He Stole My Bill, So I Divorced Him and Outranked His Father novel · Chapter 11 of 24
Chapter 11: The Garden Party
The Governor's Mansion garden held three hundred people under strings of white lights.
There was sweet tea in cut-glass pitchers and a quartet playing under the live oaks.
A table of tiny pecan pies sat by the gate, and nobody could stop eating them.
I wore a navy dress I had bought on my own card.
I stood near the edge of the lawn with a glass of lemonade.
"Peaches," the Governor said.
She had come up behind me in a cream suit and a pair of old boots.
"Come with me," she said. "I'm going to embarrass you."
"Governor, I'd rather you didn't."
"That's how you know it's right."
She took my elbow and walked me up the three brick steps to the little stage at the end of the lawn.
The quartet stopped. Conversation faded across the grass.
Emilio stood at the foot of the stage in his gray suit with his hands folded in front of him.
His eyes found mine and stayed.
"Y'all know I don't give speeches at garden parties," the Governor said into the microphone.
A few people laughed.
"I'll make this one short," the Governor said, and she waited for the laughing to die.
"In June a young woman stood up in my Reception Room and told the whole state who wrote the Springs bill."
"She was right," the Governor said. "She also has a good arm for a pen."
"This morning I signed an order naming Greta Wehmeyer my Deputy Chief of Staff."
The garden went quiet.
Then somebody clapped, and somebody else, and then the whole lawn broke open.
I stood on the stage with my lemonade shaking in my hand.
I saw the reporters I had answered in the press room and the staffers from the second floor.
I saw a senator's wife I knew from four years of Christmas parties.
She looked stunned, then she clapped too.
At the front, the man with the silver mustache and the rodeo buckle took his hat off.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of He Stole My Bill, So I Divorced Him and Outranked His Father are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend