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“Love, I do not make the rules. I am an immigrant pretending to blend into this sour melting pot.”

“Only white girls get to be dyke. Got it.”

“What did Ijustsay.”

“Don’t say dyke.”

Caitlyn glanced over from the lull in her conversation with an assistant. “What the hell are you two going on about over there?”

“Dykes, love!”

Caitlyn tossed her hands up before escaping into her office. “That’s what I get for asking!”

“See what you did to your Aunt Cait? Tarnished her ears with your foul mouth.”

“Whatever. You’re the one who made me say it.”

“Did not!”

“Can I say bitch next?”

“Whose child are you?” Jane pushed the chair forward, making Cecelia squeal in sudden excitement as she toured around the desk. “Mine?”

They could have a more intimate conversation about naughty English words later. Right now, Jane wanted to forget about everything that happened between picking up her niece and listening to her yelp in laughter because she almost fell out of the chair right before the receptionist returned from her break.

Chapter 6

Caitlyn

Caitlyn’s first mistake wasn’t flying Izzy to New England to talk the details ofpotentiallyfilling in for Mrs. Iowa, should that be the route Caitlyn decided to take regardless of what her partners thought. No, the mistake was having lunch with Izzy in a location not only frequented by Jane but her closest conspirators outside of her domestic sphere.

Crap.Caitlyn forgot who owned the soup and sandwich café located ten floors up in a high-rise. Then again, how could she forget? “Culver Holdings” was a subsidiary of The Monroe Group, who also owned – and lived – in this very tower.How stupid am I?

She hadn’t told Jane yet. And Izzy was a loud, animated talker.

“We have to be realistic about your odds,” the seasoned pageant coach said between soup and sandwich courses. “You’re coming in late and you don’t check all of the boxes that past winners have tended to cover. Like being a mother. Almost everyMrs. United Sates of America in the past ten years has had at least two kids.”

“I’ve taken a look at them, too.” First thing a professional pageanter like her did?Scope out the contest. Then the competition.So far, she had thoroughly researched the Mrs. USofA Pageant, a contest she was already familiar with after her years on the circuit. While Caitlyn had never participated in amarriedwomen’s competition, she knew how they usually worked.The better your husband looks, the more kids you have, the more likely your odds.So, Caitlyn had to approach this as a boost to her confidence more than another trophy to add to her shelf.I’ve got enough trophies.She didn’t always win, but consistently being a runner-up had been enough to sustain a career in her twenties.

“Then you know that we have a few angles we could work with you. For one thing,” Izzy grinned in the middle of her sentence as if Caitlyn should be able to guesswhat,“you still lookamazing,girl! Tell me, what are you using for your skin? Korean products, I bet.”

Caitlyn shrugged. “A lot of my base appearance is genetics. Both of my grandmothers were stunning.” Her sister didn’t look too bad, either, and one of the nieces put out feelers toward entering the teen pageant circuit. “Naturally blond hair – although it’s gotten darker with age, of course – and an hourglass figure. Not too tall, not too short…”

“Yes, but I like the other angle I’ve got cooking up for you. Because being gorgeous is half the battle, Cait, you know that.”

Caitlyn folded her arms on the bistro table. “Sure. What are you thinking?”

“First of all, you’re married to a woman.” Izzy opened her arms as if she welcomed every one of Caitlyn’s “differences,” regardless of how icky it might feel to put that front and center. “We can’t ignore that. The press sure as hell won’t ignore that.It’s a powerful thing right now! Oh, and let us not forget that your wife is an immigrant. Judges love that.”

“Uh-huh. You know she’s an heiress, right? A Hong Kong heiress with a British accent. It’s not like she fought with her birth family to get into America and start life all over again, becoming the next great FaceSpace post to pass around to your friends. I feel like we would have to downplay that.”

“Absolutely, but most won’t look past her being Asian, quite frankly.”

She would love to hear that.Jane was as “proud” for being Asian as she was “proud” for being a budding American. Which was to say, she didn’t think about either. At all.

“Then there’s the fact that you’re in a polyamorous relationship.Quitethe angle.”

Caitlyn involuntarily winced. “I don’t think of it that way.”