When Kason walked in, I grinned at him.
“You look happy,” he said. I immediately felt bad because he definitely did not look happy. He looked tired. In fact, he looked like he hadn’t slept since the last time I had seen him. And he’d lost a lot of weight. There was a big difference between someone that lost their weight in a healthy way and someone who lost it due to stress. He’d been telling me how much he needed to lose weight not so long ago, but this did not look on him.
“I just spoke to John and he said some good things to me. Anyway, it’s good to see you man. Come on, let’s head out to the course. It’s a great morning for some golf. That’s another reason why I’m smiling.”
“It’s good to get out again,” Kason said the moment we stepped outside. I watched as he closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air around him. It was like he was breathing in fresh air for the first time. “I’ve been so cooped up lately. Thanks for inviting me out today. I think this is just what I needed. Hey, I saw the conference yesterday. You did great, man. I was impressed.”
“You think? I wasn’t sure if you’d watch it or not.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course I watched it. I wouldn’t miss it for anything. You were incredible up there. And they threw some really tough questions at you. You seemed to take it all in your stride. I couldn’t believe at how well you handled it. I mean, I know you’re good at that sort of thing, but they really tried to get to you this time, and they failed miserably. I think you’ve somehow managed to make a comeback from all of this. In fact, you seem to be getting a better reaction than you did ever before.”
I smiled. “I’m glad you think so. I was very prepared this time. We planned for every scenario, so nothing came as a surprise to me. I’m just glad it went well. I think it’s put us back on track again. And judging from what John said, it sounds like we’ve gained some votes that we didn’t have before.”
“I think so too. I was so nervous at home. I swear it took every ounce of control for me to not reach out for a bottle of whiskey or something. But you did well. Look, I just wanted to say thank you for not making me look like a terrible guy. It means a lot to me. You could’ve easily just turned the blame on me, but you didn’t.”
“Well, that’s because you’re not a bad guy. You made a terrible mistake, but who doesn’t at one point in their lives? So many people make mistakes, and they’re just lucky because they don’t get caught. That’s all. I wouldn’t throw you under the bus. We’re a team. And don’t worry; things are going to go back to how they were before. You’ll see.”
“I hope so. I’m just glad that everything went well yesterday. That at least makes me feel better. I’ve been feeling so guilty about everything. I mean, if it wasn’t for me, you all wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. I was such an idiot. So . . . well . . . thank you.”
“Kason, don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. People have done worse things than this. You made a simple mistake. And, like you said, it’s not really like you cheated on your wife. The two of you weren’t in a proper relationship to begin with. How are things going, by the way? Have you spoken to her?”
He sighed. “No. I’ve tried, but she won’t return my calls right now. I don’t blame her. This scandal has really turned my life upside down. It’s made me look at things in a whole new way. I was walking around with far too much cockiness. I looked at every woman that walked my way without ever thinking of how it might make my wife feel. It’s not right. I . . . I didn’t realize what an idiot I was. I’m not a bad person, like you say, but I definitely made some bad choices. I have to live with them now.”
We spoke a little bit more about his situation, but the more we spoke, the more the mood seemed to go down. I hadn’t seen Kason like this before, and it was heart-wrenching to see it. I knew that if we continued to talk about the situation, it would only make him feel worse. I needed to change the subject before he got too depressed. I needed him to get his mind off what was going on in his life. I knew time was a healer, but I was sure that it was dragging for him. And the upcoming election was probably a constant reminder to him of what he had done.
“So, did you notice anything different about me yesterday?” I said.
“Yesterday?”
“At the conference.”
“Hmm . . . yes! I did, actually, and I was going to ask you about that. You were wearing a suit. Very different from what you normally wear. For a few seconds, I didn’t even realize it was you.”
“What did you think?”
“Yeah, it looked good on you. I was a little surprised, though.”
“Too much of a change?”
“No, it wasn’t a huge change. I only noticed because I’m your best friend. And I know how much you hate wearing ties. That thing must’ve annoyed the hell out of you.”
I chuckled. “No, it wasn’t all that bad.”
“So, why the change? Did Ralph suggest that? I could imagine it was something that he would try and convince you to do. I just didn’t think you’d actually listen to him.”
“No, it wasn’t Ralph, although I’m sure he was very happy to see me wearing it. Actually, we hired a public relations officer to come in and help us sort everything out. She’s working on our image. She’s doing a lot of behind-the-scenes things for you too, by the way. Making sure that certain press releases go out and shining the spotlight on all the good things you have done. She’s also focusing a lot on me and making sure that we get the votes. She has some wacky ideas, and most of them seem pointless to me. But she assures me that she knows what she’s doing and that all these little things are all building toward the greater good.”
“A public relations officer, huh? Well, judging by how well the conference went, it sounds like she knows what she is doing. What’s she like?”
An image of Reagan floated to the forefront of my mind. I had so far tried not to think about the way it had felt to have her so close to me when she was adjusting my tie before the conference, but it suddenly came to my mind then. I hated that I was even remotely thinking of her in that way, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. “She’s . . . she’s interesting,” I said because I knew that I couldn’t admit to her being beautiful right away. Kason would know that something was going on then. Not that anything was going on. Only in my head, of course. “She is not even slightly intimidated by me.”
Kason laughed. “That must be an unusual feeling for you.”
“It is.” Kason was my best friend. I could be frank about these things with him. He had known me for long enough to know that most people found me intimidating. He also knew how much I liked that fact.
“Is she hot?” he asked.
I couldn’t help but laugh. After everything that Kason had just been through, the last thing he should be thinking of was whether or not my public relations officer was good looking. But he just couldn’t help himself. “Oh yeah. She hides in her business clothes, but it’s pretty obvious that she has an incredible body. And she’s very pretty. Beautiful even.”
“Uh oh.”
I laughed. “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked even though I knew what he was going to say. I probably shouldn’t have added that part about her being beautiful. I very rarely called anyone that.
“A hot public relations officer has been hired to help you? Make sure you don’t get too involved with her. Keep your guard up, just in case. Just now she ends up being someone on the other side hired to spy on you. This sounds to me like another scandal just waiting to happen.”
I thought of Reagan and chuckled at the thought. There was no chance that she was a spy. “Spy on me? No, I don’t think so. Ralph is the one that hired her. He knows her from his college days. I highly doubt that he would hire someone that he didn’t trust. You’re just paranoid.”
“Oh yeah, I’m paranoid all right, and for all the right reasons. You can never be too sure of something like this anymore. That’s something that I learned the hard way. Or, maybe she’s
not a spy. Maybe she’s someone like the maid was to me. Maybe she’s just after your money. I know it seems crazy, but I would never in a million years have guessed that the maid would’ve done that to me. She seemed like the sweetest woman ever. Just be careful. You were the one that warned me, and I didn’t listen to you. So now I’m warning you. You’re doing so well at the moment, and the election is very close. Don’t let anything get in the way of that. Especially not a woman.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s very clear that Reagan is not interested in me that way, and I have no interest in her that way, either. It’s impossible that I could get close to her. Trust me, nothing and nobody is going to get in the way of me winning this thing.”
I thought of the way she’d looked at me when she’d done up my tie. There had been a small little spark that had run between us, I was sure of it. I wasn’t getting too close to her, was I? I shook my head. No, Reagan found me annoying, as did I with her. I hated a woman that wanted to change me. And she was far too close to Ralph to be on the opponent’s side. She might not know me all that well, but she wouldn’t do that to her friend. Right?
Chapter Fourteen
Reagan
I left the office late on Friday afternoon and went home, but I couldn’t relax. I still had way too much paperwork to go through, and way too many ideas milling about in my head. I had a meeting planned with Ralph soon, and I wanted to present him with a solid plan. needed something to eat, but once again I had forgotten to go shopping. I had just been too busy these days, and keeping my fridge and kitchen cupboards full had been the last thing on my mind. Food, however, was on the forefront, and I groaned when I saw my options. I was just about to reach for the bowl of cereal when I changed my mind. I needed proper food. I gathered all my notes, stuffed them into my laptop bag, and headed straight to Dana’s.
“Working on a Friday?” she said when she saw my bag.
“Yeah. I think I’ll be working non-stop until the election is over. After that, there’ll be a whole different set of work, but at the moment things are a lot more urgent. Although who knows if I’ll even have a job after this. I was just hired to help with the campaign. I’m going to make sure I work so hard and do so well that they have no choice but to hire me afterward.”
“I like the way you think. They better hire you after this. They would be stupid not to.”
“I agree!” I said. “Oh, and I had nothing to eat in the house so figured I’d come here to work. No free tables?” I said and looked around at the busy café.
“It’s crazy busy today. I don’t know what is happening.”
“Your food is amazing. That’s what is happening.”
“Ah, and this is why we are best friends. Want to set up in the corner here? I know it’s not ideal, but it’s all I have open for now. And it gives you some privacy too.”
“Perfect,” I said and walked over to the corner of the bar to set up. I didn’t mind eating there. The bar curved and sitting in the corner meant that I didn’t have my back to everyone. I opened up my laptop while Dana brought me a glass of wine.
“I figured you needed it,” she said.
“As long as I just have one glass, I’m good. I always work well with one glass. Two and I stop wanting to work.”
“Maybe you should have two then,” she suggested.
I laughed. “No. I need to work. Oh, I have a gala to go to tomorrow. So that should be interesting. Josh told me that I had to attend. Bit annoying really. I mean, he just tells me that I have to go instead of asking me. I know he’s my boss, but that doesn’t give him the right to just do that. It’s a weekend too. What if I had plans for tomorrow night?”
“Do you?”
“No. But that’s not the point. He doesn’t need to know what a lame social life I have.”
“So, are you bringing a date with?”
I shook my head. “No. He didn’t say if I could or not. Anyway, who would I even bring? It’s not like my dating life has been good these days.”
“You work too hard to even have time for men,” she said. “Which, might I add, is not necessarily a good thing. You should be dating too.”
“There’s time for dating. Right now, work is far more important.”
“Sure you don’t want to be Josh’s date?” she teased.
“What would you say if I said I did wish to be his date?”
“I’d say you deserve to be with someone a lot nicer than him. You already know my thoughts on him. He’s way too arrogant to be dating my best friend. You deserve to be with an absolute sweetheart. Don’t tell me you want him?”
I groaned. “I don’t. I was just kidding. I’m messing with you. I know you don’t like him. But don’t worry, I definitely don’t want him.”
“You sure? Your mouth says one thing, but your eyes say another.”
I laughed. “You’re such a poet. No, I don’t like him. He’s too . . .”
“Cocky?”
“Yeah. He’s too cocky. He would drive me insane. He’d probably spend more time looking into the mirror than looking at me. No thank you.”
“I must say, though, even though I don’t like him, he did look good at the conference. That suit looked amazing on him. He cleans up well when he wants to. You did a good job with that suit. He still has that roughness about him that the other candidates don’t have, but it was softened in that suit. He seemed a lot more . . . approachable.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “You watched the conference?”
She chuckled. “Of course I did. You’re my best friend. I wouldn’t miss your very first conference. The cameras panned the room at one time, and I saw you sitting at the back. I got so excited I think I squealed,” she said.
“You’re amazing. That’s so nice of you. It must’ve been boring to watch for you, so I really appreciate you doing that. He did well up there, didn’t he?”
“I don’t know much about these things, but I must say, he definitely looked like he was killing it. In fact, I was kind of starting to like him near the end of it all.”
“Perfect. That’s exactly what we were hoping for. He has a lot of followers, but he has a lot of haters too. I think this conference softened him up a bit.”
“You did well. So, what is he really like, then? Is he the guy that I saw the first time on TV or is he the guy that I saw this time?”
“He’s a bit of both,” I said. Then I leaned in and whispered even though there was nobody sitting too close to me. “I hired a private investigator by the way.”
“You did? What for? Is there something going on?”
“No, nothing is going on. I hired him because of Josh. I wanted to know as much as I could about him,” I said. I explained to her how important it was for me to know more than everyone else and how that was the only way I could stay ahead of the game. “Take this Kason thing as an example. Josh had no idea, and that’s why the whole thing got blown out of proportion. If he had known, then he would’ve known how to handle the situation. Well, I need to know everything there is to know about both him and Kason in order to do my job right. Also, it helps having a private investigator as a friend.”
“Has he found anything out?”
I shook my head. “Turns out he’s squeaky clean so far. We’re still digging some more, just in case, but we haven’t found any skeletons in his closet.”
“I’m surprised,” Dana said.
I chuckled. “That’s what I said too. It’s not often that you meet someone in this line of work that isn’t hiding something. I’m hoping it stays that way. It will make my job a lot easier.”
“Does he know that you’re looking into him?”
“Are you kidding me? No way. Nobody knows. Well, except you of course.”
“You better not let him find out. I understand why you are doing it, but if he finds out, you might lose your job. I don’t think he’ll be happy.”
“Oh, trust me, I know. That’s why I’ve only told you. This can’t get out. Jos
h can never know.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” she said and zipped her mouth with her fingers.
I placed an order for something to eat while Dana got back to dealing with customers. While she was away, I started working again, taking notes that seemed to go on for days. I always worked well at Dana’s café. There was something about the busy environment that seemed to spark my brain with ideas.
I was head down in paperwork when Frank Hirshman walked through the doors. I didn’t see him coming, mostly because I was so busy with what I was doing, so I looked up in surprise when I saw him standing next to me.
“Do you ever not work?” he said.
“Do you ever not give me a fright?” I said and put a hand to my heart.
He laughed. “Sorry about that. I thought you heard me coming. I hope you don’t mind me being so blunt, but I wondered if you were interested in going out with me tomorrow night? I know you turned me down the last time, but I figured it couldn’t harm to ask again. You can’t say I don’t try.”
I chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that,” I said. “But I’m actually busy tomorrow night. Oh, were you asking me to the gala?” I asked as I realized that he would surely be there too.
He looked at me in surprise. “Yes. How did you know about that?”
“That’s where I’m going.”
“Oh. Well, that works out well then. Would you like to be my date?”
I blushed. “Thank you. That’s nice of you to ask. I’m working for Josh Maxwell, so it probably wouldn’t be the wisest thing for me to come by with his competitor on my arm.”
He laughed. “Are you sure? It would make for some good headlines.”
I rolled my eyes. “We definitely don’t need any more of those. Thank you, though, that’s very nice of you to ask me.”
“As I said, I believe in going after what I want. But, at least I know that I’ll still see you tomorrow. I’ll let you get back to your work. Oh, I just realized I don’t even know your name. I’m Frank Hirshman by the way.”
Dirty Boss (An Office Romance) (The Maxwell Family) Page 9