The Romance Vote

by Ali Vali

  “Maria and a couple of the other stations are here,” Sam said after Paul waved to her and pointed at the front door. “Before we go out, you need to do one more thing,” Sam told Virgil as she held out a bag to him. Inside was the pink tie they’d bought him on that first day. “You promised.”

  “That I did, and I want to thank you two for everything. You were here almost every day, and Chili told me this is the first campaign you’ve worked from beginning to end. We have that in common, but I have a feeling you’re going to get much better at it than me.”

  They stayed in the office and let Virgil and his family enjoy the moment, both of them laughing when Maria waved and held up five fingers and mouthed the word “wow.” Virgil was right in that this was her first campaign as a full-time employee, but as excited as Virgil was right now, his opponent had to be equally frustrated. All he’d have had to do was get a few more of his friends out to vote and that edge would’ve gone in his favor.

  “Think the guy who ran against us will be crying for the next six years?” Sam asked Chili as Virgil took questions from the reporters huddled around him.

  “First, he’s going to be crying for a recount, so we have to beat him to the punch and ask for one first.” Chili took her phone out and brought up her contacts, and Sam wasn’t surprised she had the registrar’s office on the list. It didn’t take long, but after a short conversation Chili had the guy’s promise that they’d seal the machines within the hour and open them in the morning as soon as they called the other campaign to invite them to be there.

  “Now that these guys are interested in a party, can I interest you in a late dinner at my place?” Sam asked.

  “What’s on the menu?” Chili looked at her, and the corners of her mouth turned up slowly into what Sam considered a sexy smile.

  “It’s one of my personal recipes,” she whispered, which made Chili have to lean in a little to hear her.

  “Sounds interesting and I’m starving. Only thing is we can’t leave until your pal over there and her competition finish asking all the stupid questions they can think of.”

  “If you’re trying to get me to hate the media, it’s working,” she said, and laughed along with Chili. “This was a small campaign compared to most of the ones we’re involved with, and we’ve had a bunch of late nights. What’s it going to be like when we start Rooster’s campaign?”

  “It’s not going to get any better, so we’d better get good at finding ways to carve out some time, or I might have to quit and go work for Daisy.” Sam felt Chili’s hand slip into hers, but no one noticed since they were focused on Virgil, who was doing an admirable job of answering questions.

  “I’m glad you said that,” and Sam was, because it made her more sure of her growing feelings for Chili.

  “Why?” Chili asked, her face still really close to Sam’s.

  “You don’t strike me as the sappy I-miss-you type, and it makes me glad you aren’t any different from me. I am the I-miss-you sappy type, in case you didn’t get what I meant.”

  “I understand perfectly,” Chili said as she threaded their fingers together. “Any progress on your dad’s pet project?”

  “The invitation list is sitting in your inbox at the office. Once you approve of everyone going, we’ll put everything in the mail.” She pressed closer to Chili, and it made her look forward to doing the same thing naked. “When Daddy retires, can we change the annual duck-hunting soirée into something that doesn’t involve guns?”

  “As long as it doesn’t involve a day at the mall shopping for anything, count me in.”

  “I bet there’s plenty at the mall I can interest you in,” Sam said as Chili pushed off the doorjamb and walked to the front of the room. When she went to complain she saw her father patting Chili on the back, probably for another check in the win column. “This is getting ridiculous.”

  “Well?” her father said when he hugged her.

  “Well what?”

  “How’d you like it?” Huey held her at arm’s length with a huge smile on his face, while Chili stood behind him. “This is your first step in taking over for the old man, and I was hoping you love all this as much as I do.”

  “Give me a few more years in the trenches before you start talking about me taking over anything. The only thing happening on the top floor is budget considerations and billing, and I’m not ready to give up the hands-on stuff yet.” Chili must’ve heard that part since she laughed and understood the true meaning behind the statement. She was ready for some hands on.

  “Don’t worry about that. I’m not anywhere ready to retire, so you’ll be stuck with Chili for a while longer.”

  “Yippee,” she said into her father’s ear since the crowd had started clapping as Virgil wrapped up his comments.

  “I’ll leave you and the team to finish up here. After a few days to decompress from all this, we start on getting Rooster elected to the Senate.” Huey hugged her again and turned and hugged Chili as well. She knew from growing up with him that her father wasn’t one to linger at a party like this.

  “Beth,” Chili said, once Huey had shaken hands with everyone from where they were to the door. “Can you wrap up here and make sure the newly elected official gets home okay?”

  “Will do, and we’ll close this out tomorrow after everyone gets to the office. We should be able to deliver Virgil his road map to Baton Rouge late tomorrow.”

  “Road map?” Sam asked.

  “Chili started this when she came to work for the firm. We put together a recap of the campaign so each candidate can use it to make changes the next time around.”

  “Doesn’t it also give them the opportunity to change firms with a blueprint of all our moves?” Sam asked, glancing back at Chili.

  “You’d need Chili and the rest of us to make the playbook work. At least that’s what Chili threatens them with when she hands the information over,” Beth said, and winked. “Up to now no one’s ever challenged her on that claim.”

  “All right, stop talking about me like I’m not here. Sleep in tomorrow, Beth,” Chili said as she went to congratulate Virgil once last time. “Your place or mine?” she whispered in Sam’s ear when she was done.

  “Yours,” she said as she shivered. “I gambled and packed a bag before I headed over here.”

  “Smart girl.”

  “More like a teachable one.”

  Sam had repeated something Chili had told her on their first day together, making Chili laugh. “Why do I have a feeling I’m the one who’s going to be in school from now until I die?” Chili opened the back door for her and walked her to her car.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  *

  Sam parked next to Chili’s car and saw that Chili was sitting on her trunk waiting for her since she’d beat her there. Chili took her bag and shouldered it so she could hold her hand on their way to the door. For some reason, the move made Sam think of the future and what it held with Chili. It was way too early for her to be craving nights like this.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” Chili asked as she unlocked the door. “Are you tired? I can do sandwiches and we can head to bed if you want.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  Chili dropped her bag and held her. “I’m happy you’re here, and that’s good enough.”

  “If anyone heard you say that, you’d lose your hound-dog card,” Sam said as she hooked her fingers in the belt loops at the back of Chili’s pants. “Being this domestic isn’t going to kill that wild streak of yours, is it?”

  “I’m sure you’ll keep me at my best, so don’t panic because I’m willing not to ravish you right this second. There’s always the morning.” Chili led her into the kitchen, where they found a light pasta dish and a note from Dale. “Even if I calm down a little, you’ll still eat well.”

  “I hope Dale doesn’t mind sharing you,” she said as Chili kissed the side of her neck.

  Chili’s hands went to her waist and she lift
ed her onto the counter. “I think Dale needs to find his own girl, and I think I want to change my mind about the whole quickie concept.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said as Chili’s hands went up the sides of her legs under her dress.

  Chili reached her underwear, and instead of taking them off, Chili ran two fingers along the elastic around her leg and got underneath so that only her fingertips were touching her. She was wet, and when Chili moved her fingers up and found her hard and ready, both of them exhaled. “Think you can find a little energy before we call it a night?” Chili asked.

  Chili kept her fingers moving from her opening to her hard clitoris, making her wish they were both naked. She pushed Chili’s jacket off and unbuttoned her shirt until she reached her belt. Since Chili hadn’t stopped, she was uncharacteristically uncoordinated as she fumbled as if her fingers had swelled along with other parts of her body.

  Sam snorted as Chili laughed when she yanked hard enough to make her take a step forward. “Stop laughing or I’m going to rethink the concept of the quickie too,” she said as the damn belt finally came undone. “As a matter of fact, the quickie at lunch a couple of days ago is enough of that for this week.”

  The campaign had kept them hopping, but every few days since their first night together was all they could stand before they found themselves naked and hungry whenever they had a break in their day. It wasn’t ideal, but Chili had stayed all night a few times, and if they woke up early enough they spent a little more time with each other.

  “I can’t help if you’re addicting enough for me to need a fix every so often,” Chili said as her pants dropped to the floor. She stood still as Sam took a pair of scissors out of the knife block and cut off the briefs she was wearing. “I guess I know what to ask for when my birthday rolls around.” Chili unzipped her and seemed to enjoy it when she wiggled the dress down so Chili wouldn’t have to move her hand.

  “You know what I’ve never told anyone ever?” she asked as Chili released the clasp of her bra with one hand, taking the straps down with her teeth. When she asked the question, though, Chili seemed to freeze in place. Even her fingers stopped moving.

  “What?” Chili asked, the word coming out in a whoosh of air.

  “Fuck me,” she said, and her words brought Chili back to life. She lowered her head and bit Sam’s mound gently through her panties. Chili was kinder to her underwear as she removed them impatiently.

  After they were both as naked as they could get without breaking totally apart, Chili lowered her head again and put her mouth on her. Sam rested her feet on Chili’s back and grabbed the sides of Chili’s head to keep it in place. Eventually they’d have to talk about what had scared Chili into stillness, but right now she felt too good to think too hard about anything.

  “Oh, Jesus,” she said as Chili flattened her tongue and pressed it down hard as she slipped her fingers in. She let go and bucked her hips up and into Chili’s face, but nothing stopped Chili from finishing what she’d started. They had all night but the end came quick, and she pulled Chili’s hair to make her stop. Her orgasm had been so good she’d become too sensitive to touch.

  Chili straightened up and kissed her so she could taste herself on Chili’s lips. She laughed when Chili let her go for a moment and put a fork in the dish Dale had left and handed it to her so she could pick her up and carry her upstairs to bed. They shared most of it, alternating bites as she fed Chili while she straddled her on the bed.

  “You want to tell me what scared the hell out of you earlier in the kitchen?” she asked, mentally fussing at herself for her lack of control. Nothing scared someone who’d never been in a long-term relationship more than asking them what scared them about being in a long-term relationship.

  “Can I plead the fifth for now? I promise you’ll have an answer before too long.”

  “Do you promise?” Her brain was ordering her to shut up, but her heart was in charge for the moment.

  “You’ll be the first to know,” Chili said as she took the bowl from her and put it on the nightstand.

  “I’m sorry if I’m being a pain in the ass.”

  “Baby,” Chili said, referring to her by a term of endearment, something she’d never done. “I wouldn’t call it pain, more like a kick in the pants, and I’m beginning to think I’ve needed that for a very long time.”

  “This is the perfect time. Any sooner and someone would’ve snapped you up and I would’ve lost out.”

  “Sam, you’re one of a kind, and I would’ve been the one who’d be poorer if you hadn’t taken a chance on me.”

  Sam lay down and rested her head on Chili’s shoulder. “That was the sappiest I’ve ever heard you, and I’d like to hear more of it.”

  “Pretty soon I’m going to get so soft no one’ll hire me,” Chili said, but put her arms around her. “You’re turning me into a teddy bear.”

  “It’ll take a lifetime of coddling to make you soft, sweetie, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “Are you applying for that position?”

  “Positions are becoming my specialty, so you’ll have to wait and see,” Sam said as she pushed her knee between Chili’s legs.

  *

  Chili let Beth and Sam deliver Virgil’s report and finish their work with him. In her opinion he’d be happy in the position he’d won, but you never knew what politics would eventually do to people. Whether it was for reelection or another office, Virgil was theirs for life. That she was sure of.

  She went up to meet with Huey so they could review what they wanted to take on. For the first time she sat across from him and had no real fervor about what came next. All she could think about was Sam. What surprised her most was that she didn’t care, so it was time to learn to balance her life or lose the parts that had defined her for so long.

  “So Rooster is next?” Huey asked, oblivious to her lack of attention. “Then what? How many contracts do you think we can take on and not sacrifice service?”

  “All I concentrated on was Rooster, but it’s time to put out feelers, because we’ve got the governor’s race here and in Mississippi. That’s been nothing but a cluster here, so if we’re taking on a client I’d like final say on who we work for. I’ve had enough of dealing with the assholes who’ve been in there for the last couple of election cycles.”

  She closed her book and stared at the picture of Sam he had on the credenza behind his desk. It was time to go fishing and get her head straight.

  “Sounds good. You okay?” Huey asked, as if he’d just noticed she wasn’t her usual aggressive self.

  “I’m fine.” She smiled to try to get him off the subject. “My trip with Dale is coming up in a few days, so I’m giving everyone time off until I get back.”

  “Are you sure? Rooster isn’t the most patient man in the world. He’s going to want us twenty-four seven. I take that back. He’s going to want you twenty-four-seven, and nothing else will satisfy him.”

  “The staff got a car salesman with no political experience elected to the Louisiana State Senate, and they sacrificed their holidays and any New Year’s plans to do it. It was no easy task, and getting Rooster to leapfrog that asshole who’s in the seat now is going to be an even more Herculean task, so I’m giving them some rest before they’re here twenty hours a day.” She stood up and smoothed her pants. “Fire me if you want, but I’ve already told them they could go.”

  “Is every conversation we have going to take the same track?” Huey stood and rested his weight on his hands after he laid them flat on his desk. “We had a talk about Sam because I thought it was necessary,” he said as pushed up, and he walked toward her. “I thought our relationship could survive what we both know is best.”

  “I love you, Huey, and nothing is going to change that, but it doesn’t always mean that I like you very much. You can’t throw that out there and not think it’s going to change things, or make me act differently when I’m here.” She put her hand up to stop him from coming closer. “I thoug
ht we were on our way to becoming partners, but you proved me wrong.”

  “So your resignation wasn’t bullshit?”

  “I’m not quitting. If you want me out, then tell me to go, but it’s you who’s going to end our working relationship.”

  “Unless you find a reason to be here I’m not going to force you to stay, but I’m not going to fire you either.”

  “I have found a reason to be here, and it’s the only reason I’m not leaving.”

  “I’m guessing it’s not me and our relationship?”

  She laughed at Huey’s attempt at humor. “It’s a big part of it, but not exactly the whole enchilada.”

  “You giving up all that catting around?” He moved close enough to put his hand on her shoulder. “I haven’t seen you with a Candy in a while.”

  “I could’ve learned discretion.”

  He laughed and slapped her on the back. “You do surprise me all the time, so good for you.” Before she left he held his hand out and waited for her to take it. “Whatever changed your mind about leaving after my disrespectful behavior, make sure you’re absolutely ready to take on the responsibility before you make any promises you’re not ready to keep.”

  She took his hand and nodded. “We’ll have a talk about it when I get back, but what changed your mind if we’re talking about the same thing?”

  “Carla, Rooster’s wife, and I had a nice chat at the chamber lunch before it turned into a food fight. After that I learned two things.”

  “I can’t wait to hear this.”

  “I should’ve learned to love again since Rooster seems so happy, and I shouldn’t stand in the way of anyone’s happiness when it’s staring me in the face. You and Carla were right. When it’s not my own life and what I want out of it, then it’s not my decision to make.”

  “I’ll give Carla all the credit for that one, but sometimes you are an important part of someone’s happiness.”

  “We’ve been in politics too long, my friend. We can talk in this gibberish and still understand each other.”