“I haven’t done anything yet.” I pull back, laughing up into his face. “Colson won’t roll over and play dead.”
“Of course there’s a long road ahead, but we have to celebrate this. You saw the chance and you made the move.” He takes my face between his hands, looking at me intently, so much love in his dark blue eyes.
“I know this is the first campaign without Lennix and you feel like you have something to prove, but you don’t. Mateo Ruiz just made the best decision of his life. He chose you. Not your father or your family name or your partner. You seized that opportunity. You set aside your own fears and insecurities to go on that show. You spoke truth to power and called Colson out on his shit. In front of millions.” He squeezes my waist and drops his forehead to rest on mine. “And I’m so incredibly proud.”
There have always been hard-to-reach places in me that only Ezra could find, could touch. Even when we were kids, when I barely understood myself, in a deserted park on a pair of swings, he would ask the right questions or he’d leave me the quiet to figure things out myself. All the times we were there for each other rush back to me on a loop.
And we will strengthen each other.
If only I had known this was possible for us. I would have torn the world apart searching for Ezra Stern.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I whisper, tears burning my throat. “I’m so glad you’re in my life again.”
“I’m glad, too,” he says, his voice husky with the emotions darkening his eyes. “And you’re not getting rid of me.”
“I have no desire to.”
He seems to hesitate for a moment and then continues. “Last night you trusted me with something hard.” He tilts my chin up, searches my eyes. “I don’t just want you when you’re strong. I want you when you’re vulnerable, when you’re lost, when you’re not sure. I see the armor you have to put on to make it in your world. I just want you to know here, with me, you can take the armor off.”
All my life, I’ve had to be the strongest one in every room. It was expected of Joseph Allen’s daughter. It was required in the shark pond of politics. No one wanted to make room for me, so I had to make room for myself.
Fine.
That’s what you do. You put in that work if you want the rewards. And I’ve accepted that I have to work harder than everyone else sometimes just to get the same results. That’s the reality girls like me learn to live with. We use it to make us stronger. I kick those doors down, whether it’s in work boots or Jimmy Choos. Looking down at the floor, my feet are bare. Here with Ezra, my soul is bare, and at his words, I slump against him and for a few moments, I rest. It’s a sigh of the soul and his arms tighten around me. He kisses my temple and strokes my back. It feels so good to let someone love me, to let him cherish me, to share my burdens with his strong shoulders.
“You okay?” he asks.
I look up at him, trace the strong line of his jaw and the dark silk of his brows. He doesn’t like it when I say he’s “dear,” but that’s exactly what he is. Dear and rare and precious and mine.
“I am now.”
“You sure you’re okay if we swing by my house first?” Ezra asks after we’ve showered.
“Sure.” I tug the fitted sheet from the bed. “You need to change for your meeting,
right?”
“Right.” He grabs his standard YLA T-shirt from the bench at the end of the bed and slips it on. “I can’t believe I forgot I’m supposed to meet the publisher downtown at noon or I would have brought the right clothes with me. I had it in my calendar for tomorrow. Glad my editor reminded me. I’ll just change at home. I can drop you off at your place and make it there in time.”
“Sounds good.” I gather the bedding and pad around to kiss his jaw.
He pats my butt, kisses my cheek and steps away. “I’ll load the car.”
“I’m just gonna put these in the laundry room. There’s a service that comes to clean. They’ll change the bed.”
We just added this laundry room. We’d planned some upgrades and renovations for a while, but then Daddy died and no one seemed to care until recently. The lake house hasn’t been used much lately, but my family had some good times here. Now that Congressman Ruiz has tapped me to run his campaign, I’ll make sure this house gets use while I’m here, even if it’s just for Ezra and me to get away.
The laundry room is small and neat and has a shiny new washer and dryer.
“Nice,” I mutter, stuffing the bedding into a hamper in the corner. The early morning sunlight shining through the window catches a glint of gold. I glance down and see the tiny tip of something in a far corner. It’s actually lodged in the crack between the wall and the floor, and I would have missed it if the sun hadn’t wanted me to find it. I squat and coax it out with a fingernail until it’s fully revealed on the floor.
The star of David.
And at the center, an onyx stone.
My breath catches. I’ve seen this charm before. Ruth Stern wore it all the time when we were growing up.
I pick up the charm and run outside. Ezra’s stashing my overnight bag and slamming the trunk.