Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 21)

Chapter Twenty-One
$1,000 a Plate Dinner

Alex doesn’t pick me up or show up at the house with flowers. Nothing to suggest that this is supposed to a typical date. Instead, he calls to tell me he has to help his mom set up for the event and wants to know if I can possibly come over on my own. So, I head over to Alex’s house all by myself, which is fine. His place isn’t that far from my own, so I decide to walk. I don’t know how many people the senator is expecting, so I’d rather not go through the trouble of finding a parking space that’s just as far as my own house.

I walk up to the Stewart house and for some reason, I’m not as impressed as when I first went over to his house for the pool party. The absence of moonlight just made the neighborhood look, well, dark and uninviting. I continue up the drive and notice that the senator arranged valet parking for this shin-dig—guess I didn’t have to worry about parking after all.

When Alex first told me his mother was a senator, I was a bit confused. The way I understand it, most members of Congress hole themselves up in tiny townhomes in the District while in session, while their families live in much larger homes within their home state. So, I did a Google search on Constance Stewart and it turns out she’s actually a senator from this district, so it only stands to reason that this is where she keeps her primary residence. The Wikipedia page on her didn’t mention a husband, so I assume Mr. Stewart is out of the picture.

Alex must have ESP—which by now wouldn’t surprise me if he does—because he greets me at the door.

“Hi, Etta. You look beautiful.” If he realizes I’m wearing the same dress from the Spring Fling he doesn’t mention it. I’m sure it’s tacky, showing up in the same cocktail dress that he only just saw me in a few weeks ago, but it’s the only one that I liked out of the dozen or so dresses hanging in my closet.

“Wow, looks like your mom went all out for this event.” I watch as several servers dressed in white went around passing out hor d’oeuvres. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know the distinction between parties that serve appetizers, versus an event like tonight—this function is totally high class.

Alex snorts. “At a grand a plate, I hope so.”

Holy crap! I’m glad I didn’t have a drink or I would have choked. A thousand bucks just to eat dinner at the senator’s house? This is a little extreme, not to mention way out of my league. So instead of spewing a nonexistent drink, I smooth my dress of imaginary wrinkles out of nervousness.

“Don’t freak out. These fundraisers are pretty boring actually. People just come as an excuse to network and drink the free booze,” he assures me. “Besides, Jaime is going to be here soon.”

Relief floods over me and Alex slips his arm around my waist for added reassurance. He leads me towards the backyard that’s been transformed into an outdoor dining area. It looks like a completely different place than when we trashed the place a few days ago. Senator Stewart must have some very big connections that include even the highest power; the weather holds out and it’s a beautiful night to hold an outdoor event.

I haven’t been here five minutes when Alex abandons me in a crowd full of strangers to assist his mom with the guests. I thought I’d be with him the entire time, not left to my own devices, making conversation with strangers. So while Alex runs off to help his mom, I wander over to the hot buffet. Ahead of me in line are two attractive looking women—who look like they’d be more at home at a fashion show than a political fundraiser. I can’t help but overhear as the two women giggle and gossip in front of me. Eavesdropping isn’t something I normally do, but with my dad still missing, I’ve made it my mission to keep my ears open throughout the evening in the hopes of finding information on his whereabouts. I seriously doubt these two models are privy to top secret government intelligence, but it is Washington politics we’re talking about after all.