Free Without Chase by Jo Frances Page B

like people in that restaurant watching us. Strangers. Then it’s harder.”
    They stopped in front of a cupcake store. Adam placed his hand on the door. “And you know this how?”
    “I’m a model,” she said archly. “I spend hours pretending to look at someone like they’re my lover, or boyfriend, or best friends. It’s hard.”
    “You have a future in politics, I think.” He held the door open for her. “Dessert?”
    Jamie thought it ironic that they talked about feeling awkward, because by the time they got back to his house, whatever shyness she may have felt was gone. It didn’t mean she was ready for more, so the chaste goodnight kiss he gave her before turning into his room was a big relief. He respects me, Jamie told herself happily, but something felt a little off. Still, all the magazine articles she had read would agree: a man who didn’t want to sleep with you on the first date was a man who was already thinking about a future with you. That was good enough for her.
    The next morning, she awoke to the sound of the front door quietly closing. Adam must have left while she was asleep and was just now coming back. She woke up leisurely and padded downstairs to find him in the basement, in front of an open pipe. “Old house, old pipes,” he said by way of explanation. “I’m replacing one of the joints.”
    Jamie sat down next to him. “Did you go somewhere this morning?” she asked. “I thought I heard the door.”
    Adam leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss. “Yeah, I went out earlier.” Changing the subject, he asked, “can you make coffee for us? I’ll be up in a minute.”
    Heading into the kitchen, Jamie thought, this is all so… normal. No one stares at us when we’re out, I don’t turn on the TV to watch highlights of him, and I can actually see trees from his backyard. Not sand, not skyscrapers. I feel like my parents, except my parents first house wasn’t a seven figure townhouse from the 18th century. She quickly found the coffee and started breakfast for them. Soon enough she heard Adam coming up the staircase. “What do you want to do today?” she asked.
    “Let’s go see where my mom works,” he suggested.
    They spent the day in Washington D.C., playing tourists. Except most tourists had to wait in long lines and couldn’t get into restricted areas. With a special pass Adam picked up from his mother’s office, they could go to the front of any line. They ended the day at a formal restaurant where the maitre d’ greeted Adam warmly.
    “I take it you’re a regular here,” Jamie said as she looked around discreetly at all the other patrons. She recognized a Sunday talk show host and a politician from California.
    “I like it. It’s my favorite French restaurant.” Adam nodded to someone behind her. “I hope this is OK.”
    Jamie took a sip of water. “You are such a grown-up,” she told him.
    “Is that a compliment?”
    “Yes.” She took in the people around her and asked the obvious. “Do you want to go into politics too?”
    “Truth?”
    “Please.”
    “Ever since I was a boy. I think it runs in the family. My great grandfather was Governor.”
    Jamie nodded. “That’s why you bought the house, isn’t it? As a way of telling yourself this would be your future.”
    “Am I that obvious?” Adam looked pleased that she understood that about him. “Didn’t you believe the bit about wanting to buy a part of history?”
    “Of course I believe you,” she said teasingly.
    He smiled back before growing serious again. “Do you like it, Jamie? The house, I mean?” There was something important in what he was asking, and she knew it.
    “Yes. I can see why you bought it even though it must have looked so different back then than now. I can’t explain it myself, but I really like it too.”
    Jamie thought the conversation would turn more personal, but then Adam turned back to being a charming, if somewhat guarded, date.
    Later, they went back to his