Page 28 of Pursuit of Happiness

“Wait!”

Meredith held the phone with her forefinger poised to disconnectthe call. She should hang up. Calling was a bad idea and it had accomplishednothing. She needed to focus, and everything about Stevie Palmer was adistraction. Yet, she’d already called, so what was the harm in staying on theline? “Yes?”

“My husband and I host an orphan Thanksgiving dinner every year.You know, a bunch of us who have no extended family in town get together andeveryone brings something. I know you probably have plans for the day, but Ican text you the address if you’d like to come by. We meet up around noon.”

Suddenly very aware she and Stevie had never discussed Stevie’sfamily, Meredith wondered if they were still alive, and why Stevie wasn’tspending the holiday with them. Meredith enjoyed having her own very supportivefamily nearby, but she did wonder if there was a certain freedom in having nofamilial obligations. Her parents expected her to show up at their palatialhouse tomorrow, dressed in formal attire, so they could all sit around theformal dining table while the chef sent out platters of gourmet food for themto politely enjoy. A potluck sounded like a much cozier and invitingexperience. “It sounds lovely, but I can’t make it. Family dinner.”

“Well, if your plans change, come on by. It’s only for a fewhours, and then it devolves into a football frenzy and Stevie always takes offearly to do a shift at Bridgeway, the homeless shelter. Hey, I should get backin there or she’s going to wonder what I’m up to. You sure you don’t want totalk to her?”

“I’m sure,” Meredith responded quickly. “I’ll catch up with herlater. Enjoy your lunch.”

Meredith hung up the line for real this time and set the phone onthe seat beside her. She should’ve just talked to Stevie, but something aboutHannah’s evasiveness told her Stevie would be as reluctant to talk to her.Which only made her wonder what Stevie had confided in Hannah about their lastdate.

The next day as she sat around her parents’ dinner table enjoyingcourse after course of decadent food and fielding questions about the campaign,all she could think about was Stevie dishing up plates of food for homelesspeople, quietly and not seeking any limelight for her efforts. How verydifferent their lives were right now, and how she wished she could be byStevie’s side even if only for the afternoon.

Chapter Eight

Stevie pushed her plate aside and groaned. “When am I evergoing to learn not to go back for seconds? That sweet potato marshmallow thingis going to be the death of me.”

Hannah laughed. “If you’re going to start counting calories atThanksgiving dinner, you’re going to be banned from coming back. Seriously, cutyourself some slack.”

“Guilt is not good for my digestion,” Stevie replied. “In an hourI’ll be serving dinner to people who barely ever get a decent meal, and afterstuffing my face for the past two hours, I can barely stand the sight of food.What an upside-down world we live in.”

“Speaking of upside-down, I read in the paper you set a trialdate in the Barkley case,” Hannah’s husband, Dave, said. “Do you really thinkit’s going to trial?”

“Frankly, I have no idea. The prosecutor is Emily Watkins, andshe’s hot to work something out, but we’re not there yet.” Stevie was beingdeliberately cagey. She trusted Hannah and Dave, but she didn’t know everyoneelse around the table well enough to disclose that her client still hadn’tgiven her anything to work with in his defense. “We’ve still got some time.”

“I think what he did was heroic,” Hannah said. “The FBI issupposed to be working to protect our interests, and if they’re not doing theirjob, the public has a right to know. If people like William Barkley didn’tdisclose what’s going on, then we’d be blindly acquiescing to hackers, who areprobably working on behalf of hostile foreign governments, infiltrating ourdaily lives. Frankly, I expected more from Garrett’s administration.”

“I’m not sure Garrett even knows that the FBI dropped the ball onthe hacking case or that they were even working on it to begin with,” Steviesaid. “As much as they’ve tried to coordinate all their efforts sincenine-eleven, there’s still a lot of interagency power grabbing going on, andsecrets are at the heart of it. As long as that’s the case, we the people aregoing to be left in the dark with our rights at risk.”

“Hopefully, Senator Mitchell will be more on top of things whenshe’s elected,” Hannah replied.

Stevie let the comment go. Hannah had made no secret of heropinion that Stevie had called it quits with Meredith too soon, and this wasn’tthe first time today Hannah had tossed Meredith’s name into the conversation,but she refused to be baited. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop everyone else atthe table from jumping in with their opinions.

Jewel, Hannah’s next-door neighbor, grunted and folded her armsacross her chest. “I’m as liberal as the next person, and Meredith Mitchell isgoing to get my vote, but when it comes to national security I think anyone whogives classified information to anyone, especially the press, should beconvicted of treason and left to rot in prison. We can’t possibly know the fullramifications of the information he disclosed. There may be undercoveroperatives whose identities are now exposed whose lives are in danger. Peopledon’t take time anymore to consider the true consequences of their actions.There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way.”

Stevie wanted to tell Jewel that the information Barkley haddisclosed to the press hadn’t contained any particulars about spies, and thatoverall, it was pretty boring stuff, but she had to walk a fine line becausethe documents were still deemed classified, and further disclosure of thecontents could have her running afoul of the Espionage Act. Besides, shedoubted Jewel would believe her since the popular talk radio shows had beenspinning the whole lives in danger theory for days. But what Jewel said wasimportant because there would be jurors who’d feel the same way, and she wasgoing to have to figure out how to convince them that the good accomplished byBarkley’s action outweighed any associated harm. For now she nodded and smiled,grateful when Jewel and several of the others started clearing the table.

When everyone else was in the kitchen, Hannah picked up her emptyplate and stacked it with her own. “You seem melancholy today.”

Stevie ignored the comment and reached for the plates. “Let mehelp you with that.”

“Nope. I got this. Take a breather.”

Stevie started to protest again, but Hannah waved her away andheaded off to the kitchen where the rest of their dinner companions werewashing dishes and bagging up leftovers. Stevie leaned back in her chair andshut her eyes for a few minutes. She was a little melancholy. She always feltthis way around the holidays—a small part of her longing for the family she’dleft behind so many years ago, but she knew her longing was misplaced. The goodfriends and good time she’d had today was a fairy tale compared to theangst-ridden holidays of her youth where her father had always started dinnerwith a prayer asking the Lord to love the sinner, but remove the sin beforeshooting a pointed look in her direction so there was no mistaking exactlywhich sinner he was talking about. Her sexuality wasn’t the only source ofcontention; she’d never been able to bite back protests whenever he or the restof her family talked about what they perceived as society’s injustices:welfare, aid to the homeless, subsidized healthcare. In their view, you earnedyour own way in the world and people who accepted assistance were less-than.

She’d left home when she was seventeen and never looked back. Ithadn’t been easy, but she’d studied her ass off while she couch-surfed withfriends until she graduated from high school. She’d worked through college andlaw school, graduating with honors, and when her education was done, she neverthought twice about entering government service where she’d have theopportunity to give back.

“Are you ready for pie?”

Stevie looked up to see Hannah and the others strolling into theroom carrying three pies between them. She grabbed her stomach. “Not a chance.Besides, I need to get going.” In spite of their protests, she said hergood-byes and headed out.

Bridgeway Homeless Shelter was only a few miles away fromHannah’s place, and Stevie spent the drive trying to shake off her own malaise.She knew part of her problem was the abrupt end to whatever had been brewingbetween her and Meredith. Seeing Meredith on TV making the announcement abouther presidential bid yesterday hadn’t helped, and she’d spent the time sincewondering how things would be different if she hadn’t walked away. Would shehave taken off work so she could stand in the crowd and cheer on Meredith’sannouncement? Or would she have waited backstage to enjoy a private moment withher before she took the stage?

Her musings were silly. Even if she could’ve stood the mediafrenzy, Stevie knew there was no room for her in Meredith’s life now.Meredith’s path to the White House would be focused and solitary, with no timefor drinking beer at Quarry House or sneaking barbecue dinners at Ellie’s.She’d chosen to walk away, but she missed the idea of being with Meredith morethan she’d imagined she would.

She pulled into the parking lot of the shelter and struggled toclear her head. Neither the people who worked at the shelter nor the homelessthey’d be serving today needed to be subjected to her sour mood, and by thetime she parked her car, she’d managed to put on a friendly face.

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