Her Secret, His Duty. Carla Cassidy

      “Good morning, ladies,” Debra said. She smiled at Myra and drew in a deep breath. “Is that your famous cinnamon rolls I smell?”

      “It is. If you want to get settled into your office I’ll bring you a couple with a nice cup of coffee,” Myra said.

      “That sounds heavenly,” Debra replied. “Thanks, Myra.”

      She kept her smile pasted on her lips until she reached her office where she hung up her coat and then sank down at her desk. She opened her purse and retrieved the list that Trey had given her.

      She’d just set it next to her computer when Myra arrived with a steaming cup of coffee and two large iced cinnamon rolls on an oversize saucer.

      “Those look too sinful to eat,” Debra exclaimed as she eyed the goodies.

      Myra grinned at her. “I make them special, no calories so there’s no guilt.”

      “Yeah, right,” Debra replied with a laugh.

      “Enjoy,” Myra said and left the office.

      Debra took a sip of the coffee and then got to work typing up the list of names Trey had given her so she’d have a hard copy on her computer. Once it was in the computer she wouldn’t have to worry about losing it again.

      She was still troubled twenty minutes later when she had the copy made and leaned back in her chair and drew a deep breath.

      “Crisis averted,” she muttered aloud to herself. She picked up one of the cinnamon rolls and took a bite, but her stomach was still in knots because of the morning trauma.

      Or was it morning sickness?

      She couldn’t think about being pregnant now. She’d think about it after she saw her doctor. Right now she had work to do, not only did she have to pick invitations to be printed and addressed and mailed, there was also the matter of finding a good orchestra to hire for the night of the dinner. Once she got information from Stacy she’d need to meet with Trey to make some final decisions.

      It would be easy for her to feel overwhelmed, but Debra knew the way to get things done was focus on one item at a time and not look too far ahead.

      Kate’s morning knock came at eight-thirty and Debra instantly got up to join her boss in her office.

      “Good morning, Kate,” Debra said as she sat in the chair opposite the desk.

      “And a good morning to you,” Kate said with a fond smile. “I’ve already given Haley the things that needed to be taken care of for me this morning. One thing I love about interns is that they’re so eager to please. What I want from you is an update on you and Trey’s visit to the Regent yesterday.”

      For the next half an hour Debra filled Kate in on what had transpired at the hotel and where they were in the planning stages.

      “I know you’re pulling everything together quickly,” Kate said. “If you need more help, let me know and I’ll assign an assistant for you.”

      “Actually, I think Stacy, the hotel event planner is going to be all I need. She seemed to understand exactly what we want, what we need for a successful evening for Trey. I’m expecting her to get me a floor plan and some menu options sometime this morning. That will tell me how good she is at her job.”

      “Do you think he’s ready for this?” Kate asked.

      “I think he’s more ready than anyone could be,” Debra replied. “I know he’s saying that this dinner party is just to dip his toes in the water to see what kind of support he might have if he decides to run, but I believe he’s already made up his mind. His head is definitely already in the game.”

      Kate nodded. “That’s what I believe, too, and Trey never does anything halfway.”

      “He’ll make a wonderful senator,” Debra said, unable to keep the passion of her belief out of her voice. “He’ll bring new life and new hope to the people of North Carolina.”

      Kate nodded. “I know my son. Even if he decided to be a garbage man he’d be the best in the business. He always does everything well.”

      “He’s a chip off the old block,” Debra replied with a smile.

      Kate laughed. “Get out of here and get to work on helping my son. I won’t need anything from you today. I know the time constraints you have to get the details of this dinner party under control are incredibly tight, so get to it.”

      By the time she got back to her office she’d received a number of emails from Stacy. The young event planner had sent several different seating plans and three menus with prices. Even though she’d had to pull teeth in order for Trey to come up with a budget, Debra intended to negotiate hard to keep costs low and quality high.

      She was an old pro at this, having set up dozens of such events in the past for Kate. Despite what Trey had said, budgets always mattered, and it would reflect poorly on his business acumen to not bring the dinner party in as reasonably as possible.

      If you wanted the taxpayers to back you, then you had to show a willingness to work within budgets, she thought.

      Gathering the emails all together, she knew what she needed now was for she and Trey to have another meeting and make more decisions. She picked up the phone to call him at Adair Enterprises.

      The receptionist connected her to him immediately.

      “Good morning, Debra.” His deep smooth voice was like a physical caress through the line.

      She returned the greeting, although what she wanted to do was tell him about her frantic search for his list that morning, the ridiculousness of finally finding it in the freezer and that Myra’s cinnamon rolls had made her slightly queasy.

      Trey told her he intended to come to the house around two and they would meet then to hammer out any decisions that needed to be made. Then they disconnected.

      Debra leaned back in her chair and for the first time in years wished she had a best friend. Her entire adult life had been built surrounded by the Winston family. There hadn’t been time for friends outside of the intimacy of the family members.

      Certainly her childhood hadn’t been conducive to making friends. She’d never invited anyone to her home, afraid that her classmates might see her mother drunk or hungover. Once she started working for Kate, the work and the family had taken precedence over anything and everyone else.

      That had been part of her problem with dating Barry. There had been little time to really grow any meaningful relationship. Although ultimately he’d broken up with her because he told her he wasn’t getting what he needed from her, she’d already intended to break up with him because she’d figured out he was getting what he needed from his married secretary. The jerk.

      Maybe it was best that she didn’t have a best friend, she thought as her hand fell to her lap and she caressed her lower belly.

      Perhaps she would be tempted to share too much with a best friend, and a secret wasn’t a secret if two people knew about it. And Debra knew better than anyone that she had a secret that had the potential to destroy a career before it began.

      * * *

      Trey had been disturbed since he’d left the nursing home the night before. His grandmother had become quite agitated before he’d left, frantic as she continued to whisper about secrets and lies.

      Sassy had finally come out of her room to deal with the older woman. She’d given Eunice a mild sedative and by the time Trey had left, Eunice had fallen asleep in her chair.

      Sassy had assured him that she’d be fine, but as Trey drove to the Winston Estate, he couldn’t help the worry that had been with him since the visit the night before.

      He’d always been close to his Adair grandparents and had mourned deeply when Walt had died. Now he was both concerned and confused about his grandmother and after meeting with Debra he intended