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    “You’ve
been quiet all weekend,” Jameson’s mother observed.
    “I’m
sorry.”
    Maureen
Reid took a seat next to her daughter at the kitchen table. “J.D.?”
    “What?”
    “Everything
okay with the firm?” Maureen asked.
    “Yeah;
why?”
    “Why? Clearly , something has you preoccupied.
New project?”
    Jameson
chuckled uncomfortably. “You could say that.” Maureen implored her daughter
with her eyes. Jameson groaned. “It’s not exactly the project that’s the
problem.”
    “Difficult
client?” her mother inquired.
    “No,”
Jameson answered. “I don’t think I’d call Candace difficult. Puzzling, maybe;
difficult no.”
    “Candace,
huh? Would I be right in guessing this is someone you are interested in?”
    Jameson
took a deep breath and held it for a few moments before releasing it. “She is definitely interesting ,”
Jameson answered with a smirk.
    “So?
Engineer?” Maureen guessed.
    “What?”
    “Well,
you usually are working with engineers. Is she an engineer?”
    “Not
exactly.”
    “J.D.?”
    Jameson
sighed heavily. “Senator.”
    “I
don’t think I follow.”
    “She’s
a senator.”
    “Oooo….moving
on up, J.D.! She spends a lot of time in
Albany then?”
    “No,
Washington,” Jameson deadpanned.
    “Washington
County?”
    “Washington
D.C.,” Jameson returned.
    Maureen
was puzzled for a moment until the realization hit her. “J.D.?” she questioned.
Jameson offered her mother a lopsided grin. “Are you telling me you are seeing Candace Fletcher?”
    “Seeing?
Yes. Dating? No.”
    Maureen
regarded her daughter suspiciously. “Explain.” Before Jameson could speak, her mother continued. “How on earth do you
know Candace Fletcher?” she asked. Jameson was about to answer the question
when her mother got up from her seat, wandered toward the sink, and then
continued. “What’s she like ? I’ll bet
she’s fascinating. Is she friendly? I’ll bet she is demanding….does…”
    “Mom!”
Jameson stopped her mother’s ramblings. Maureen snapped to attention, and Jameson snickered at her
mother’s excitement. “Thank you,” Jameson said. She rubbed her forehead in
thought and sighed. “I’m working on her house. Designing an addition and
planning a historically relevant remodel,” she said. “That’s how I know her.”
    “How
did you…”
    “Steve,
Mom. Remember Steven Russo?” she asked.
    “Yes…”
    Jameson
laughed. “Steven Russo, Mom; he married Dana.”
    “Yes?”
    Jameson
laughed again. “Dana Marelli,” Jameson said. She rolled her eyes at her
mother’s confusion. “Now she is Dana Russo,” she said. She waited for her mother to catch up. “She’s Senator
Fletcher’s press secretary.” Maureen nodded but still was not completely following her daughter’s train of thought. “That’s
how I met Candace. She’s been thinking
about this remodel for a number of years. Steven and Dana gave her my name,”
Jameson explained.
    “Oh.
So, you are working on her house?”
    “Yes.”
    “You
are not dating her?”
    “No.”
    Maureen
studied her daughter’s expression. “But?” she asked. Jameson shifted
uncomfortably. Maureen nodded and sat back down. “What does she think about
this?” she wondered. Jameson just stared at her hands as they rested on the
table. “She doesn’t know?”
    “That
I am working on her house?” Jameson tried to be funny. “Of course, she knows.”
    “ Very funny . J.D. She doesn’t know that you are
interested in her?”
    “I
don’t know.”
    “You
don’t know if you are interested in her?” Maureen asked.
    “No,”
Jameson answered quietly.
    “No;
you don’t know…or no; she doesn’t know? Help me out here.”
    Jameson
intertwined her fingers nervously. “I don’t know… I
don’t know if she knows that I am interested in her,” Jameson finally managed.
    “I
see,” Maureen replied. She gave Jameson a moment to explain before continuing.
“Jameson,” she called across the