When Love Calls (26 page)

“Oh, yeah, but wait, that’s not the worst part. Get this, they also allude to the fact that you could be using him for the foundation, since he’s on the Special Committee for the Aging.”

“Okay, stop doling out these tiny pieces of information a little bit at the time. Just tell me everything,” Alyssa said, slowly sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Okay, here’s the real kicker. There was a newspaper reporter hanging around, wanting to talk to you or your grandmother last weekend. Oliver’s mom saw her before.”

“Crap, not her again.”

“You know her? Who is she?”

“I think her name is Gayle Henderson. She said she was a grad student at Georgetown doing a paper on senatorial scandals. But she could be anyone. I understand reporters will do anything to get a story.”

“Oliver’s mom said that she was parked outside all day yesterday waiting around outside the house. She finally called the police and said that woman was casing her house.”

“What happened then?”

“After about forty-five minutes, the police finally came. She pointed out the car and the woman sitting there. They went over and talked to her. Two minutes later, they drove off and she stayed right there. They didn’t even try to make her move on.”

“Figures,” Alyssa said, not at all surprised.

“Not to worry, Oliver stopped by your dad’s place and they took care of it.”

“Oh, no, what happened?” she asked.

“Your dad apparently asked a few of his younger, rowdier bar patrons to take a ride over to the house in exchange for free beers the rest of the evening. Just about the whole place volunteered, but only ten or twelve guys could fit on the back of Oliver’s truck. They pulled up in front of her car and girlfriend was so scared to see all those brothers hopping off the back of Oliver’s truck that she pulled out of there like the devil was on her tail. Mrs. Watts said she never came back, and probably won’t.”

Alyssa smiled, feeling no sympathy.

“So, anyway, what are you gonna do?”

“There’s nothing I can do. It’s already out there.”

Nina sighed. “Well, I just wanted to prepare you for this morning. You know Pete and Ursula are going to know about this and there’s no telling what they’re gonna say. After the Senator Goode thing last week…”

“Yeah, I know, I’ll just go in and see what happens.”

“Okay, I’m coming in from northern Virginia and traffic is crazy, so I’ll probably be late. I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll see you in a few.” She hung up the phone and sat down. Thankfully her grandmother was still away, so the chance of her seeing the article was pretty remote. She picked up the phone and called her father, knowing that he must have seen the morning papers.

“Hi, Dad,” she began, “have you seen this morning’s paper?”

“Yes, I have, and you and I definitely need to have a conversation.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You joked one time about dating a senator. Is that when all this started?”

“Yes and no. But actually, it never really started as opposed to just happened. We just started seeing each other.”

“How did you meet him?”

“By accident. I spilled a drink on his tie at a fund-raiser a few weeks ago and then we kind of got arrested, but not really, we just wound up going to the police station. Then we met again by accident in Georgetown that morning I stopped by your house and then—”

“Wait a minute, back up,” he said. “You got arrested?”

“Not really arrested. It was more like I was taken to the police station because I called in a burglary at the office. But it wasn’t actually a burglary, it was Randolph. But I didn’t know it at the time. Anyway, the police came and took us back to the station. There was no problem until I didn’t have any identification. That’s when Nina came in and brought my purse,” Alyssa said in practically one breath.

“Alyssa, maybe you’d better stop by after work today.”

“Okay.”

“One more thing,” he said. “What happened when you told your grandmother all this?”

“Nothing happened. Grandma doesn’t know, and hopefully she won’t. We both know that if she finds out…”

“Alyssa, you need to tell her,” he advised.

“I can’t, Dad. You know how she is. She’d be crushed.”

“That’s why you need to come clean and tell her.”

“Dad, she’s done so much for me, for us. How can I just break her heart like that? Then there’s the Alzheimer’s. What if this puts her over the edge?”

“That’s not good enough, Alyssa. You know how easy it is for this to get out. The man’s a senator, he’s news and everything he does is news. I’m surprised this hasn’t come out already. You need to make sure that she hears about this from you and not from a perfect stranger.”

“I already know she’s gonna have a fit.”

“That doesn’t matter. It’s your life, and you live it. But you still need to tell her.”

“I know. She’s away for the weekend with a friend, Louise Gates. She won’t be back until tomorrow. Hopefully by then all of this will have blown over. But I’ll still tell her when the time is right.”

“Do you love him, Alyssa?”

She didn’t even need to pause a split second before answering, “Yes, I do love him with all my heart. He’s a wonderful man. He reminds me of you, I think, and before you lecture me, I know it doesn’t make sense and it sounds crazy, but in the short time we’ve been together, it feels like we’ve known each other a lifetime.”

“I remember the feeling well,” Benjamin said. “Does he love you?”

“Yes, he told me, and when he looks at me, I see it in his eyes.”

“Why don’t you tell me about it when you see me later?”

“Okay, I have to get to work now anyway. I’ll see you this evening, Dad.” She hung up, but before she could get two steps, the phone rang again. She answered. “Hello.”

“I love hearing your voice in the morning, all husky and sexy. It reminds me of waking up in San Francisco, you in my arms, us making love at dawn.”

Her stomach fluttered and jumped. The memory of their last morning together was still vivid. Their bodies pressed together, they’d made love in his bed beneath the darkened sky greeting a new day. They’d looked up at the large skylights above his bed and seen the glow of dawn coming. She smiled even now, in spite of herself. “Good morning, Randolph.”

“Good morning, how are you?” he asked.

“I’ve had better days,” she said quietly.

“You’ve seen the newspaper article, I presume.”

“No, but I heard about it. How could this happen?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean, the photograph and the article implying that I was using you. It’s so wrong.”

“We know the truth.”

“But your career—”

“Is just fine, Alyssa,” he told her before she finished her sentence. “I’m not hiding this. We have no reason to hide. I’m not married, you’re not married and we’re two consenting adults. If we want to pursue a relationship, so be it. It’s nobody’s business but ours.”

“It’s not that simple, Randolph, and you know it. You’re a senator and I work for a lobbying firm.”

“So? I also work in a vineyard and you tend bar with your dad. What we do for a living isn’t who we are as people.”

“I know that, but people will talk.”

“Let them,” he said, almost delighted by the prospect.

“My grandmother will know.”

“Of course she will.”

“I told you how she feels about politicians.”

“She’ll get over it. I would think that as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters, right?”

Alyssa didn’t respond. She knew better. Her grandmother was far too set in her ways to yield even an inch.

“Alyssa, we have something special. Don’t let prejudice and narrow-mindedness tear it apart.”

“I can’t talk right now, I have to get to work.”

“Okay, I’ll be in meetings all day, but I’ll stop by this evening and we can talk on the way.”

“On the way where?” she asked.

“On the way to a twenty-five-hundred-dollar-a-plate reception at the home of a very prominent political figure, followed by a quick stop at another reception for a fellow senator.”

“Umm, we’ll talk later, I have to go now. ’Bye.” She hung up, but this time she just stood there staring. She loved him too much to let him go, but she loved her grandmother, too. She knew someone would have to be hurt and, either way, it would be her.

She grabbed her purse, locked the front door and hurried to her car. With a quick glance around, she noted the reporter’s red BMW was nowhere in sight. At least that had been taken care of.

As soon as she got to the office, she noticed a very definite change in the air. Instead of the anxious drama she had left Friday morning, today everyone seemed to be quietly unnerved.

Nina hadn’t gotten in yet, so Alyssa went directly to her desk, dumped her purse in the bottom drawer as usual, then turned on her computer to her schedule. Her e-mail message sounded. There were two, one from Randolph and one from Gayle Henderson. She sent one to her personal e-mail address and the other to her spam folder. She turned around to see Pete’s door open. Deciding to take the bull by the horns and get it over with, she got up and walked to the opened door and knocked on the frame.

“Come in,” Pete said, looking up and seeing her standing there.

Alyssa walked in and smiled weakly. “Good morning, Pete. We need to talk about what’s been happening in the newspapers, why my picture was there this morning.”

“Yes, Alyssa, we do. Come in, have a seat. I’ve asked Ursula to join us.” He picked up his phone and called her cell. She was on her way and would be in directly. “First of all, I’m very disappointed with you, Alyssa. The rules clearly state that anyone working in this office is not allowed to fraternize with politicians. These aren’t just my rules and regulations, they’re foundation policy. And we have them for a reason.”

“Yes, I know, that’s what I wanted to explain to you. My relationship with—” Alyssa began, but stopped when Ursula walked in, closed the door behind her and sat down after saying good morning to them. Alyssa continued. “What I was saying is that my relationship with Senator Kinsley began outside of the office and I obviously wasn’t on official foundation business. I didn’t go looking for anything, for a relationship. It just happened that we became friends.”

“More than friends, I believe,” Ursula interjected.

“I know I’m support staff, but it was just a chance meeting, that’s all,” Alyssa continued, ignoring Ursula’s remark. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t even recognize him when I first met him.”

“A chance meeting, it must have been more than that, dear. Perhaps this chance meeting, as you call it, meant more to him than you realize,” Ursula said, smiling tightly.

“I don’t think so. Everyone’s making more of this than it really is. The newspapers just want to sell papers. We’re simply passing acquaintances,” Alyssa said.

“I understand that you were in San Francisco just this past weekend, staying at his vineyard, no less,” Ursula said in her patronizing tone. “That sounds to me like more than a passing acquaintance. I’ve kept an eye on Senator Kingsley and he isn’t given to flights of fancy. He keeps his personal life extremely private. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of him inviting a lobbyist or anyone from Washington to his California home. As a matter of fact, he goes out of his way to discourage lobbyist from getting too close to him. And you wind up at his home for the weekend….”

“Is this true?” Pete asked.

“Yes, I went to San Francisco, but we didn’t actually go together,” Alyssa said, hoping to clarify that point at least. “But again, I was on my time, after work, and this had nothing to do with the foundation.”

“Alyssa, what you do on your time is, of course, your business, but if you’re engaged in a physical relationship with the senator to further your career, the implications can be devastating to this foundation, particularly since this Goode scandal.”

“My relationship, physical or not, is my private business. It has nothing to do with my work here,” Alyssa said defensively as she started to get a bit annoyed.

“Be that as it may, Alyssa. We can’t have everyone just grabbing hold of senators and congressmen as they will. Keeping order here would be impossible,” Pete said.

“I understand that, but as I said, our relationship has nothing to do with foundation business. We don’t even talk about politics or his job or my job or the foundation and we don’t—”

“Excuse me, but why don’t you talk about foundation business?” Ursula asked.

“Because we just don’t, we talk about other things not related to government and business and politics, we talk about personal things.” Alyssa watched as Ursula glanced at Pete, then gave a slight nod and smiled.

“Well, Alyssa, if you’re gonna have a senator’s ear, you have to at least be able to use it, dear. That’s what we do here. We use our relationships with public officials to get our cause heard and furthered,” Ursula said.

“But that’s not what our relationship—” she began.

“You know, maybe we can use this to our advantage,” Pete said, smiling and nodding.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Ursula said, then turned directly to Alyssa. “We’ll promote you from support staff to working with me directly on the outside. That means more money and more freedom, but also a lot more work. What do you think?”

Alyssa smiled happily. This was what she always wanted, to work directly with lawmakers and effect positive change in people’s lives. “Yes, of course, I’d love to be a lobbyist, thank you. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.”

“Good. Now, Alyssa, I want you to set up a dinner meeting with the senator, Ursula and me as soon as possible. We need to get this working to our benefit fast. The Senator Goode thing hurt us a bit, but this is exactly what we need to get back on track.”

“I agree,” Ursula said as she leaned across the desk. She and Pete began discussing her and Randolph as if they were commodities to be used and taken advantage of.

“This relationship with Senator Kingsley couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s exactly what we need to regain our standing in the community,” Ursula said. “Imagine a coup like this. No one has ever been able to influence Kingsley.”