filled Lenny in on the investigation into who might have been behind the rally attack. SSoF was still working on that case, but so far no one had been caught.
She sat back and refreshed her screen again to see if the vote had happened yet, but so far nothing. Tara sighed and went back to checking her social media stats. Those posts she’d done with Ashley were still drawing in more likes than anything else. She wondered how the little girl was doing these days. Maybe she’d call later, after the vote was in. Just because she and Clint weren’t speaking didn’t mean she and Ashley couldn’t still be friends, right?
In truth, she missed the little girl.
“Hey,” Judy said, giving a brief knock on the door before walking in again and plopping down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Did you decide what you’re going to do?”
“Not yet.” The board had offered Tara a permanent position as chief marketing director after the new E.D. was hired. It was technically a step down from her current post, but still a step up from the job she’d had before when she’d just been in charge of social media, with her boss dictating the messaging. Going forward, she would be the boss. She’d be handling all their marketing and promotion and any new campaigns as they came up, and really, it was kind of perfect for her. Even more so than the E.D. position she was in now. All of the fun, less of the stress. And if this legislation passed, she would have accomplished pretty much everything she’d wanted to in this job anyway. Why not move on to something that suited her better? “It sounds like a good fit, though.”
“It does.” Judy studied her nails. “For you, anyway. I’d rather leave all that Tweeting stuff to someone else.”
A loud whoop went up from outside the office, and the women exchanged a look before they both ran out to see a cluster of people around one of the computers across the room.
“What’s happening?” Tara called.
One of the interns shouted, “It passed! The bill passed!”
“Holy crap!” Tara turned and she and Judy embraced before either of them could think better of it, jumping up and down and squealing with glee. All that time. All that sacrifice. All that work, and it was finally paying off. “We did it!”
“No. You did it!” Judy said, giving Tara a squeeze before letting her go. “Good job.”
“Thanks.” They’d never been the closest of friends, but it was weird how people could surprise you. Just look at her and Clint. Tara tucked her hair behind her ear. “I was worried this day would never come.”
“What’s going on?” Lenny asked, rushing back to her with a cup of coffee in his hand, his expression concerned. “Are you okay, Ms. Crumb?”
“I’m fine. Great, actually.” She told him about the bill passing and then picked up a bottled water to toast his coffee cup with. “The legislation passed. Looks like we’re done.”
“With this part anyway.” Lenny grinned. “Glad it worked out for you.”
“Me too.” She wandered back into her office and sank down in her chair again, still trying to wrap her head around it. She’d been working on promoting the climate change bill for months. It had been such a big part of her life that now she wasn’t sure exactly what to do with herself. Whatever it was, she’d be okay, though. She really felt that now.
She pulled out her phone and started to dial Clint’s number, then caught herself. Her first instinct had been to call him and share her happy news, but that wasn’t really appropriate now, was it? They weren’t enemies, but they weren’t friends either. Things were way more complicated than that.
Her chest pinched and she rubbed the spot over her heart absently.
If she was honest with herself, she missed him. Missed his smile and his smart responses. Missed just having him around. She took a deep breath and set her phone on the desk. She was lonely, that was all. Being with Clint had shown her that she did want a relationship someday. And yeah. She’d loved him, despite not knowing him that long. She could admit that freely now.
Funny, but she’d always expected love to be a distraction, a thing that took her focus away from what was important, but the opposite had been true. Love had shown her what her true priorities should be, shown her true joy