The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) (3 page)

Sully eyed the patio and then picked her up and put her firmly on the floor.  “I’ll grab the wine.  You bring that beautiful body,” he said, running his hand over the light in the kitchen. “And we can go and make a mess of ourselves.”  Everything went dim and they quickly rushed outside. 

***

At a quarter after seven the next morning, Charlie was still in a deep sleep when Sully carefully pulled himself out of his bed, put on his favorite Yale t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts and slipped on a pair of brown leather flip flops.

The sun was shining in through the pane glass windows onto the bed, warming her naked skin.  Standing over her watching her body rise up and down in a harmonious rhythm while she lightly snored, Sully debated whether tonight would be the night that he would ask her to move in with him.  Last night, they just needed to comfort each other after the news of their loss, but now that they both had a clear head, he wanted to talk about the next steps in their relationship. 
His other contingency plan.
 

He had never met a woman like Charlene Mea
d
ows before in his entire life.  She had taken his world by storm, and while she was incredibly young and completely oblivious to the way the world really worked, he wanted nothing more than to be with her. 

At first, he thought that the attraction would wear off the way that it did with most women, but som
e
thing about her had staying power in his life.  She didn’t come with a lot of baggage, hadn’t been jaded by a bunch of bad relationships and didn’t feel as though he owed her anything.  It was such a relief to be in such an easy relationship.  And now that the campaign was over and he was taking the job with the mayor, he could also spend more time getting to know the woman who had made him stop his cheating ways. 

It wasn’t just her passion for politics that he tho
r
oughly enjoyed, it was how much she trusted him and how warm and caring she was.  Most women had an ulterior motive when it came to the Orrin men, but not Charlie.  She was transparent, a characteristic nearly non-existent in politics or women.  She had really seen the potential in his brother and devoted herself completely to their cause.  Plus, she was a breath of fresh air in his life.  She didn’t really give a damn that he was an ivy leaguer or that his family was rich.  She wasn’t interested in climbing the South Beach social ladder.  All she wanted to do was make life better for Floridians and love him in the process. 

“You inspire the hell out of me,” he said in a whi
s
per.  His confession was true.  She did make him want to be a better man.  With a soft rub of her face, he thought about what it might be like to make her Mrs. Orrin later in their lives. 

He wondered for a brief moment if he could do something like that, if he was capable of the commi
t
ment.  Of course, he’d never had those types of thoughts before about any woman.  So the fleeting vision scared the dog crap out of him instantly.  He shut the thought off before the seed took root. 

Oblivious to his existence, Charlie turned in the bed and pushed herself down in the warmness of where his body had been.  A comfortable moan escaped her before she drifted deeper into sleep. 

Pulling the covers over her, Sully tucked her in tightly, grabbed his keys and left.

***

It was a normal beautiful day in Miami when Sully pulled out of the dark, concrete parking lot onto the streets of downtown.  The area was already bustling with people going to work, headed to breakfast, walking their dogs and doing their normal daily routines.  In truth, he loved the business of his district, loved the energy it gave off.  In all the places that he had lived, Miami was his favorite.  It was diverse with people, culture and creativity.  It was the cradle to innovative thought and pragmatic dogma.  Such a combination was hard to find anywhere, but here in this city the two thrived.   

He jumped on the loop and headed in the heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic over to the campaign headquarters to meet with Will and finish packing things up so that they could move out of the space as soon as possible. 

With the top down to his oriental blue BMW and the music blasting
Hotel California
, he allowed himself to simply relax this calm Wednesday morning and enjoy the drive and the much needed rest after such a long, hard campaign. 

It had been over a year since he hadn’t been in a rush to get somewhere or in a suit for a meeting.  Being back in his old clothes felt good but having no pressure on his back felt even better. He was finally on vacation.  And while he was sure that he was supposed to feel horrible still about losing the election, he didn’t.  He had given it a hundred percent or more in this election, and the people had spoken.  There was nothing more that he could do but learn from any mistakes made and not repeat them in the next race that he ran. 

For now, however, recuperation was the key.  He needed to get some much deserved sleep, lay out at the beach and work on his tan and hit the gym.  Maybe he could even talk Charlie into a weekend cruise on the family yacht. 

As he was about to exit off of I-95, he saw a white Volvo with his brother’s
Vote for Orrin
bumper sticker on the back of the car.  He shook his head. 

Led by three, lost by five.

Boy, would he be glad to get past this one.  He had worked on a lot of campaigns and this was the second one that he had lost, but on the bright side it had been by a small margin in a very red state.  So, there was promise for the future.  All they had to do was develop a plan and start working it soon.  Like Charlie, he would have to stop thinking about the campaign so much in order to move past it.  But unlike Charlie, he was more than ready to do that.  All that was needed was to not see those damned bumper stickers ever
y
where that he went. 
Too bad that the team had distributed over 14,000.
 

When he got to the strip mall where the headqua
r
ter had been housed, he saw his brother’s BMW and his sister-in-law’s Lexus parked up front with Harry, the campaign’s treasurer, and a few interns. 

Pulling up beside his brother’s truck, he jumped out of his car, hit the alarm and walked inside.  As he did, the bell on the door chimed.

“Morning, folks,” Sully said, taking off his baseball cap.

“Morning,” Will said, looking up from a table of paperwork.  Evidently, Will was tired of the suits too, because today, he had on casual clothes for the first time in forever.  “I wasn’t expecting to see you so early,” he said to his brother, glancing at his watch. 

“Well, I figured I’d come and help out early. I’ve got something to do later this afternoon,” Sully said, walking over to the coffee maker. “Is this fresh?”

“Just made it,” Will’s wife, Amber, said as she boxed up campaign t-shirts.

“Hey, you got a minute? I need to talk to you,” Will said, walking towards his office. 

Sully looked at his brother suspiciously.  “Sure,” he said, pouring sugar into his Styrofoam cup.

The two of them walked into Will’s office and closed the door behind them.  Sitting on the front of his desk, Will cracked a wide political smile. “I’ve got good news.”

“We’re going to get a recount?” Sully asked.

Will smirked and scratched the stubble growing under his chin. “No. Not that good.  I spoke with DLC this morning.  Ernie was impressed with how you ran this campaign. 
Really impressed.
  He wants you to come and work for him in D.C.”  He crossed his arms
over
his chest and waited for his little brother to explode in excitement.

Will was in for a letdown.

“D.C.?” Sully asked with a frown. His voice soun
d
ed surprised and apprehensive.

Will tilted his head and bit his bottom lip, conte
m
plating why his brother wasn’t jumping for joy yet.  “Yes,
D.C.
  What? You freaking love D.C.?  You love politics. Last time I checked, you loved the
DLC
.  I thought you would be ecstatic over this.  Do you know how many favors I had to call in to make sure that my baby brother was taken care of?” He tried hard not to sound too pushy, but he was certain that he had failed at that just now. 

Sully knitted his brows, processing his brother’s every word.  “So Ernie
didn’t
call you?” he asked, shutting the rest of Will’s rant off. 

Will stood up from the table.  “Yes, he called me…
called me back
.” Shrugging off the technicalities, he rolled his eyes. “Whatever.  It’s been arranged.  George is leaving his position because of some health issues, and Ernie wants new blood instead of promo
t
ing from within the organization. So, he wants you.  You’ve got all the right credentials.  You’re una
t
tached, and you can travel.  You’re perfect for this…and why am I having to pitch it at you? What is going on here?  Where is the love?”

Sully ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Not
h
ing, I’m just…exhausted, I guess.”

Will nodded. “Yeah. I know. You ran a hell of a race for me, and no one deserves this more than you.”

Sully exhaled a deep breath making his rock hard chest deflate.  Even though he knew that his brother was right, this was all so unexpected for him.  Still, he tried not to disappoint his brother completely.  “Yeah…so when do they want me to start?” Maybe if it was after Charlie graduated, he could take her with him. 

“Immediately,” Will said with a smile. “They want you on the first thing out of here this week.”  His voice was less tense now that he was getting what he wan
t
ed.

“What about my place?”

Will frowned.  “Sublet it.”

The truth finally had to come out.  “What about Charlie?” Sully asked.

Will pursed his lips and shook his head.  “You can’t be serious, Sully.”

“Well, I am…”  Sully looked his brother in the eye now. 

Will walked over to his brother and put his hand on his shoulder.  “Hey, listen to me.  You’re my little bro, and I love you, but you gotta know when to take your leave.  Now, this job is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s all based on your hard work. You fucking deserve this, Sully. Take it.   Charlie…” Will took a deep breath and tried to find a careful way to say what he felt he needed to say. “Charlie is only 21 years old.  She’s a young woman with her entire life in front of her.  Plus, she’s smart and she’s a go-getter.  She doesn’t need you.”

“Charlie’s special, man.  I
need
her,” Sully said quietly.  He looked into his brother’s eyes.

“I know that she is…special.  That’s why I’ll make sure to take care of her personally, get her a good job with the firm or with a local non-profit in a good position doing something that she loves.  We’ll
find
something for her.  But this position requires
your
full attention. You’re going to be traveling a hell of a lot. You’re going to be meeting all types of influential people, and you not only have to have your head in the game but you need to be either single and focused or married and focused. Do you get me? It’s high profile, so your personal life is going to be served up on a plate for these people.”

“We’re not at the point of marriage now…” Sully said, remembering his earlier thought of her. 

Will raised his palms to the ceiling. “Exactly.  So, move on.  Don’t let this opportunity pass you up, just to break up with her six months from now and hate yourself and
her
for it.”

“She’s not going to understand this,” Sully said, feeling his stomach sink. 

Suddenly, Will was in disbelief. 
His brother was actually considering turning down an opportunity for a woman? 
He tried to redirect and at the same time hide his shock.  “She’s too young to understand.  You have to help her.  Maybe you can have a long distance thing.  I don’t know, but based upon your track record with women, you’d be setting her up for failure, and you know it.”

Sully knew that his brother was right.  Sitting down in the chair across from Will’s desk, he buried his face in his hands.  “Shit, man.  What am I going to tell her?” he asked, voice muffled. 

Will looked at the top of his brother
’s
head and stood up from the desk.  Sully never asked him for advice when it came to women.  In the past, he had felt that he was too square of a guy to tell him an
y
thing, especially since he had been with Amber forever.  He finally answered but with a bit of hesit
a
tion.  “Tell her the truth.  You all are on two different paths in life right now.  You’re at the point where you have to really devote yourself if you’re going to make it, and she’s just getting started.  Hopefully, your paths will cross again, but you’ve only been together for a few months.  And she’s so young.  Women change as they get older…trust me.”  He looked through the blinds of his office at his wife, who was barking at Harry about the finances, and felt a chill run down his spine. 
God, he was scared of that woman.  She was like a pit bull in a dress.