job permanently, she needed to get on it.
To that end, she scheduled a Zoom meeting for later that afternoon with the board of directors to discuss where things were with the legislation. She got dressed up and everything for it, wanting to project the most professional and poised image she could.
Promptly at three, she logged in and found everyone already there, making idle chitchat. After saying her hellos, Tara called the meeting to order.
“Thank you all for attending today and welcome to my temporary office at home. I wanted to give everyone an update on my progress with the climate change legislation.” Tara went over the work she’d done since the last meeting, including the attempted shooting at the rally the weekend before and the fact that she’d hired a bodyguard for herself until the police arrested the culprit. She did her best to downplay the seriousness of it all and certainly didn’t mention what had happened that morning with her power and the note. “Anyway, I think we’re obviously making progress here and getting close to having this passed. The opposition is spooked. That’s why they’re trying to shut us down, but I refuse to let them win. I’ll see this through, no matter what. In fact, I plan to attend the upcoming rally this Saturday, as planned, to get the word out even more about our new bill.”
“Interesting,” said Jacob Bartlet, one of the board members, his tone sounding exactly the opposite of interested. No wonder, since his family owned a large manufacturing company. They would have to spend big bucks to get their company in line with the new legislation if it passed. When she’d first stepped in as interim director, she’d wondered why Bartlet and some of the other board members were even there, since their businesses seemed in direct conflict with the foundation’s goal of a cleaner, healthier environment. But she’d quickly learned that when it came to mega-corporations, appearances were everything. Most of the companies put someone on the board to make it look like they cared about the environment and give them a face to blast across the media in their ads, while behind the scenes they did little to change their actual practices. Well, once she got her bill passed, they’d be legally bound to put their money where their mouths were—or at least where their board members said they stood.
Bartlet gave a weary sigh and continued. “But I have to say that I’m very concerned about your safety, Ms. Crumb. You say you’ve hired a bodyguard. What does he have to say about you continuing to attend these events? Especially considering your life has already been threatened once?”
“Good point, Jacob,” Nathan Harrison, the chairman, said. He narrowed his gaze on Tara through the computer screen. “Is your bodyguard there now, Tara? If so, get him on this call. I’d like to discuss all this with him.”
Damn. Her stomach fell and her chest constricted. She wanted to tell them no, but that certainly wouldn’t fit with her plan to impress them all with how on top of it she was. Fine. They wanted to talk to Clint? Fine, they could talk to him. She just hoped he would be circumspect. She knew he didn’t approve of her plans, but he wouldn’t embarrass her by saying that in front of the board…would he? “Hang on, let me see if he’s available.”
She took off her headphones and got up, her mind racing as she headed down the hall toward the guest bedroom where he was playing with his daughter. Tara swallowed hard and knocked softly on the open door to get his attention. “Clint, can I talk to you for second, please?”
“Uh, sure.” He got up off the floor where he and Ashley were playing with her dolls and moved to the doorway where Tara stood, the corners of his full lips tilted downward into a frown. She found herself staring at his mouth, remembering how soft and warm it had felt against hers the night before, until she forced herself to look away, arms crossed. Clint guided her out into the hall, his voice lowered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She gave herself a mental shake. “I’m on a Zoom call right now with the board of directors for the environmental agency and they’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Me?” He wrinkled his nose. “About what?”
Tara gave a dismissive wave, hoping to downplay the whole thing. “About the precautions you’re taking to keep me