Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Which brings me to my next question,” he said dryly. “You’re running for office? I wasn’t aware you were interested in politics.”
“I’m not,” I bit out.
“Mm.”
I stood up and paced, feeling the familiar dips and lumps in the ancient rug under my bare feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about all of this.”
“You already apologized,” Bash said with a calm I didn’t feel.
“But you can’t understand the familial expectation and pressure I’m under.”
“No. Probably not.”
“Besides, it’s different now. After some reform in the past twenty-five years, it’s not like I just get handed the seat. I’d have to be selected from a hand-picked group of qualified people with impeccable connections. I have zero chance.”
There was a beat of silence that probably only meant he was reaching for his water bottle or something, but I interpreted it as judgment.
“They won’t pick me because everyone else will be more qualified,” I clarified.
“Mm,” he said again.
I clenched my teeth to keep from continuing my inane excuses.
“Landry,” he said. “I’m sure you know more about English parliamentary by-elections, but if they’re anything like… oh, I don’t know… any other election in the history of humanity, has it occurred to you that someone who is popular, wealthy, beautiful, and carries the historic significance of your ancestry might have several legs up over candidates with stronger political resumes?”
He was right. Moreover, it wasn’t anything I hadn’t considered already during the sleepless hours of the past few nights and during my conversation with Teddy earlier.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to break fifteen generations of tradition?” I asked with a humorless laugh. “Here I was hoping I wouldn’t get selected because I’m laughably unfit for the position. It would be a nice, clean solution in which the powers that be break the tradition for me. But maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ll get elected. Not four hours ago, Teddy Baines assured me he had a plan to get me in that seat with zero chance of failure.”
Which was why I was having a crisis of conscience, even without the so-called help from my good friend.
“What do you want, Landry?”
I pulled my knees up and wrapped an arm around them, leaning my head down against the soft cotton of my robe. “I want Kenji Toma to be mine,” I admitted softly. “I want to move to Majestic and be surrounded by friends and family. I want to make Kenji’s wildest dreams come true. See Lellie grow up and maybe have my own kids who can grow up with her. Watch Dev finally shake his grief and Silas wear Way’s cowboy hat unironically. I want to stay connected to my father and my family here in England and raise my kids to know their family history without feeling any pressure to serve it.”
Bash let silence settle between us again. He’d always been good at letting silence do the talking in business meetings, and now I felt the power of its impact.
When he finally spoke, I was surprised by the words.
“If you plan on having kids one day, what will your choices in this moment teach them?”
His question echoed in my mind and heart as we ended the call and I moved into my dressing room.
As soon as I entered the familiar space, I stopped short. Kenji’s meager collection of clothes hung in a previously empty spot, and the running shoes I’d picked up for him were neatly placed at the end of my own row of shoes.
I walked over and pressed my face into the fabric of the long-sleeved half-zip he’d been wearing when he was rescued. It had been washed, of course, so it smelled of Hawling House laundry soap. There was no trace left of Kenji’s own scent or the Tide pods he used back home.
I was tempted to slide the garment over my bare skin, to flaunt the casual use of his clothes when I went downstairs, but I wouldn’t dare. This and his running tights were the only articles of clothing he had of his own, and I could tell how much that bothered him.
After quickly throwing on a pair of trousers and a sweater, I called Dev. Thankfully, that call went way more smoothly, thanks to his distraction with Lellie who was playing in the background.
“I wish you’d told us,” he said. “But I also understand. Grief is a heavy weight to carry, Landry. Sometimes the hardest things we face are the easiest to hide.”
His words, like Bash’s, stayed with me as I made my way downstairs to meet with Nan about tomorrow’s sports day appearance.
Thankfully, Kenji was off shopping with Cora, so I was able to focus on Nan’s words and learn all there was to know about the three schools involved, the Davencourt Foundation’s history of programs like this one, the plans for future program expansion, and the names of all the key players I’d need to remember when I arrived.