Page 18 of Primary Season
Forty-seven emails greeted me that night when I booted up my computer in the hotel room after we finished our last campaign event of the day. The pile included requests for media credentials, comments from the local news, scheduling for interviews, polling results, and group emails about when and how to prep Patrick for the upcoming debate on the campus of the University of South Carolina, which was just a few days away.
I flipped on the TV for background music, found my steno pad, and called Heather, my closest thing to a friend on the staff. She gave in to my pleas and joined me about fifteen minutes later with her own laptop and two bottles of beer from the overpriced hotel bar.
“I figured this would happen,” she said as she sashayed into my room and sat down on the bed. “Too much to do and not enough time to do it.” She handed me one of the beers.
I thanked her and sank into the desk chair across from the bed. “Do you think we handled today very well?”
“Handled what?” Heather tried to bite back a smirk and failed. “Of course we did. At least the national folks seem to think so.” She nodded to the TV, where some pundits I barely recognized debated the state of the race on CNN. “They don’t care. They’ve dismissed the whole scandal, and seem more interested in focusing on the Republicans.”
“I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about the South Carolina voters.”
“Who knows?” She opened her beer and took a long chug. “They can be fickle, and that last polling happened before Miss Amanda Parker of Athens, Ohio, decided to show herself.”
I agreed.
“But he handled it well,” Heather said. “Not that I’d expect anything different.” As she took her laptop out of its case, she smiled to herself. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“What?” The tone of her voice made my stomach twist, but I forced myself to keep my expression blank.
She placed the computer on the bed. “Do you like him?”
“Who?”
She tilted her head. “Come on. You know who. Do you like him?”
“Patrick?” My neck grew warm and my stomach dropped to my toes. “I like him. He’s a good boss.”
I closed the Excel spreadsheet and shut my computer. Something about the way she spoke told me that whatever she said next, work was over for that night. Emails and scheduling would have to wait. We had more important things to discuss.
“I just have to say that I find it interesting that he hired you as his communications director for the campaign.” Heather drew out her words. “We already had Kelly in the DC office. He could have used her.”
“But he told me he wanted to keep things separate. Someone had to stay behind and run things while he was gone. The way he explained it, it made sense to have two staffs.”
“Did it?” Heather lifted an eyebrow.
“Of course.”
“Are you sure?”
I frowned, remembering that first night at Old Ebbit Grill, when Patrick and I talked over dry martinis and oysters about the kind of race he wanted to run, and how he wanted to ensure that the people of Ohio didn’t get left behind during the long months he would need to be away from DC if he wanted to win. “Ohioans deserve that, at least.”
Heather laughed without humor and repeated my last sentence under her breath. “I promise you, there’s more to it than just being a good senator for the people of Ohio.” She paused. “Kelly’s a psycho.”
“Really?”
“Well,Ithink she is.”
I laughed. “Come on. A psycho?”
Heather nodded. “Oh, I’m not kidding. About two years ago, she thought there was something going on with them, and she got a little bit…obsessed with him.” She took a sip of her beer. “Of course, there were those of us on the staff that thought Patrick led her on, that he’d let her think there was something between them when there really wasn’t, and that it all ended up driving her crazy.”
I drank some of my own beer and tried to keep my expression blank.
“We all know Patrick’s a flirt.”
“You’re damn right about that,” I said.
“Anyway, I heard he kept Kelly on staff because she knows everyone and she runs that office better than anyone else. Plus, who knows what Kelly has on him?” Heather studied me. “I just want to make sure you don’t…end up like her. I know it’s none of my business, but don’t let Patrick manipulate you. It won’t end well. Trust me.”
