I follow her inside, glancing back to get one last glimpse of Victoria. But she’s already gone. I ignored her, and she vanished.
I take a seat at the table, next to Lily. The room is more of a meeting room than an office, although it seems like it functions as both to Lily.
“It really is good to see you, Lily. I know your personal and work life aren’t going exactly as you planned, but I’m happy that I’m here. It’s been far too long.”
“I missed you, too, Carter. I thought about calling you dozens of times in college.”
I laugh. “Good thing you didn’t. You wouldn’t have liked college me.”
She laughs. “Too much of a bad boy?”
“Something like that.”
Lily blushes.
“So, tell me what you want now, Lily? What future do you want for yourself?”
She looks down at her hands.
I grab her chin to get her to look at me. “There is no wrong answer, Lily. Do you still want to be a senator? Do you want to change the world or not?”
“I don’t know.”
I narrow my eyes, studying her. I wasn’t expecting that. The Lily I used to know was fearless and would have said yes without hesitation. I sit back in my chair.
“Well, I can’t help you until you figure out what you want. If you want the world, I can give it to you. But I need to know that is what you want.”
“Victoria said the same thing.”
I sit up in my seat. “Victoria hasn’t been doing this nearly as long as I have. If you want this, I’m your guy. I’m the one who can make it happen. Victoria is a sweet girl with good intentions, but she doesn’t have the experience for a job like this.”
“Because I fucked up my chances. There is no coming back from this.”
“No, because you are an amazing woman who deserves the best. And I’m the best.”
Lily smiles weakly.
“So, what do you want, Lily?” I take her hands in mine, forcing her to look at me and stop turning away.
She has to stop running from her problems. Even if she doesn’t want to be a senator anymore, she still needs me to help her rebuild her image. She needs to face her troubles head-on. But I can’t help her if she doesn’t know what she wants.
“Do I have to answer now?”
“Yes. I’m not letting you run away from this. You need to decide what you want. And then I can help you.”
She swallows hard.
“What do you want, Lily?”
“I want to be the next senator from North Carolina.”
I grin. “Good girl.”
She smiles brightly, finally showing me the confident girl I used to know.
“Today’s a Sunday; it’s not the best day to get your team caught up on everything or to do any interviews, so I’ll spend today getting a plan together. Then, I’ll have my team get your team up to speed, and we will start working on this tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Carter. I’m not sure what I would do without you.”