Claire jerked awake and blinked her bleary eyes before she glanced at her alarm clock. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the three green numbers glowing there so innocently.

No way it could be 7:50 already. That couldn’t be right—she’d set her alarm for 5:30.

But another hurried glance at the clock confirmed it, and a dim memory returned of shutting off the alarm in the darkness before dawn. She’d had every intention of getting out of bed in just a few more minutes, but she’d apparently fallen back to sleep.

Claire groaned as she quickly flung back the covers, startling Charlie in the process. He blinked up at her from the other side of the queen-sized bed, and his big brown eyes morphed from grogginess to joy. With an excited bark, he jumped down and ran to the kitchen where she could hear him scrabble to a stop, most likely to sit and wait beside his food and water bowls.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked her messages, frustrated to see her father’s driver had left a voice mail. Somehow, she’d slept through that too.

Glancing back to the clock, she gnawed on her bottom lip as she debated her options. The meeting at the jail would begin in a few minutes, so there was no chance of asking for it to be pushed back. And she couldn’t take a later flight to Jacksonville. Gabe had made it clear that he needed her at the resort on Amelia Island early this afternoon, so there was no way around that. What Gabe Rogers wanted, Gabe Rogers got; she’d learned that a long time ago.

Shaking her head, she dialed Leah. While her friend would probably take the news well, Professor Moore’s reaction wouldn’t be pretty.

“Are you at the jail?” Claire asked after Leah answered, and breathed a sigh of relief when she said that she was. At least one of us is on the ball.

“Just got here,” Leah said. “Are you running late?”

“I won’t be able to make it.” Claire’s throat grew dry as she explained what had happened. “I’m going to call Professor Moore to let her know. Then I’ll email you the notes I made last night of the questions to ask the prosecutor.”

“So I’m on my own?” Leah let out an annoyed huff, then clucked her tongue. “Girl, Professor Moore’s gonna let you have it.”

“I know.”

Claire ended the call and dredged up courage before dialing her professor, who picked up on the first ring.

“I’m on my way in, Miss Parker. What about you and Miss Holmes?”

“Leah is already there.” Claire’s cheeks burned. “I’m so sorry, but I won’t be able to make today’s meeting.”

“What?”

Raising her voice, Claire repeated her words.

“I heard you, Miss Parker. I simply can’t believe it.” The disdain in her professor’s tone was clear. “Are you sick?”

Claire couldn’t bring herself to lie. At the same time, she couldn’t admit how irresponsible she’d been to oversleep like a teenager. “I’m not sick.”

“It’s related to your father’s campaign then.”

It wouldn’t be the first time. Claire had already missed a few days this semester, flying to Massachusetts to help her father at campaign appearances. Senator Thomas Parker had a tough challenger in his re-election campaign, and now at the end of September, the election was only six weeks away. He needed all the help he could get, and didn’t hesitate to lay on the guilt when Claire tried to beg off so she wouldn’t miss school.

“No, I . . . it’s a commitment I made to my boyfriend. An out-of-town event for his business.”

“What about your commitment to law school?”

Claire squeezed her eyes shut. How could she respond to that? This whole situation was mortifying. How could she have overslept?

But Professor Moore didn’t seem to expect a response as she barreled ahead, picking up steam in her condemnation. “This has gotten ridiculous lately. More importantly, your continued absences are unfair to your classmates. If you’d rather be pursuing something else, Miss Parker, then you should just pursue it.”

Claire took in a quick breath. “Leah is going to handle the meeting for us, and I’ll email you my notes so you’ll know I’ve been doing my share.”

“If you can’t be there today, then it’s clear you’re not doing your share. All your classmates have managed to meet with their clients.” Professor Moore paused, then let out an annoyed huff. “Go ahead and email me, but I’ll be taking today into consideration in my grading.”

Claire winced, trying not to let the comment sting. “I understand. I’ll send you my notes right now.”

After ending the call, she quickly emailed the file to both Leah and Professor Moore. Then she pressed the number for her father’s driver.

“I overslept, Fred.”

He let out a chuckle. “Figured it was something like that. Would you like me to come back to get you?”

“Please. We won’t be going to the jail, though. Just to the airport.”

Fred was available this morning only because her parents were away on a ten-day campaign swing through their home state of Massachusetts, appearing at town hall meetings, giving interviews, and meeting with donors. Normally Fred was with her father all day, either in DC or in Boston, but this trip was a bus tour, so Fred had stayed in DC.

Claire rushed into the bathroom after she ended the call, zipping through her shower in three minutes flat. Charlie whined as she hurried past him to get dressed, and she promised to take him outside in a few minutes. Disgruntled, he flopped to the hardwood floor and laid his head on his paws, his eyebrows twitching as his gaze followed her movements.

Now all she needed to do was get dressed and take Charlie out and feed him. Verna was set to pick him up at noon to take him home with her, and Fred would be here any minute. With that in mind, Claire hurriedly put on a pot of coffee to brew, and then made a mad dash into her closet.

Putting away the pantsuit she’d taken out the night before to wear to the jail, she yanked a sundress from its hanger and slipped it on, then tugged on a pair of heeled sandals. She did her hair and makeup in record time, and then grabbed Charlie’s leash. By the time she reached him, he was dancing back and forth in front of the door.

She’d just finished Charlie’s walk and set out his food when the doorbell rang. When she opened the door, Fred gave her a big smile, picking up her suitcase and tote as Claire knelt to stroke Charlie’s fur.

“You be good for Verna, okay? I love you and I’ll see you on Sunday.”

Charlie’s butt wiggles and enthusiastic attempts to lick her face told her all was forgiven.

“You sweet boy,” she said, grasping his ears to kiss his furry forehead.

If only everyone else in my life were so easy to please.

With her purse strung over her shoulder, Claire picked up the go-cups of coffee she’d made.

“Thought you’d be in too much of a hurry for that this morning,” Fred said with a grin.

“Never too busy for you,” she said. “Americano, two sugars, one cream.”

She carried the coffee and followed Fred as he hurried to the car and placed her bags in the trunk. He opened the back door of the car and gratefully accepted his coffee cup.

“Just how I like it,” he said with a happy sigh.

Once she was settled in the town car, Claire closed her eyes in relief. At least the frenetic pace of the last twenty minutes had come to an end. As Fred drove toward Reagan National Airport, she sipped at her coffee as her thoughts drifted.

Whether it was a political event with her father or a function that benefited Gabe’s investment fund, she never felt fully comfortable in the role of hostess. The events she helped with always felt like a performance, something forced.

The same could be said about law school; it too felt forced. Yes, it had been the next logical step after college—the path her parents had expected—but that alone said it all. Raised as an only child, Claire had always been burdened by an oppressive sense of duty that prevented her from pursuing anything other than what was expected.

She shook her head. Why was she letting her thoughts run wild? She’d committed to helping Gabe this weekend, and that was exactly what she would do. As soon as she returned to DC, she’d work extra hard to make up things at school. Her biggest priority was winning Chris’s case. He was relying on Leah and Claire, and they weren’t going to let him down.

As Fred inched the car in heavy traffic toward the airport’s departures lane, Claire asked, “Are you driving anyone else today? I hope I didn’t make you late.”

“Nick.” Fred caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “But don’t worry. I let him know I wasn’t available this morning.”

“Was he upset?”

“If he was, he didn’t say anything.”

Claire nodded before turning her gaze back to the window. Nick Papadakos, her father’s press secretary, had asked Claire out last year. She’d told him she wasn’t dating because she was too busy, focused on law school. Then just a few weeks later, she’d started seeing Gabe, and she sensed that hadn’t set well with Nick. He’d been a little curt with her ever since.

In his mid-thirties, Nick was ten years older than her, but that wasn’t what bothered Claire. After all, Gabe was seven years older, so it wasn’t an age issue. There was just something about Nick she didn’t feel comfortable with, something about the way he always watched her with a hungry gleam in his eye. It seemed juvenile, but the man simply gave her the creeps.

Since Nick wasn’t just an employee but was also a friend of her father’s—they often went hunting together—she hadn’t mentioned her misgivings to anyone. Her father was aware Nick had asked her out, but that was all.

This being a campaign year, her father needed his press secretary more than ever, and Nick was excellent at what he did.

At least, that’s what her father’s chief of staff always said, and she trusted Peter Cooley’s advice as much as her father did. Peter had been in their lives for nearly twenty years now, a trusted advisor to her father since his mayoral days in Massachusetts. The man had been such a big part of their lives, he was practically a part of the family.

Just because she didn’t like Nick didn’t mean he wasn’t an asset to her father, so she’d keep her mouth shut about him. It didn’t matter how awkward it was whenever they were at events together.

Fred caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “How’s your case coming along? Do you think you’ll be able to get Chris out of jail?”

“I sure hope so. He’ll be chewed up and spit out in the general population.” Claire sighed. “I get that what he did was wrong, but considering how the foster-care system pushes kids out in the street when they turn eighteen, it’s just . . . it’s just wrong.”

“Sounds that way.” Fred gave her a commiserating look. “There but for the grace of God go I, right?”

Claire reached over the seat back to squeeze his shoulder. “You’re so right. We’re really lucky, aren’t we? And speaking of lucky, how’s that granddaughter of yours doing? Did Katie get the scholarship to Duke?”

Fred beamed as he caught Claire up on his oldest granddaughter’s efforts to pay her own way through college. A hard-working self-starter, Katie knew her parents couldn’t afford the colleges she was interested in attending, so had started applying for scholarships on her own in her junior year. Fred was proud as he could be of her, and Claire loved listening to him brag on the girl.

In fact, Claire sometimes felt like one of his granddaughters herself. Fred was so attentive, so in tune to how often she’d been left to her own devices as an older teen when her parents had been traveling. He’d watched out for her for so many years, he was more like a godfather than her father’s employee.

Once Fred had pulled into a spot at the curb, Claire got out and retrieved her large suitcase and tote from him.

“Thanks! See you Sunday at two,” she called out with a wave as she hurried away, and he waved back with a big grin.

Claire sneaked a look at the time as she checked her bag, praying it would make it on the plane. Snatching her claim check, she hurried toward the screening checkpoint.

At her first glimpse of the line, which snaked well beyond the barriers, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her shoulders slumped as she stepped to the end of the line, wondering if she’d make it to her gate on time.

After switching her tote strap from one shoulder to the other, she swiped at her forehead. This stress was getting to be too much.

How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I get up when I was supposed to?

After rushing through security, Claire hurried to the gate and arrived just before the agents closed the plane’s door.

Thank goodness Gabe booked me a first-class seat. Claire found it and plopped down, exhausted and out of breath.

She fanned a hand over her sweaty face as she checked the time on her phone. The meeting at the jail had to be over by now. Needing to know whether Chris had taken the offer, she tapped Leah’s contact info and pressed the phone to her ear.

The elderly man seated next to her frowned as he pointed at Claire’s phone. “They just made the announcement about turning off cell phones.”

Claire gave him an apologetic smile before quickly disconnecting the call and switching the phone into airplane mode.

Vowing to apologize to Chris, Leah, and Professor Moore as soon as she could, Claire returned her phone to her purse and pulled from her tote the bios Gabe had provided. She hadn’t had a chance to review the background information on his clients yet, and it was time to get started.