Sherise wasn’t feeling so great. As she sat in the chair of her office at campaign headquarters, she felt compelled to complain again. This was the third chair she’d sat on in two days. She had demanded that her staff find her something more comfortable. This was ridiculous. She wasn’t even two months pregnant; yet she was already feeling her body start to change. That wasn’t a good sign. She wouldn’t dare ask for another chair. What would LaKeisha say if word got back to her that Sherise was already complaining? No, she’d just bring a better pillow to sit on tomorrow and suck it up.
It was time to leave, anyway; but just as Sherise got up from her chair, there was a knock on her door.
“Yes?”
In popped Jesse Williams, a young man on her staff who got the job because he was Northman’s Harvard roommate’s son. Politics was all about connections. Sherise held some animosity for people like Jesse. He was only twenty-two and as green as grass, but he was born to the right person. His circumstances were so unlike Sherise’s, who had to fight for everything she’d gotten, because she didn’t have any connected DNA.
“What is it, Jesse?” she asked.
“You know about Congressman Cooper, right?”
“Of course I know about him. Everyone does.”
Congressman George Cooper, the pro-life, pro–traditional family Republican from Texas, was caught coming out of a Miami hotel with a rent-a-boy who was barely eighteen and more than eager for the fame that came with bagging a hypocrite. It was the story of the day around D.C.
“LaKeisha says that before you leave, you need to get a statement on her desk for Northman to say.”
“He doesn’t need to say anything,” Sherise said. “I told him that this morning when the news broke. This is Cooper’s mess. Let the Republicans wallow in it. Northman needs to stay above it.”
Jesse shook his head. “LaKeisha said the Democrats are urging him to make a statement. She said something dry and unattached, but acknowledging his hypocrisy. Cooper went to Yale with Matthews.”
Sherise was taken aback. How could she not know that? She’d been listening to the news reports all day and no one had mentioned that connection. This was good news. If they could imply a relationship between Cooper and Matthews, it could force Matthews to get involved in this scandal, which would put a crinkle in his campaign. No, they probably had no real relationship at all, but all one had to do was imply that they’ve known each other since college, more than twenty-five years. Both ended up in D.C. in national politics. The relationship would be inferred from that.
More important for Sherise, it would distract the press from Jonah for once, since he seemed to be the only person everyone wanted to talk about.
“She’ll have it,” Sherise said, smiling.
After Jesse left, Sherise went straight for her phone. She was supposed to relieve the babysitter within the hour, but she didn’t think she’d be there in time. She was going to write this statement for Northman, but she also needed to create some hints she could leak to the press that insinuated a stronger connection between Matthews and Cooper.
Her momentary excitement at this new opportunity was immediately shattered when she heard a woman’s voice say “hello” on the other end of Justin’s cell phone.
“Who is this?” Sherise asked tersely.
“Oh,” the voice said after a few seconds. “Hello, Sherise. This is Elena.”
Sherise’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as she gripped the phone more tightly. “Really, Elena? You’re calling me ‘Sherise’ and you’re answering my husband’s cell phone. Since when did we become such good friends?”
Sherise heard what she thought was a chuckle, which only made her more fuming mad. This bitch is about to get an earful.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Robinson.” If Elena was trying to veil her sarcasm, she was horrible at it. “I just thought—”
“You thought wrong,” she corrected quickly. “Why are you answering my husband’s private phone?”
“I was just here,” she said. “I’m in his office. We’re working and he stepped away.”
“Where is he?” Sherise demanded.
“He just stepped away to go to the bathroom. I didn’t think it would be a big deal if I answered it. I was just trying to be—”
“Save it,” Sherise said. “You know cell phones are private, and you knew when you picked his up that I was calling. My name was clear as day on the phone.”
“I picked it up without looking at—”
“Elena, you’re not fooling anyone. Answering a man’s private phone when you know it’s his wife calling is a classic territorial move.”
“Sherise, stop it.”
Sherise was halted by the sound of Justin’s voice. She paused for a second as she heard him ask Elena to give him a moment.
“Justin, I—”
“What’s the matter with you?” he asked.
“Where is she now?”
“She’s gone,” he said.
“Are you sure?” Sherise asked. “Because last time she was gone, she was actually outside your damn office listening in on us.”
“Sherise,” he said as almost a sigh.
“I don’t appreciate that bitch answering your private phone. She knew it was me. My name is lit . . .”
“Sherise, you can’t go around yelling at my coworkers. You just can’t. Look, I’ll tell her not to answer my phone again, but—”
“Why are you working alone with her, anyway?” Sherise asked.
“The other two are out getting dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes,” he said. “I was just about to call you. I have to stay tonight and do a working dinner. I’m sorry, but—”
“You can’t, Justin.” Sherise didn’t feel up to another “who makes the sacrifice?” argument. “I have to stay and work on an emergency here. Kenya can only babysit until seven.”
“It’s out of my hands, Sherise.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” she said. “You’re the boss of your team. If you wanted to go home and leave the work to them, you could do it. But you want to stay. You want more time with your young coworker who knew damn well what she was doing by answering your—”
“Can you get off that already?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “I’m not going to listen to this. I have to work. The sooner I can get back to it, the sooner I can be home.”
“What difference does that make?” Sherise asked. “It’s not like you’d be willing to discuss it then either.”
“Because it’s ridiculous, Sherise. There’s nothing to discuss. I have to work late. If you’re working late too, just call Kenya. Offer her double for another hour.”
“That’s your solution?” she asked. “And, of course, I’m the one who has to do it because it’s my responsibility, right? I’m the one making this a problem by having the nerve to want a career, so I have to fix it while you have dinner with your little—”
“I’m hanging up, Sherise.”
“You hang up on me, don’t you even bother coming home tonight, late or not!” she warned.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Do I sound like I’m kidding?”
“Look,” he said in that voice that is always meant to defuse a situation where she’d gotten too angry to be rational anymore. “If you want me to call Kenya, I will. I just—”
“Fuck it,” Sherise said. “I’ll call her. I’ll do everything as always. You enjoy your dinner and then come on home, where we’ll act like nothing is wrong. The perfect family.”
She hung up the phone and slammed it on her desk. She knew from the moment she laid eyes on Elena that the girl was going to be a problem. A problem her marriage couldn’t afford at this point. Something would have to be done.
Billie was overseeing Evelyn as she set up the presentation on the computer when the lawyers from Dinklett & Williams came in. Porter was the third lawyer to enter the main conference room at Agencis, looking right out of a GQ magazine cover. When Bi
llie looked up, her eyes met his before he quickly looked away.
This didn’t bother her. The less attention Porter gave her, the better. This was awkward enough; and after their encounter last week, Billie’s stomach was tightening with every second. What she was bothered by was when the teams shook hands and introduced themselves; he glossed right over her like she wasn’t there. Everyone noticed it. Everyone there knew they were once married. Billie had thought, since Porter was always one for appearances, that he’d play nice. To be willing to make himself look bad, Billie realized that Porter was angrier than she had thought.
Porter sat at the middle of the table, kissing up to Gil and the other lawyers on the client team, while Billie graciously got acclimated with the rest of his team. As general counsel, Gil called the meeting to order. As he went over the basics of everything that both sides had already talked about, he was quick and to the point, which Billie liked. There were few questions. She stole a few glances at Porter, who stared straight ahead at the presentation.
Billie was ready when Gil brought up the topic of getting a continuance in order to reply. Sitting at the end of the conference table, she turned away from the presentation to the group.
“I’ve already spoken with David Atwood at the FTC.” Billie’s voice was smooth and calm, like she’d hoped it would be. She’d done this many times before. There was no reason for her to be nervous. “I’ve told him that we need more time for a reply. This investigation came out of nowhere and—”
“You don’t actually believe you’ll get a delay, do you?” Porter asked, his expression stone.
Billie turned to him, refusing to let it show that his interruption annoyed her.
“Yes, I do,” she replied. “I made it clear to David that this type of notification just flies in the face of FTC tradition. As I’m sure your firm knows, there is usually prior notice of complaints and concerns, followed with meetings and then a determination on an investigation, giving ample time to prepare a possible reply.”
Porter rolled his eyes and looked down at the notebook in front of him. He was writing something down. Billie told herself it was probably nothing, but there was a part of her that was sure he was taking notes on how to try and embarrass her further.
“After we get the continuance,” she said, then slowing her voice noticeably before adding, “and we will, we need you to focus on the reply, of course, but we’re concerned about all the document requests from the FTC. There’s a five-year window here. We need to get this narrowed.”
“Billie, you should know better than that.” Porter’s tone was clearly condescending.
Billie turned to him; this time, her anger was somewhat visible as her eyes seared into his. He seemed unfazed.
“If the FTC wants documents,” he continued. “It’s going to get them. Is it really a good use of your company’s money to have us—”
“I’ll decide what a good use of our money is,” Billie interrupted him, much to his surprise. “You just do the work.”
The words came out a little harsher than she’d expected, but they had the desired effect. After looking extremely offended at being interrupted, Porter pressed his lips together and returned his attention to his notepad again.
The meeting lasted another hour. The only other time Porter upset Billie again was when she was going over the schedule of updates and he acted a little irked, but he never said anything. No one else seemed to notice, or maybe they were pretending not to see.
Billie noticed and she wasn’t about to forget. After the meeting ended, she made the rounds as expected, making sure to talk to everyone again and answer any questions. All the while, she kept a side eye on Porter, making sure he didn’t leave before she gave him a piece of her mind.
He’d made his way out into the hallway before she rushed over to him, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him aside. Fortunately, no one else was around at the moment. Billie knew anyone could step out of that conference room, so she needed to be quick.
“What are you doing?” Porter asked.
“I’d like to ask you the same thing,” she sniped. “What’s your deal? Why are you trying to one-up me during the meeting?”
He only offered an innocent smile. “One-up you? Funny, but no, I wasn’t ‘one-upping’ you, Billie. I was trying to help you out. You shouldn’t be running a case. You don’t know what you’re doing, and I didn’t want you to look foolish.”
“Bullshit,” she said, just under her breath. “You were trying to make me look foolish, and it needs to stop now.”
“Excuse me?” he asked sarcastically. “If you don’t want my help—”
“I don’t need your help,” she said. “I just need you to remember that I’m the client now. I’m not your peer here. You work for me. Don’t second-guess me in front of anyone ever again, or you’re going to be sorry.”
From the enraged look on his face, she realized that her words were sinking in. Or maybe it wasn’t just sinking in, but it had already been there and he’d thought she didn’t know it. Now that it was out there, Porter looked threatened as hell. Billie felt a sense of satisfaction, at least enough to end it there.
She turned and headed to her office, not bothering to look back. She imagined Porter had been standing there, bowled over, as he usually was whenever she stood up to him. Only this time, he hadn’t been frozen in place. He was following her.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me!” he demanded.
“I’m done talking to you, Porter.” Billie continued to her office at the end of the hallway.
“You’re done with me?”
She stopped at the door to her office and turned to face him, waiting for him to approach. He was so livid that she could imagine smoke coming out of his ears about now. All of this time, she’d been thinking that this was going to be very hard on her, but it was Porter who wasn’t able to deal. He just figured if he could strike first, she wouldn’t figure that out. But she had.
“I know what you wanted,” Billie said. “You were hoping you could use your textbook tricks to intimidate me and put me on the offensive. You were hoping that you could work a number on me mentally before I could figure out the truth.”
“The truth?” he asked, laughing. “What’s that?”
“That you’re at my mercy,” she said. “You thought you could distract me from that fact by making me constantly on guard against you.”
Porter shook his head. “You need to be on guard against me, Billie. I’m a few months away from being made partner. You already cost me that promotion before. I’m not letting you do it again.”
“I’m not trying to do anything to you, Porter. You always have it in for me, so you assume I always have it in for you.”
“I’m not . . .” Porter held back as Evelyn approached. She was carrying something that was covered in silver wrapping paper, with a red bow around it.
“This came for you,” Evelyn said. “It’s from Michael.”
“Michael who?” Porter asked.
Billie looked at her ex as though he was crazy. “Really, Porter? You really think you’re entitled to know that?”
“Is this some new boyfriend?” he asked, ignoring her. He stood up straight, his shoulders arching back in his usual jealous stance. “Who is he?”
“None of your business.” Billie took the present. “Thanks, Evelyn. Can you do me a favor and help Mr. Haas here find his group again? He seems to be lost.”
“Um . . .” She looked at Porter nervously. “I guess. Okay, can you follow me?”
“I can find out who he is,” Porter said as Billie walked into her office.
“I think you have other things on your plate.” Billie gave him a cold smile before shutting her office door in his face.
Despite the anxiety she felt about Porter, Billie couldn’t deny she was excited to see what Michael had sent her. They were going to have their second date tomorrow night and she’d been looking forward to it before the first date was even over.
Every sensible part of her told her not to get too excited. She knew her track record and that Prince Charming just didn’t exist anymore.
After she ripped the wrapping off, her heart warmed at the sight of his gift. It was a small, wood-framed, beautiful painting of an adorable little black girl. She couldn’t have been more than ten years old, standing next to a window and in front of a canvas, painting a rainbow. She had paint on her nose and her arm. Next to her was a palette of various colors. She’d told him that she used to love to paint and he was listening. A man who listened and remembered? Sensible parts be damned. She was excited as hell.
7
For now, at least, the headquarters for Jonah’s campaign staff was set at an ex-lobbyist’s office in a building on K Street, downtown D.C. But today was the first official day the team would meet, so Jonah decided to have a BBQ at his Leesburg, Virginia, home.
When Erica showed up, after getting past the security in the driveway, her last time at the eight-thousand-square-foot traditional white-column-and-redbrick Colonial mansion came flooding toward her. She’d learned the truth from Billie and Sherise about Jonah being her father; she’d driven out here to confront him. It was one of the most confusing and painful moments in her young life.
Now she was here again, supposedly on better terms, but still cloaked in secrecy. This time, the subterfuge resulted in her being granted a leave of absence from her job at the Pentagon. Once she’d decided to go work for Jonah, she submitted her paperwork. As policy, she submitted it to Caroline, who laughed in her face. To Caroline’s surprise, the top office was waiting for the paperwork and had already approved the leave, which could start immediately.
Caroline was furious, demanding it be at least pushed back until major projects the department was working on had been done, but her request was denied. Erica couldn’t help but offer her boss a bright, sweet smile as she dropped by her office just to say good-bye. It was just too easy.
Now that she was here, standing at the front door of this home again after such a painful first time, nothing was easy. This would be harder than she could have ever expected. It was true that this could be a great opportunity for her. She was getting paid good money, and not having to deal with Caroline every day was worth twice what she made in actual dollars. But there was also Sherise; and although Erica still wasn’t sure she could help her, she was willing to get close enough to Jonah to try.
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