“Just because I’m getting married doesn’t suddenly change who I am. I’m still getting my PhD, working with a children’s education charity organization, writing political speeches, and running a movie blog for a certain someone. I’m more than the man that I’m in love with, and I enjoy the work. It’s fun to interact with the people on the blog. It’s nice to have a hobby.” Though she did miss tennis. She had no idea when she would fit that in with everything else.

“Good. Then you’re not getting out of it. I’m going to hire a lawyer or something and make you fill out a contract that says you’ll stick with me.”

Liz laughed. “I have a team of lawyers here who will be happy to look that over for you.”

“I’ll make sure they don’t find the loopholes.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Justin murmured something under his breath and then sighed softly. “Thanks for sticking with me. It means a lot.”

Oh, wow. He sounded . . . sincere. “Of course, I really do like it.”

Brady tapped her on her shoulder. She was in Chris’s guest bedroom and hadn’t realized that he was behind her. “Need to talk to you,” he whispered.

“Hey, Justin. I have to go. Tell Massey I said hey.”

“Will do. See ya.”

Liz stuffed the phone back into her pocket and turned to face Brady. She had informed him about quitting Dear Congress as soon as she had returned. “What’s going on now?”

“Just spoke to Heather again. CNN announced the news.”

“And what does that mean for us?” Liz asked. She hated that this was all happening, but they were trying to stay on top of it, control it. That had always been the strategy. The only problem was that Brady didn’t want to address the rumors; he didn’t want to tell people that the media were all liars and to ignore what was in the news. The media twisted stories and he thought addressing it would only make it worse.

“I think I’m going to have to speak to the press. Heather thinks it’s a good idea. I guess we’ll be announcing our engagement a little bit early,” he said, wrapping his arms around her middle and dropping his lips onto hers. She eased into him, letting the tension wash off of her.

“I’m excited,” she told him. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”

He seemed to consider for a second, and then a smile spread across his face. “Yes.”

The pile of paperwork that she’d had to work on earlier in the week had come with her to Raleigh, where Brady was getting ready to address the press. As suspected, her Dear Congress articles were already being warped by Brady’s opponent as some kind of ill-conceived attempt to make Brady’s policies seem more influential. Liz didn’t think it really made sense. Her articles weren’t all related to what Brady was working on in Congress, and she had never once mentioned him.

But anything that happened on campaign was an issue. Just as she had been a liability two years ago, because she could have been used by his opponent to negatively impact Brady. She just hoped that this conference would dull the blade that his opponent was driving in with the news of her articles.

She heard a knock on the door and turned from her work to see Savannah walking into the room. “Hey!” Liz said, jumping up and hugging her.

“Two weeks into school and you’re already causing trouble?” she asked.

“All in a day’s work. What about you? How is the Washington division?” Savannah had been made head of the division, which Liz and Massey had run the two years prior on the campus paper. She was setting herself up to be editor-in-chief next year. Liz couldn’t believe that Savannah was already a junior. Time passed so quickly.

“It’s all right. I’m glad Josh replaced Massey, though. She could never replace you, and the paper was kind of shit all spring semester,” Savannah admitted.

They hadn’t really talked about her leaving, because it had hurt Liz too much at the time to think about it. Now she was just glad that Savannah was happy again on the paper. Liz knew that they were both in the right places in their lives.

“Well, that’s good. Josh will do a good job. I worked with him some before Massey took over,” Liz told her. “You and Easton still together?”

“Yep. We actually have dinner plans tonight, so make this press conference quick.” She snapped her fingers twice.

Liz laughed. “I’ll do what I can. So what ever happened with Lucas?”

“Lucas who?” Savannah asked coyly. “No, I just gave up on waiting around for things to change with him. It was never going to happen, and Easton is so great.”

“Good! I’m so glad for you,” Liz said enthusiastically. “You know you’re going to make a beautiful bridesmaid.”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re going to be sisters,” Savannah gushed. “I never wanted a sister, but I couldn’t imagine one better.”

“Thanks. Let’s go watch your brother tell the world.”

Liz smiled at Savannah. She felt really lucky—as if she had the world on her shoulders. Now they just needed to get through the campaign.

The girls walked to the waiting room, where Brady was talking animatedly with Heather. He glanced up at her when she walked in and immediately stopped talking. “Everything all right?” she asked when she reached him.

“Fine. We were just disagreeing about methods for this press conference.”

“Isn’t Heather the best?” Liz asked.

“Yes. I just want to do things my way on this one.”

Liz completely trusted him, but he didn’t normally go against Heather’s suggestions. She wondered what he was going to do. Not that she thought he would do anything to harm his career, but she couldn’t help but worry for him.

“Don’t let them bait you when they get to the Q&A,” Liz warned him.

He gave her that gorgeous smile wrapped in his campaign mask as he backed up toward the entrance. “As if I could be baited.”

Liz arched an eyebrow. “Airplanes, baby.”

He laughed heartily. “Touché.”

And then he was gone. Liz followed his staff to a position where they could watch him address the media. She had done this dozens of times and still she wasn’t used to being on this end of things. She wondered what it would feel like now to have her voice recorder in her hand, pushing through the crowds, and vying for a chance to get the Congressman’s attention.