Page 57 of Pursuit of Happiness

She had no idea, but she did know that if she was going tosurvive today’s news, she would need to put serious distance between her campaignand everything personal in her life, and that included her family and SteviePalmer.

Chapter Nineteen

Super Tuesday II

“Are you sure you want to watch this?”

Stevie looked up from the TV to see Hannah staring at her with aconcerned expression, and, not for the first time, she thought she might haveoverstayed her welcome. She’d been camped out in Hannah’s guest room for thepast two weeks, hoping with each passing day that the press would finally gettired of stalking her house. It wasn’t much better at the office, but at leastHannah and Dave lived in a gated community, which meant the reporters weren’table to follow her all the way home. Home. As welcoming as Hannah and Dave hadbeen, this wasn’t home, and she couldn’t hide out here forever. “I should go.”

Hannah settled onto the couch beside her. “Nobody said anythingabout you going anywhere.” She pointed at the TV where the primary electionreturns were starting to come in. “I’m just not sure you want to put yourselfthrough watching this. Predictions are it’s not going to go well for hertonight.”

Stevie knew Hannah was right. She’d read the headlines on everymajor news site. Hell, she’d been more obsessed with election news in the daysfollowing the allegations against the Mitchell Foundation, than she had beenwhen she was dating one of the candidates. But she couldn’t stop. It was as ifby consuming all the information she could access, she could keep someconnection to Meredith, however tenuous. “I have to see it,” she said. “But Ican go to my room and stream it on my iPad if you’d rather not.”

Hannah shook her head. “Nope. I’m in this with you. Dave had towork late, but he left us sandwiches for dinner. Don’t say you’re not hungry.”

“I won’t say it.” Stevie managed a smile. She knew Hannah wasonly trying to help, but she’d lost so much lately—her privacy, her connectionto Meredith—that the loss of her appetite seemed like such a small thing. “Imight be convinced to eat if there’s roast beef and horseradish involved.”

“You got it.” Hannah stood. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait.” Stevie pointed to the television where the anchor sat atthe desk and the breaking news banner was flashing. “Results are starting tocome in.” She motioned for Hannah to join her on the couch. “Stay, please?”

Hannah settled back onto the sofa, and Stevie held tight to herhand as the news anchor adjusted his tie, and started reading from theprompter.

“We have the results of the North Carolina and Florida primaries,and, as expected, the tide has turned against Senator Meredith Mitchell, who upuntil two weeks ago, was favored to win the Democratic primary in both states.We are prepared to announce that Governor Jed Lankin has won the majority ofdelegates in both states, making a rousing comeback from the first SuperTuesday, earlier this month. Stay tuned because we still have several states inplay tonight, and—”

Stevie released Hannah’s hand and fumbled for the remote,punching the off button before he could say more. She’d heard enough.

“It’s not your fault.”

“On some level, I know you’re right, but part of me wonders howmuch of this,” she pointed at the now silent television, “is because of thenews about the Mitchell Foundation, and how much is fallout from the whole doesshe, doesn’t she have a girlfriend? Maybe it’s some of both, and maybe we nevershould’ve gotten involved in the first place.”

“That’s a lot of maybes. Maybe you should hand Barkley off tosome other lawyer, and talk to Meredith about what happened. See if you canwork things out.”

Hannah’s idea sounded so simple, but Stevie had played throughthe various scenarios dozens of times. “If I claim a conflict now, no one inthe public defender’s office would be able to represent him, and Soloman wouldhave to appoint some random lawyer on the wheel to take over. Emily would throwa fit because I swore I didn’t have a conflict, and she could wind up taking itout on Barkley. Besides, Barkley only just started talking to me. I can’t takethe chance he’ll clam up again if he gets assigned to someone new.” What shedidn’t add was that the damage was done. If tonight’s primary results were anyindication, Meredith’s bid to become the Democratic nominee was in seriousjeopardy, and directly or not, she was to blame. Meredith might be able to finda way to win the nomination, but when it came to their relationship, it wasover. So over.

* * *

Meredith sat in her hotel suite in Miami and tried not to focuson the differences between tonight and the first Super Tuesday two weeksearlier, but the contrast was glaring. Jen was back in DC instead of at herside. There was a small bar service, but no champagne on ice. The mood in theroom was somber, and although she knew they were trying to hide it, Gordon andthe few campaign staffers—a much smaller crowd than usual—were having awhispered conversation about how to tweak her stump speech for tonight in lightof the fact it looked like she was about to lose most of the primary electionsthat had been held today.

All of these things were bad, but when she added in the void leftby Stevie’s absence, she wanted to quit—the race, the senate, anything to dowith public life—and retreat to her apartment in New York.

And then she remembered that wasn’t a safe place either.

She hadn’t stayed at her apartment since the night she’d spentwith Stevie, but the memory of Stevie naked in her bed was still vivid in hermind, tugging at all the thoughts she had about duty and obligation, pullingstrings from the tightly woven life she’d sewn together. What would havehappened if Jen hadn’t tipped off the press about Stevie? What if the majorityleader hadn’t called a vote that morning? She would’ve slept in with Stevie,perhaps making love to her again in the light of day, the two of them enjoyingprecious, uninterrupted time away from the demands of both their careers.

Maybe if they’d had more time together to lay a strongerfoundation, Stevie wouldn’t have broken things off. And if they were stilltogether, then Stevie would’ve had to withdraw from William Barkley’s case. Andif she’d had to withdraw, then…Thenshe would’ve resented you for having to compromise her career on your behalf.

Meredith sighed. She knew it didn’t matter who the defenseattorney was on Barkley’s case. The news about the connection to the MitchellFoundation had been bound to come out. Better that someone with Stevie’sintegrity be involved with the case than a stranger who might have somepolitical motive to take her down. Although it looked like she might be goingdown no matter what if tonight’s results were any indication.

“They’re about to call Illinois,” one of the interns called out,pointing at the screen.

Meredith froze and stared at the TV, not wanting to look, butscared to shy away. This was the last race tonight, and the state had beenheavily favored to go her way. If it didn’t, she wasn’t sure—

“You won!” yelled a voice from behind her, but she couldn’t stopstaring at the screen. It wasn’t much—one state out of five—but it was betterthan a big fat zero for the night.

Gordon walked over to her side. “Illinois is a big deal.”

“You’re just saying that to try to pump me up.”

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