that. Grady had bowed out of watching or participating in his father’s speech. He kissed his mother and agreed to meet back at the hotel for dinner.
“Kate, could you please finish answering any questions the tour group or the press may have about the senator or Mr. Malendar, and then stay back with Mr. Malendar until this evening?” Stanley asked, and of course Kate obliged.
She was working after all. Just when things with Grady started to feel like life, part of her life, she was reminded that she was at work. Not that she didn’t like her job, it was just sometimes confusing.
Kate did as she was asked, and fielded a few more questions about the senator’s plans after leaving the Bay Area. Grady answered some questions about his time at Stanford. It was all pleasantly wrapped up, and Kate found herself walking through the Rodin Sculpture Garden with Grady. A much quieter Grady than she was enjoying earlier.
“Did you mean what you said back there?” Kate asked as they found a bench to sit down.
“About?”
“Your time here. When that woman asked you if you enjoyed your time at Stanford, you said they were some of the best years of your life. True, or the right answer for the good senator’s son?”
“True,” he said without hesitation. “I grew up here, learned who I was and for the most part what I wanted.”
“Can’t be easy living under the shadow your father casts.”
Grady shook his head. “There are far worse things in this world than being a senator’s son, Kate. I was fine, but it was nice to get away. Find my own way.” Their eyes met and as the sun began to set, all Kate could think about was kissing him on the beach, the things he had said to her.
That he was falling in love with her.
She could see it now when he looked at her and she wondered, wondered if he knew she loved him too? Kate took a deep breath. Dear God, how did I let this in? The election was in two months and then what? There was still a part of her that believed this whole thing was simply a product of being together all of the time. Really, would they have ever met, gotten to know each other, any other way? The whole thing was ridiculous actually. Hadn’t her brothers both said she was out of her league with him? Maybe she should have listened to them. It was too late now.
“I can hear the gears turning in your mind, Kate,” Grady said, standing up and offering her his hand.
“What’s with you and the hand holding in public? Do you ever follow directions?” she asked.
“I was never really into that.”
Kate laughed and then grew serious when she remembered what she wanted to ask him.
“So, your parents never came to Stanford? I mean, your mom didn’t drive you up to school, bring you cookies, move you in?”
It was Grady’s turn to laugh. “Kate, my life up until I left for college wasn’t exactly family dinners and game nights. My father has been a senator since before I was born. This show, the dance, is really all I know family to be, at least my family. I had a driver bring me to college. A moving company brought my stuff to my dorm. My father was pissed and he spent four years proving his point.”
Kate took his hand. She needed to touch him.
“So now you hold my hand. Huh, it’s the sympathy card that works with you.” He smiled and then pulled her behind a tree and kissed her. Urgent, his hands racing up her body, as if he craved the human contact. Kate felt the tree against her back as her hands went into his hair and she was lost in the spin of him. Photographers could have been anywhere, but he needed her, and somehow, in that moment, nothing was more important. When they came up for air, Grady took her hand and continued walking.
“My life was fine, Kate. Just different. I’m okay with that. This school allowed me the freedom to figure things out, it gave me my purpose. I have no complaints.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
They
arrived back to Los Angeles the following morning, and Kate had a mountain of work waiting on her desk when she got to work. She caught Mark up on the key moments during the senator’s trip and went over the new reports showing him easily leading his opponent. Mark seemed relieved, at least momentarily, and thanked Kate for handling things while he was at his daughter’s high school graduation. When she got back to her desk, Sabrina brought in a huge arrangement of flowers. Blue hydrangeas and white roses, Kate’s school colors. She smiled, and Sabrina was smart enough to say nothing, but she sighed on the way back to her desk.
Kate opened the tiny card that came with the flowers. It read simply – For you, Kate. How could three words mean so much? Kate touched the card to her chest and leaned over to smell the gorgeous blooms.
She knew Grady was speaking with a neighborhood watch group this morning, so she texted him:
Thank you. I suppose your Stanford trees aren’t so bad after all.
She plugged her phone into the charger on her desk and got to work tackling everything that had piled up while she was playing fairytale.
Kate was exhausted by the time she got home. It was raining for the first time in weeks, and she’d just been on the phone listening to both her mother and her father telling her that Ethan’s wife, Faith, just found out she was pregnant with their second child. Kate already knew because Faith had texted her a picture of the positive test stick. She sent back happy faces and kisses, but hadn’t had a chance to talk with them yet. Her parents were thrilled, of course, and then instead of leaving it there, had to launch into when she was going to start a family. That of course led to why she was working so hard and never dated. By the time she reached her front door, she was soaking wet and about as far from a fairytale as she could get. She needed her slippers and her new couch immediately.
She had just settled in when her phone vibrated.
“Hey,” Grady said when she answered. “How was your Friday back?”
“Well, after your flowers arrived, it went down hill from there. Where are you?” Kate asked, kicking her slippers off and pulling her feet onto the couch.
“Oh, you know, the bar, pounding back a few.”
“Not funny. Seriously where are you?”
“All right, someone is grumpy. Anything I can do to help?”
“You can tell me that you’re safe and sound in your bed. That you have no plans to blow off steam, and that getting back at your father for trotting you around a school he never cared about until it was determined it could help his election, is not on your agenda at all. I’ve just had to deal with my parents, I can’t handle any fall-out from yours right now,” she said, realizing her stomach was growling.
“Wow, that was a mouthful. I’m pretty sure I’ve dealt with those feelings in a positive way. I’m down here at Golden Phoenix, thinking of buying some Chinese and showing up at your door. But now I’m thinking you’re not in the mood for me or my egg rolls,” Grady said.
“I— well I was going to just sit here feeling sorry for myself, so why not. Don’t forget the hot mustard and come on over.”
“Be there in about thirty minutes. Sit tight. Don’t start the pity-party without me.”
Kate gave a half-hearted laugh and hung up the phone.
They sat on the couch with white paper boxes and chopsticks, watching the first Mission Impossible. As the credits rolled, Kate hit the mute button and leaned back, resting her head on the back of the couch.
“Not a whole lot of tabloid fodder here,” she said, turning to look at him. “People might start to think you’re just an average guy if you keep this up.”
“True. Maybe someday they’ll realize my life is none of their business. Are you okay? You seem stressed, angry, I’m not sure.”
“See, normally I would agree with you, but you are not just laying low, living a quiet man’s life, are you? With the exception of the last few months, you are a different guy. It’s hard to keep track sometimes.” Kate chose to ignore his questions because she found she was angry, confused.
“Wait, what are we talking about here, the campaign or our relationship?”
“What relationship? There isn’t a relationship,” Kate scoffed and got up to clear the food.
Grady followed.
“Because you’re not sure who the hell I am? Is that what you’re telling yourself now? There would be a relationship, you’d admit you have feelings for me, but oh this just in, you’re not sure who I am?” Grady said, stepping into the kitchen.
“I’m talking in generalities here. I’m saying that you should figure out who you are. Just some friendly advice. Only here to help, Mr. Malendar.”
She had pissed him off, she could tell these things about him now, and he moved into her space. “I know exactly who I am. Since it’s clear that we are now talking about our relationship, or lack thereof, I need to say that you, Kate, you are the one who needs to figure things out.”
“What? We’re not talking about me. This isn’t about me. Stop twisting things around because you can’t just be true to who you really are.” She pushed past him and walked back into the living room.
“Oh, I get it now, you’re not sure which man you’re in love with.” He stepped in front of her again. “If it’s the guy all the women make goo goo eyes at, the one who acts like an idiot, well then you’ve repeated the same mistake.”
Kate looked into his eyes. Anger hung between them, but Grady kept pushing.
“If it’s the guy who’s warm and fuzzy, the guy who helps sick people and children, then you want to parade him out like a trick pony so your client will win another damn election? Is that it, Kate? Either way, I lose, and do you want to know why?” He was inches from her now. “Because you are the one hiding. You’re scared shitless, so don’t turn this on me. Don’t make this about me, because this conversation has nothing to do with me, or your job that you conveniently hide behind. This has to do with your heart, all caged up in there.” Frustration spilled off him. He held her shoulders. “Let me in, God damn it,” he pleaded.
“Get out,” she said on a shallow breath.
Grady’s hands dropped, he sighed, grabbed his coat and went out into the rain. When the door slammed, Kate sank to her couch. She was shaking, as if an intruder had just left her house. She was hiding, and she was dangerously close to being found.
Thirty minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was loud, frantic. Heart pounding, Kate knew who it was. She didn’t have to look. She tried to collect herself, but it wasn’t doing much good. She needed to buy some time before Grady was in front of her again.
“Who is it?”
No answer, just more knocking.
“Yes, who is it?”
“Kate, you know who it is.”
“Grady? We don’t have anything to discuss unless something is wrong? Why are you—” “Open the door, Kate,” he said, his voice unsteady and breathy.
Kate slid the chain across the track and unlocked the door. Her shaking hand turned the knob and even though she knew why Grady had come back, she didn’t expect what happened next. He gently pushed the door open and closed it behind him. He stared at her, water dripping from his lovely face, and turned the lock. His eyes were intense, almost like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Dropping his coat at the door, Grady slowly came toward her, wet and still attempting to get his breath. He said nothing, not one word. Kate backed away as he kept coming until her back hit the wall of the entryway. He stood inches from her. She could feel his breath. Hands trembling, he brought them to her face, brushed them along her hair, sculpted gently, looking at Kate like . . . Christ, like no man had ever looked at her before.
She could not look away or come up with some clever, biting thing to say. She was putting all effort into getting oxygen as his hands settled along the back of her neck. He was cradling her face and still he said nothing. Kate couldn’t breathe, so words were impossible. They stood listening to each other’s breath. Grady was soaking wet. Wat
er dripped from his gorgeous flushed face. Kate lifted her hand and moved the wet hair off his forehead. His eyes were so clear and his chest pulsed under his now nearly-transparent white shirt. It shot through her so fast, she didn’t have time to think, process or analyze. All she knew was she wanted him. Just as he was, rich, poor, smart-ass, gentle warmth, she wanted it all. It didn’t matter how long she had him or what the rules were. She wanted for the first time in a very long time, and that was enough. Kate touched his chest, unbuttoned his shirt, and peeled it off his shoulders. Grady’s eyes followed her hands moving across his body. She waited for him to say something, but still nothing. He moved his hands to her sides, trying to free his arms from the wet shirt now buttoned at his wrists. He flicked one wrist free as the shirt, still attached to the other wrist, whipped up and across Kate’s face. His eyes went wide and she broke with laughter.
“That . . . shit, are you okay?” He pulled her to him with his free arm. They were both laughing now. “That never happens.”
Kate could not stop laughing. Here they were in this very passionate moment and Grady, Mr. Smooth, couldn’t even get out of his shirt.
“Seriously, I’m usually pretty good at this. I really saw that going differently in my mind.”
She reached down and undid the last button at his wrist. The shirt dropped to the floor.
“I mean can you believe that? I actually have moves. It’s just you. It’s when you—”
“Grady?”
His arms crossed in front of a most wonderful chest. He was still rambling about the shirt slap and Kate had moved on to the chest, the arms, and the wet linen pants. All of that mixed with fumbling, laughter and his flushed cheeks. She was gone.
“Yeah.”
“Come here.”
He stood in front of her.
“Closer.”
He smiled, unfolded his arms and stood almost nose-to-nose, staring into her eyes. Jesus Christ!
“Grady?”
“Yes, Kate?” he said, putting his hands up on the wall and boxing her in. He hovered, skimmed her body with his eyes and met her breathless stare.
