Page 24 of Pursuit of Happiness

Stevie’s lips curled into a flirty smile, and for a second,Meredith forgot all about Ellie and barbecue and anything that wasn’t Stevie,but before she could come up with some teasing banter of her own, a loud voiceinterrupted the moment.

“Are you girls interested in eating or only making eyes at oneanother?”

Meredith spotted a slight wince from Stevie and steered hertoward the table Ellie had picked out for them in a secluded corner of therestaurant, far from the main dining room.

Ellie grabbed the menus off the table and tucked them under herarm. “Neither one of you look like you’re eating enough to survive. I’ll bringsome of everything,” Ellie announced, scurrying off before Meredith couldprotest.

“She’s bossy, but I like her,” Stevie said.

“She’s a DC institution.”

“Oh, I’m aware, but I’ve only ever been in the front room of thisplace, and I’ve never met her. They say she never leaves the kitchen.” Steviemotioned to the walls of the cubby where they were seated. “So, what’s with allthe secrecy? Now that you’re all over the news, you don’t want to be seen withme in public?”

Meredith thought she read some hurt beneath the lightly deliveredquestion. “Actually, I figured you would prefer it this way. You mentioned somethingbefore about not caring for the press, and I’ve had a hard time shaking themlately. Besides, I wanted to talk to you about something and I wasn’t keen onhaving the whole world listening in.”

Stevie nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate the gesture. I’m a firmbeliever in the First Amendment, but I did have a pretty bad run-in with areporter once who thought getting a scoop was way more important than gettingthe truth. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done before the actualfacts were printed.”

“The Wallace case. I remember reading about it. You know thatreporter is now part of the White House press corps?”

Stevie cocked her head. “Either you have a truly excellent memoryor you’ve done some research.”

Meredith met Stevie’s gaze and didn’t look away. No use hidingthe truth. “I do have an excellent memory, but I’d be lying if I said Iremember much about the case, but Jen is a stickler for making sure—”

“You gals better eat up.” Ellie reappeared with a tray stackedwith food and a pitcher of tea. “It’s going to be a brutal winter, and in myexperience, skinny people are the first to catch colds.” She arranged theirplates and pointed out the various dishes before smoothing her hands on herapron and backing away. “No one will disturb you over here, but if you needsomething, knock on that wall and I’ll be here in a flash.”

Meredith looked up from the food to find Stevie staring at herwith a frown. “What’s wrong? You don’t like barbecue?”

“You were saying that Jen is a stickler for…but you didn’t finishyour sentence.”

Meredith waved her fork. “Oh, nothing.”

“I’m thinking it wasn’t nothing. In fact, I’m thinking you wereabout to say that Jen is a stickler for running background checks on the peopleyou…seeon aregular basis.”

Meredith set the fork down and crossed her hands on the table.Obviously, they were going to need to clear the air before they could move onto dinner or anything else. “Yes, Jen insists on running background checks onanyone I’m dating. Especially if I happen to like the person and plan on seeingthem more.”

Stevie’s frown receded slightly. “I’m not really happy about thebackground check, but I am interested in this plan you have to see more of thisperson you like.”

“Me too. But first I need to tell her something. Something I hopedoesn’t send her running for the hills.”

“Why don’t you test it out on me and see how it goes.”

“Great plan.” Meredith paused for a moment. She’d been so anxiousto tell Stevie about her plans to enter the race, but now that she was on theverge of doing so, she was apprehensive about how her announcement would bereceived. She supposed the answer was caught up in why she wanted to tell herin the first place. Was it about testing the waters with someone outside herclose-knit circle of family, friends, and colleagues, or was it that she wantedto see how Stevie would react as a potential girlfriend to the circus her lifewas about to become? And as for that circus, was it a smart decision to bringsomeone else into it? Wouldn’t it be better just to shrug off any personalconnections and enter the race unencumbered by personal obligations that mightfracture her focus?

Oh, for God’s sake, it wasn’t like she was asking Stevie to marryher. They’d barely started dating, and once she started her run, they’d hardlyever see each other.Justtell her and let life happen.

“I’m filing the paperwork on Monday.” She blurted out the words.“I’m running for president.”

* * *

Stevie fixed a smile on her face because she assumed that was thereaction Meredith expected, but a flood of emotions coursed through her at theannouncement: surprise, excitement, disappointment. Hell, she might at thisvery moment be sitting across the table from the next president of the UnitedStates with only a platter of barbecue ribs between them.

But there was a lot more between them than that. MeredithMitchell was from a completely different world. Meredith had a family who lovedand supported her, loads of money, and power and influence to change the world.She, on the other hand, had left what family she had far behind after they’drejected who she was. Everything she had, she’d had to claw out ofcircumstance, and any power or influence she had was negligible at best.Meredith Mitchell was about to be in the spotlight, every minute detail of herlife examined under a microscope, and those details would necessarily includeeveryone she knew.

Stevie stared at the plate of food and her gut churned. She’dworked hard since leaving the house she grew up in to surround herself withchosen family who loved and respected her for who she was, not who they wantedher to be. Was her comfort all about to come tumbling down?

“Are you going to say something or just leave me hanging?”

“I’m not sure what to say.”

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