When she spotted Clint and Ashley down the block, returning to the house from the park, her relief was tempered with resolve. He’d mentioned moving back to his place and that seemed like the best option now, given what had happened tonight, the things they’d said.
Clint walked Ashley back inside, then returned to where Tara still stood in the driveway, raking his hand through his disheveled hair, the look in his eyes a million miles away. “Look, about what I said earlier…”
“No. It’s fine. You were right.” The words cut like razors coming out, but they had to be said. “I think you and Ashley should go. Move back to your place.
This isn’t working out for anybody.” She swallowed hard and moved around him toward the front door. “I’ll hire someone else as my bodyguard.”
For a minute, all Clint did was stare at her, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face—hurt, anger, reluctance, yearning—before his old stoic wall came crashing down again, shutting her out, same as he always did. “Fine. If that’s what you want.”
It wasn’t what she wanted, but it was what was the best, for all of them. Tara turned, saying to him over her shoulder. “It is.”
19
Two weeks later, Tara was doing better than she expected. Not that ending things with Clint had been easy, but she knew deep down it had been right. Being on her own, she’d had more time to concentrate on her job—and to continue lobbying for the bill in her spare time, on her personal accounts. The vote was today and she felt cautiously optimistic that it would pass.
If they voted no, she had a contingency plan in place and knew what her next steps would be. If they voted yes, well… that would be excellent. It would mean she’d succeeded and it would take the pressure off in a lot of ways, including her need for a bodyguard. After all, once the legislation went through there’d be no more reason to attack her, right?
Her stomach swarmed with butterflies.
Calm down, girl.
She took a deep breath and pulled up her social media feeds again.
“Need anything, Ms. Crumb?” Lenny, the bodyguard she’d hired to replace Clint, asked from her office doorway. “I’m headed to the coffee machine down the hall.” When enough time had gone by with no additional attacks, the board had relented on letting her come back to the office, as long as she brought her bodyguard with her.
“No, thanks. I’m good,” she said, smiling at him. He was an ex-Marine, mid-fifties, but in good shape. Married with three kids and four grandkids. Nice guy and good at his job. Too bad she hadn’t gone that route in the first place. “Take all the time you need.”
“I’ll be back in five,” Lenny said.
No. If she’d gone with Lenny to begin with then she never would have gotten to spend that time with Clint and Ashley. Even though she knew it was for the best that they were gone, she wouldn’t have given up having them in her life for anything. She was stronger for having known them both, even if it still hurt, thinking about the day they’d moved out of her place.
Clint hadn’t wasted any time, leaving the same night as their blowout fight. He’d left her with Lenny’s name, saying he’d worked with the guy before and gave him a sterling recommendation. He’d even filled Lenny in on the investigation into who might have been behind the rally attack. SSoF was still working on that case, but so far no one had been caught.
She sat back and refreshed her screen again to see if the vote had happened yet, but so far nothing. Tara sighed and went back to checking her social media stats. Those posts she’d done with Ashley were still drawing in more likes than anything else. She wondered how the little girl was doing these days. Maybe she’d call later, after the vote was in. Just because she and Clint weren’t speaking didn’t mean she and Ashley couldn’t still be friends, right?
In truth, she missed the little girl.
“Hey,” Judy said, giving a brief knock on the door before walking in again and plopping down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Did you decide what you’re going to do?”
“Not yet.” The board had offered Tara a permanent position as chief marketing director after the new E.D. was hired. It was technically a step down from her current post, but still a step up from the job she’d had before when she’d just been in charge of social media, with her boss dictating the messaging. Going forward, she would be the boss. She’d be handling all their marketing and promotion and any new campaigns as they came up, and really, it was kind of perfect for her. Even more so than the E.D. position she was in now. All of the fun, less of the stress. And if this legislation passed, she would have accomplished pretty much everything she’d wanted to in this job anyway. Why not move on to something that suited her better? “It sounds like a good fit, though.”
“It does.” Judy studied her nails. “For you, anyway. I’d rather leave all that Tweeting stuff to someone else.”
A loud whoop went up from outside the office, and the women exchanged a look before they both ran out to see a cluster of people around one of the computers across the room.
“What’s happening?” Tara called.
One of the interns shouted, “It passed! The bill passed!”
“Holy crap!” Tara turned and she and Judy embraced before either of them could think better of it, jumping up and down and squealing with glee. All that time. All that sacrifice. All that work, and it was finally paying off. “We did it!”
“No. You did it!” Judy said, giving Tara a squeeze before letting her go. “Good job.”
“Thanks.” They’d never been the closest of friends, but it was weird how people could surprise you. Just look at her and Clint. Tara tucked her hair behind her ear. “I was worried this day would never come.”
“What’s going on?” Lenny asked, rushing back to her with a cup of coffee in his hand, his expression concerned. “Are you okay, Ms. Crumb?”
“I’m fine. Great, actually.” She told him about the bill passing and then picked up a bottled water to toast his coffee cup with. “The legislation passed. Looks like we’re done.”