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“He isn’t my husband.” There isn’t a hint of teasing in her tone.
“What are you talking about?” I huff, hating the reality I’m living. “It’s his name on the marriage license.”
“It isn’t filed. It’s still in my purse. So, I’m not married.Not yet, anyway.”
“It doesn’t matter. We shouldn’t be doing this.” My words are meaningless. Neither of us move, accepting our sins—and our fate. I don’t dare tell her she’s not mine, again. At this point, that would be a lie. “It’s been a long day, get some sleep.”
Jaclyn takes a deep breath and settles in. My eyes are already heavy, and I drift off quickly, never letting her go.
Chapter 16
Alex
Iwake in darkness to the faint smell of smoke, with Jaclyn no longer in my arms. I turn on a light and slide out of bed, finding a large, brown-handled paper bag on the chair where our clothes were earlier. Curiosity gets the best of me, and I open it, taking out a black tee, a pack of boxer briefs, and gray sweatshorts. Popping off the tags, I smile to myself and get dressed.
As I walk through the living room, a faint glow illuminates the space from a fire pit outside. I step outside, the sliding door alerting my presence and making Jaclyn turn toward the noise.
Seated in the chaise chair next to the fire pit, she turns back toward the ocean. “Sorry. Hope I didn’t wake you. I needed to approve the seating chart for the gala.”
“You didn’t.” I step onto the patio, taking a seat in the chaise next to her. She’s wearing her dress from earlier,but her golden blonde hair is braided now over her shoulder. “How long have you been out here?”
“About an hour. I hope they fit.”
I glance down and pull my shirt away from my body for a moment. “They do, thank you.”
“I want to burn all of his clothes.”
“What?” I ask, barking a laugh.
“But then I couldn’t stop thinking how wasteful it is.” She turns her head to face me. “So, in the morning, I’m going to bag everything up and donate them.”
“Remind me to never piss you off,” I chuckle, earning me a smile.
Jaclyn returns her attention to the water, and we sit in comfortable silence for several minutes. Staring out into the dark ocean, her voice startles me. “What made you decide to run as a moderate?”
“Honestly? It was never my party; it’s my father’s.” I shrug. “I could’ve run with his endorsement, but I always want to vote with my conscience. It’s why I’ve never accepted donations from large corporations.” Though, I leave out that I accept other types of help from time to time. “Most of my donations are ten, maybe twenty dollars. No one wants to be beholden to billionaires. I also don’t consider myself liberal or conservative. I don’t vote along party lines, and I think that speaks to a lot of people. So, I hopped across the aisle to distance myself from my father, and I’ve alwaysbeen transparent that I will do what’s best for my state.”
“I wish it was that simple for everyone,” she sighs wistfully.
“It is. You just have to stay true to yourself. There’s so much hypocrisy from both sides. Sometimes, one side is right; sometimes, it’s the other. It’s okay to agree with someone across the aisle. Politics is more of a murky gray than black and white.”
“But you still have to pick a side,” Jaclyn counters with a raised eyebrow.
“Not always. You can show them that collaboration isn’t the devil.” I turn to face her. “Okay, rapid fire.” She mirrors me, trying to hide her smile, while her eyes glimmer with intrigue. We did this all the time in college, and I’m hoping it will lighten the energy between us. “School choice.”
“Every parent should have the right to have their child attend whatever school they want,” she replies without hesitation.
“Who should fund it?”
“We should. Education should be free.”
“True,” I concede, and she bites her lip, thinking she won this round. Swallowing hard, I remain on topic, ignoring the fact that I want to take her plump lip in between my teeth, and ask, “Should a private for-profit receive the same funding as a public non-profit?”
She pauses before carefully admitting, “Yes.”
“Should there be regulations to ensure the for-profit school meets certain standards?”
Her eyes narrow. “Is this a trick question?”
