“Then what is your point? Why are you here?” Doreen let her impatience show.
“To help you find your spine.” Ramona uncrossed her legs and sat straighter on her chair.
Doreen’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
Ramona ignored the interruption. “Megan and Ean were too nice to say anything Sunday when you dropped this bomb on them. But someone needs to hold a mirror in front of your face.”
Doreen inhaled a sharp breath. The scents of sugar and coffee were familiar. “I haven’t lost my spine.”
“Yes, Doreen, you have. What happened to the woman who filed her application for the election, despite Leo? You told him, if he couldn’t handle your being mayor, he could find the door. What happened to that woman?”
“That was before.” Doreen cringed. Had she really said that? She turned from Ramona and continued unloading the dishwasher.
“You mean before Leo tried to play you by bringing Yvette to Quincy and my going-away party?” Ramona’s snort was incongruous with her sophisticated appearance. “Oh, please. The English teacher dating the high-school football coach? Can you think of anything more clichéd?”
“Maybe this sounds silly to you, but I’m still finding myself, Ramona. I’m not sure who I am, who I want to be, who I should be. You’re young and confident. You’ve always had your family’s support to be who you wanted to be.” Doreen shrugged. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
Ramona’s ebony eyes twinkled at her. “You’re wrong, Doreen. I understand perfectly.”
Doreen arched an eyebrow at the town’s mayor. “I find that hard to believe.”
“You shouldn’t.” Ramona stood to join Doreen at the counter. “I’ve tried many identities, looking for the one that most suited me. I tried to be a New Yorker. That lasted seven months. I thought I could be mayor. That’s barely lasted one term.”
Doreen waved a hand to interrupt the younger woman. “Ramona, you’re a good mayor.”
“You’ll be a better one.”
“But is that who I should be?” Doreen expelled a deep breath. “If my choices are between being mayor and being Leo’s wife, I’m not certain I want to choose a lifestyle in which all I have are a bunch of policies and bureaucracy, and council members breathing down my neck.”
Ramona leaned a hip against the kitchen counter. “But the choice should be yours. Don’t let Leo or anyone else define you, Doreen.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Yes, you are. Stay in the race. You have to decide who you are. Don’t allow other people to make that decision for you. I’m speaking from experience.”
Doreen watched her friend with new eyes. “Aren’t you trying to define me by telling me to stay in the race?”
Ramona shook her head. “I’m not telling you who you are. I’m telling you who you aren’t. You’re not a quitter.”
“No matter what I do, I’m quitting something, either the race or my relationship with Leo.” Doreen rubbed the frown between her eyebrows.
“Being mayor is a natural progression in your community involvement. Leo should know that. He’s known you for more than sixteen years.”
“Yes, but—”
“No ‘but.’ Why would you change who you are?”
Doreen hesitated. “Because I’m afraid of losing Leo.”
Ramona arched a neat brow. “Do you really want a lover who’d use scare tactics to keep you?”
Doreen’s eyes widened. When you put it like that . . . “No, I don’t.”
“Good.” Ramona heaved a sigh as she straightened from the kitchen counter. “My job here is done.”
Doreen smiled. “Yes, it is. I’m not quitting. Leo can accept me as I am, or he can find the door.”
Ramona shrugged her slender shoulders. “Frankly, if he’s causing you all this trouble over the election, I don’t think Leo’s the right man for you.”