I reached out and gave Kate a hug, walking her out to the front door after she’d said her good-byes. “Love you,” I whispered.

She nodded.

I watched Kate walk away and then I went back into the living room where Jackie sat nursing her drink, her eyes wide.

I sank back onto the couch, wrapping a cashmere throw around my body. The one rule of sister brunch was that it was casual, so I’d dressed in yoga pants and a sweater more for comfort than anything else. I needed to go to the law library later in the afternoon to catch up on some reading.

“Is Kate okay?” Jackie asked. “She seemed . . .”

Lost. Angry. Hurt.

I sighed. Kate was never going to say anything to Jackie. For all that Kate had accepted her, there were walls that Kate didn’t let anyone past. Not even me.

“There’s something you should understand about Kate.”

“Is everything okay?” Jackie asked, concern in her voice.

“Kate was engaged her freshman year of college. When she was eighteen.”

Surprise flickered across Jackie’s face. We’d hung out quite a bit in the past few months, and not once in that time had Kate ever showed interest in a guy. Never even said anything that could make anyone think she was even interested in guys. She just didn’t care.

She was beautiful—dirty blonde hair past her shoulders, brown eyes, petite build. She wore cute, preppy clothes, but she did it for herself. I’d seen guys hit on Kate over and over again, only to be shot down before they could finish the words. She didn’t date. Didn’t have guy friends. Didn’t really have any friends. So the idea of Kate engaged at eighteen was shocking as hell. If you hadn’t known the Kate she was before.

“What happened?”

It had been three years, and it was still hard to push the words out. As much as I struggled to talk about it, I couldn’t imagine how Kate lived it.

“Her fiancé, Matt, grew up with us. He was my age and our families were close friends. We summered together in Martha’s Vineyard, socialized during the year. When she was little, Kate used to follow him everywhere.” My eyes welled up with tears as memories flooded me. “He was special. Always. Not many eight-year-old boys would want to hang out with a six-year-old girl, but he always made sure Kate was included. Always looked out for her. Kate and I weren’t that close then, I was more interested in books and playing with my dolls, and Kate wanted to be outside throwing a ball with the guys. They were inseparable. Their names were like one word—MattandKate. I think she loved him her entire life.”

We all had. He was smart, funny, kind. He’d been class president, homecoming king, captain of the soccer team. And he had loved my sister.

“We ended up going to the same high school. Matt was a junior when Kate was a freshman. All the girls wanted to date him, but he only wanted Kate. They became a couple and that was it. They were best friends, everything to each other.” My voice cracked as I said the rest, shame filling me. “I was happy for them, but honestly, I was a little jealous, too. They just had their own private world. I was dating Thom then, but he never looked at me like Matt looked at Kate. Like she was his everything.” I wiped a tear away from my face. “When Matt graduated high school, everyone thought he would go to an Ivy. He was a legacy at Princeton and his family had big plans for him to take over his father’s security company.”

I remembered it like it was yesterday. Coming home to find my sister’s face covered in tears.

“He enlisted in the military instead. Army. He wanted to serve, to fight for his country. That was just the kind of guy Matt was. He proposed to Kate on her eighteenth birthday when he was home on leave.

“My parents were furious. It was one thing for Kate and Matt to date when he was the heir apparent to the Ryan fortune. When they thought he had a future that fit their mold. But Matt’s parents freaked when he joined the military and they cut him off. And my parents didn’t like the narrative of their eighteen-year-old daughter engaged to an enlisted soldier.”

Angry red spots colored Jackie’s face. “That’s bullshit.”

“It was horrible. Kate had a huge fight with them and things have never been the same.” My voice shook. “Matt deployed to the Middle East at the beginning of Kate’s freshman year.”

I still remembered that horrible day. My phone ringing. My sister’s voice, numb, as if the life had been ripped out of her. Remembered holding her while she sobbed in my arms, animal-like noises coming from her mouth. Could still see her holding that folded American flag in her small, pale hands.

“Matt died in Afghanistan.”

No matter how many times I said it, it never got easier.

“We didn’t get a lot of information. He was Special Forces and his mission was classified. There wasn’t even a body to bury.” Another sob escaped.

Jackie shook her head, tears running down her face. “Oh my god.”

“A part of Kate died that day. She’s so unhappy. It’s like she’s a ghost, going through the motions. Sometimes I think her anger is all she has to hold on to.”

“I can’t even imagine.” Jackie wiped at her eyes. “If I lost Will . . .” her voice trailed off. “I can’t imagine surviving something like that.”

Because I trusted her more than anyone besides Kate, I told her the rest of it. The parts I’d never spoken, that kept me up at night with worry and fear.

“It’s why she wants to work for the CIA after graduation. She hasn’t said it, but I know. She wants to find out what happened to him. It consumes her. She carries his death with her.” I got up and grabbed a tissue before coming back to sit next to Jackie. “I just want her to find peace, but I don’t think she feels like she can unless she gets answers.”

Jackie’s eyes narrowed and I knew she’d realized the rest of it.

“Your father is the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee.”

She always referred to him as “your” rather than “our,” as if she wanted no claim to him, which I couldn’t exactly blame her for.

I nodded. “Kate thinks our father knows what happened to Matt. And deep down, I think she wants to destroy him.”

Chapter Fourteen

Election Day is here and all eyes are on a few key Senate races. The race in Virginia is particularly tight. Will Senator Reynolds be dethroned?

—Capital Confessions blog

Blair

My contracts professor scanned the seating chart searching for her next victim—student—to call on.

“Ms. Reynolds?”

I stifled a groan. Of all my classes, contracts was probably my favorite, but that wasn’t saying much.

“Please tell the class the Court’s holding in Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store.”

I stared down at the highlighted sections in my book, each part of the case—issue, rule, analysis, conclusion—highlighted in a different color so the sections jumped out at me on the page.

I cleared my throat, willing the nerves away. I knew this.

“The Court ruled in favor of Lefkowitz, holding that the parties showed enough mutuality of obligation to constitute a contract for sale.”

Professor Larson nodded. “Good. Why?”

This part was harder. I skimmed my notes on the case. “The Court determined that the offer was clear, definite, and explicit, leaving nothing open for negotiation. Therefore, it was an offer, and acceptance of that offer created a binding contract.”

“And what is the test of whether an advertisement constitutes a binding obligation?”

I scanned the blue-highlighted section of my notes.

“Whether performance was promised in return for something requested.”

She nodded again and gave me an approving smile. “Very good, Ms. Reynolds.”

She called on a guy in the front row next and he fumbled a bit as he answered. She was to the guys what Professor Canter was to the girls. Most of the faculty was older, not exactly fantasy material unless you had some seriously kinky fetishes. Professor Larson looked to be in her early thirties and wore plenty of tight pencil skirts and heels. The guys loved her.