By Design by J. A. Armstrong Page A

the shoes,” Dana groaned.
    “I’ll
run in and get it,” Jameson offered.
    Dana
turned in her seat. “J.D., you don’t have to….unless, of course, there is some
reason you want to.”
    Jameson
just shook her head. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. She sat silently in the
backseat listening to her friends bantering in the front. They had been
together since college, and Jameson envied their relationship. They had just
seemed to fit instantly. Many of their friends predicted that the real world
would signal the end of Dana and Steve’s honeymoon. Fourteen years and two
children later, the pair seemed as happy with each other as they had been at
twenty-one.
    Jameson
looked at the townhouse as it came into view and readied herself. Perhaps,
Dana’s handbag was the excuse she needed to say what she had meant to say to
Candace. She opened the door and peered back inside. “Do you know where you
left it?”
    “Yeah,
I set it on the table right outside Candy’s study when I said goodbye to the
vice president; unless someone moved it.”
    “I’ll
be right back,” Jameson promised.
    “Take
your time,” Dana said. “We’ll find something to do,” she laughed. Jameson
rolled her eyes and shut her door. Dana watched her go.
    “You
left it there on purpose; didn’t you?” Steven asked.
    “Me?”
Dana gasped in offense. “I can’t believe you would think that.”
    Steven
laughed. “You watched too much Spin City ,”
he said. “And, read too many romance novels. You should have put that on your
resume to warn Candy,” he told his wife.
    “Watch
it Russo or you’ll be sleeping on the senator’s couch.”
    ***
    Jameson
made her way through the thinning crowd until she reached the short hallway that
led to Candace’s office. She spotted Dana’s handbag and made her way to
retrieve it when she heard voices.
    “Candy,”
Rachel implored the senator.
    Jameson
could not resist the urge to peek inside the study. She felt her heart drop
rapidly in her chest when the tall blonde woman pulled Candace to her. The
woman’s hands wrapped around Candace’s waist tightly. Jameson looked to the
ceiling and then closed her eyes in an attempt to banish the image. She turned
quickly on her heels and left.
    “Rachel,”
Candace started to pull away.
    “We
could be so good together,” Rachel whispered.
    Candace
closed her eyes for a moment. She had made this mistake once; lost her senses
after one too many glasses of wine and led Rachel to her bedroom. It had been
nothing more than a one night stand for Candace. Rachel continued to see it as
a potential opening for more. Candace finally pulled away more forcefully.
“Stop,” she said.
    “I
don’t understand you,” Rachel said. “You can’t tell me that you didn’t enjoy…”
    “I
never said I didn’t find you attractive,” Candace admitted. “I’m not in love
with you.”
    “Don’t
you think we are getting a little old for that kind of fanciful thinking?”
Rachel asked.
    Candace
shook her head. Did she? She thought for a moment. The singular image that
played in her mind was Jameson. “Maybe,” Candace finally answered. “Maybe it is
fanciful. That doesn’t make it impossible.”
    Rachel’s
sweet expression did little to conceal her displeasure at Candace’s assertion.
“Candy, are you looking to martyr yourself as the Queen of Broken Hearts?” she
asked. Candace’s gaze grew petulant. “Love is for the young and fool hearted.”
    “And,
what would you suggest in its place?” Candy wondered.
    “The
three A’s; attraction, acceptance, and alliance.”
    Candace
nodded. “You certainly picked the right town to pursue that equation. I think
you might find that theory is flawed,” Candace suggested. She went on to
explain. “You left out a few A’s; arrogance, apathy, and animosity; to name a
few.”
    Rachel
threw her hands in the air. “You are impossible.”
    “And,
you are relentless,” Candace said with a wink.
    “Who
is she?”