Page 52 of Pursuit of Happiness

“Everything is not okay.” Meredith waved her hands for emphasis.“The press surrounded my apartment building in Manhattan this morning, shoutingher name. We were so careful. How did they even know she was there? If I findout one of the employees there leaked info to the media, I’m going to—”

“Meredith!”

She looked up to see Jen staring at her, and she realized she’dbeen rambling. “What?”

“Sit down and let’s talk about this.”

Meredith sat on the sofa in her office but stayed on the edge ofher seat, ready for action. “We need a plan.”

“I’m way ahead of you.”

Meredith sighed with relief. Despite the fact they’d been at oddsover election strategy the past couple of months, it was nice to know she couldcount on Jen to step up when her personal life was taking a bad turn. “I’vebeen trying to get in touch with Stevie. I can’t even imagine how she must befeeling right now.”

“She’ll be fine. Once she realizes she’s right in the middle ofher moment of fame, she’ll be glad she was able to help you out.”

“What?” Meredith struggled to process Jen’s words. “Help me outhow?”

“Now hear me out before you get mad.”

“No one on the receiving end of those words ever stays calm. Ifyou have something to say, spit it out.”

“Gordon thinks your personal life shouldn’t be the centerpiece ofyour campaign, but he’s looking at it from a guy’s perspective. Your votes aregoing to come primarily from women, both now and in the general. Female voterswant to connect with their chosen candidate, and that means letting them seeinto your personal life. Of course, that means you have to have a personallife. Stevie may not have been who I picked for the role, but since you did, wecan work with it.”

Jen paused and Meredith jumped on her words. “‘Work with it?’What does that even mean? And I don’t appreciate you judging who I choose tohave a relationship with.”

“Oh, I’m over the judging part. I’ve moved on to the leveragingpart. Now that the secret is out, Stevie can play a more active role. Nothingtoo out front, but she can appear at your side at events, maybe a few photo opsof the two of you at charitable events. You know, personal glimpses of thecandidate. The press will eat it up, and I guarantee it’ll buy you more votesin the female demographic.”

“Stop talking.” Meredith was out of her seat, her mind racingtoward the only logical conclusion it could find. “Was it you?”

“Excuse me?”

Jen narrowed her eyes at Meredith’s accusatory tone, but Meredithwasn’t fooled at the feigned indignation. “I think you know exactly what I’mtalking about. Are you the one who tipped off the press that Stevie was at myplace? Please tell me it wasn’t you.”

She stared hard at Jen, willing her to deny the accusation, butJen only held out her hands as if in supplication. “Hear me out. I know you’remad at me now, but I promise you, this is for the best. This way we can controlthe narrative.”

“Narrative?” Meredith’s voice rose. “There is no narrative.There’s only me and a woman I care about, and for you to think you can makedecisions about how and when we make that public is beyond my understanding.”She grabbed her purse and started walking toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Jen called out. “We have a lot more totalk about.”

“Not right now we don’t.” Meredith didn’t look back, but she didindulge her anger by slamming the door behind her as she left the room. Sheignored Kate’s frantic waving and left the office, dialing Erica on her cell asshe walked.

“I need help,” she said into the phone as soon as Erica answered.

“I know where she is. I’m downstairs with the car.”

“Thank God. Can you get me to her?”

Several decoy stops later, Meredith walked down the hallway ofthe Hay Adams Hotel, scanning the doors for the room number Erica had givenher. She paused when she found the one. She had a key, but felt like using itwould be just another violation of Stevie’s privacy. She knocked lightly on thedoor and hoped the noise wouldn’t draw any of the other hotel guests to look outinto the hall. When the door swung open, she was unprepared for the sight ofStevie in a fluffy white robe, and despite everything that had transpired sinceshe’d left her that morning, it took her breath away.

“Can I come in?”

Stevie pulled her into the room, wrapping her up in her arms, andshutting the door with her foot. “I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay? Did youget mobbed on the way over here? I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to avoid themcompletely, but they were everywhere.”

Meredith’s head spun at the whirlwind of Stevie’s comments, andshe reached to steady herself. “Do you mind if we sit down?”

“Of course not.” Stevie led her to the sofa, and once they wereseated, pointed out the minibar. “Can I get you a drink?”

Meredith pointed at the empty Amstel Light bottle on the coffeetable. “I’ll have one of those if there’s another.” When Stevie handed her thebeer, she took a long draught as fortification. “Are you okay?”

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