The Strategist Read Online Free PDF

saw that every inch of curb space was occupied by a car, she was hit with a thought that made her stomach queasy again. This time she knew it wasn’t altitude sickness.
    “Julia, I need to ask you something, and you have to be completely honest.”
    “Completely honest huh? I guess I can give it a try.” 
    “Does my dad have something planned here?”
    Julia bit down on her lip in an attempt to stifle the smile that had already formed on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Like hell you don’t. It’s written all over that spray-tanned face of yours.”
    “Okay, but you have to promise not to tell him that I spoiled it.”
    Camille shook her head. “I knew it. How bad is it going to be?”
    “I don’t know. Twenty-five, maybe thirty people. He didn’t want to make too big a deal of it, but there’s a lot of excitement surrounding your return and he thought it would make you feel good to see that.”
    Camille grunted as she looked at the house. “You were in on it too?”
    “He needed me to pick you up so he could finish the prep work. But he didn’t bother to fill me in on the details.”
    “Because he knew you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.”
    “Yep, and he was obviously one hundred percent correct. So when you go in there you need to act surprised. He’s finally at the point of trusting me with you. I don’t want to screw that up now.”
    “What are you talking about? My father loves you.”
    “He always thought I was a bad influence on you.”
    “You are a bad influence on me.”
    “Just remember to act surprised, smart-ass.”
    Camille felt her pulse quicken as they pulled into the driveway. She thought she saw a head peek at her from behind the living room curtains then quickly disappear. Suddenly the chaos of D.C. didn’t seem so bad after all.
    “Act surprised,” Camille said to herself as she unbuckled her seatbelt and pushed the car door open with an unsteady hand. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
    She figured she had been acting for the past eight years anyway. Why not thrill them all with one last command performance?

 
    CHAPTER 6
     
     
    C amille had expected to be bombarded with a ‘ For she’s a jolly good fellow ’ chant the moment she opened the door, but she and Julia were instead met with the silence of an empty house.
    “I thought this was supposed to be a party,” Camille whispered as she looked into the empty foyer.
    “I thought so too,” Julia replied, seemingly as confused as Camille was. “I’m sure he told me ten o’clock when we talked yesterday.”
    “You mean you didn’t confirm with him this morning?”
    Julia rolled her eyes. “I got caught up in stuff.”
    Camille couldn’t help but laugh. “Jules, you’re the smartest person I know, but sometimes…”
    “All I know is he told me ten o’clock. I got you here at exactly ten o’clock. I did my part. Who knows, maybe no one bothered to show up.”
    That option would have been just fine with Camille. “People should have better things to do on a Thursday morning anyway.”
    “No they shouldn’t. Not on this particular Thursday anyway. What the hell happened?”
    “It really is okay if no one’s here. The last thing I wanted was some hero’s welcome anyway. I just want to settle in, grab a late breakfast somewhere, and decompress.”
    “Maybe I should just check the kitchen,” Julia suggested, apparently not hearing one word Camille had said. “They have to be around somewhere.”
    “Could you please just help me get my bags upstairs?”
    “Don’t you at least want to look around a little bit?”
    The confusion of the moment hadn’t allowed Camille to focus on the fact that she was standing in the foyer of the house she was born in; a house she hadn’t seen for the better part of eight years. She knew the couch in the living room was the same one her mother had bought twenty-five years ago. She knew most of the pictures hanging on the wall were of her.