by King, Imani
“What’s that supposed to mean, Kelly?”
“Politicians, they’re all The Man, and most of them are The Very White Man. But that doesn’t mean they’re all bad. For right now, we can support the ones who understand that there is more than one type of person in the world.” Kelly ushered me back to her office, closing the door behind her.
“Sure, and Reynolds is one of those guys?” I asked, sitting down on her plush red sofa. She handed me a bottled water from a small refrigerator against the far wall. I spotted several small bottles of wine inside as well. “He’s not just shiny and new? Not just a man with a big expensive desk and handmade suits?”
“No, he’s not just that my darling. You will see. Now drink that water. You need not have dark circles under your eyes when you meet him. Now, before you get to work, you need to tell me what happened with your handsome stranger last night.”
“My handsome stranger? I don’t know what you--“
“You know exactly what I mean. Remember, you *told me you were leaving with a man. Don’t pretend otherwise. And you’re positively *glowing this morning. I know you well enough to see that you’ve gotten laid. And well.”
“Don’t be crass, Kelly. You know I’m not like that.”
“We’re all like that at our core, my sweet friend. But I know you are a good girl. And that you wouldn’t have done it unless you really liked him.” She raised an eyebrow at me. I paused, looking down at my nails and clicking them against my water bottle. I opened it and took a drink, swallowing the cool liquid slowly. Was she right? Did I really like him? I certainly hadn’t done anything like that before, ever. I closed my eyes, imagining John’s broad hands wrapped around my waist. “You did like him, didn’t you darling? I saw you sitting with him, but I didn’t catch a glimpse of his face. From his posture, I’d say he’s someone important in town. Is he, darling? Is that why you won’t spill?”
“No—I mean I don’t know. I’m not even sure if he gave me his real name. I didn’t get his last name, anyway.” I looked up at her, catching the mischievous look in her eye.
“How tragic, Sonia. He could be a diplomat or a congressman. He could be anyone. Don’t you have the faintest idea? Or were you just driven wild by lust?”
“No!” A blush rose over my cheeks, and I could feel my skin turning red. Even with the dark tone of my skin, my blushing was very obvious. Kelly laughed.
“Oh my dear, I can tell by your response. You do like this man. And what a night of passion it must have been. My sweet friend, having a one-night stand. Come on, you can tell me if he’s someone important. If you’re embroiled in a scandalous DC affair...” Her voice trailed off with the slight lilt of a question.
“Really, I don’t know who he is. And I didn’t give my real name, either.” I gulped. That didn’t necessarily sound like I was the good girl I’d always thought I was. I blushed again and looked away, crossing my legs.
“Oh how terribly romantic! How on earth did you get yourself involved in such a thing?” Kelly laughed, adding to my irritation. She didn’t understand anything about it. Kelly was forever falling in and out of love, so often that it didn’t seem serious when she told me about her latest fling. “A love affair with an important man, someone you really like! And you don’t even know his name. Or he yours.”
“It’s not like that—”
“Except that it sounds exactly like that.” She leaned in closer. “You used protection didn’t you?”
“Oh God,” I moaned. I wanted to sink into the floor in embarrassment. “Yes, yes, of course we did. I picked up Plan B, too. God, Kell. Stop asking me. Next you’ll be asking me the details of what we did.” I blushed harder, thinking about John pressing me against the wall, pressing his tongue between my thighs. A jolt ran through my core again, sending heat out to every limb.
“Well, what was it that you did? You can tell me. I do love details,” she whispered. I groaned.
“No, can’t we just get on with like, the job? I need to know what our strategy is, from my campaign manager. I don’t want to spill to the biggest party girl in town.” Kelly pouted.
“Is that what you really think of me, love?”
“No, no, Kelly. It’s just that this wasn’t me. It was like I was possessed. I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to think about the... handsome stranger. I don’t want to know if he was someone important, and I’m not seeing him again.”
“Yes, yes, okay, Sonia. I won’t make you dish anything you don’t want to. You’re clearly uncomfortable. But darling, just know that it’s okay to enjoy your sexuality. And it’s okay to take a man home with you every once in a while? Speaking of which, did he come to your place?”
“Oh, no, um. I went to his hotel room. But Kelly, can we please stop talking about this?” I ran my fingers through my thick black curls, exasperated.
“Fine, fine, darling. We’ll talk about the campaign. We must. But if you feel the need to dish about your secret affair, do let me know.”
“It’s not a secret affair. It was a one-night stand. That’s all.” I paused and sighed, shaking my head at Kelly’s persistence. Whatever happened last night was completely behind me. And none of it would matter for this campaign, for the brand new job that I was taking on. “Now, tell me what kind of volunteers we’ve got so far, and what we’ll need to do to get people out there in Virginia. If this man is who you say he is, well, I can’t help but support that.” I pulled out my iPad, opening the screen to take notes.
“Oh darling, you’re no fun. Well, I do think campaigns are fun, especially very newsworthy, contentious campaigns like this one. Yes, yes, take notes. We’re going to be working late every day until November 4th. Every day until this damn thing is done and Reynolds is on the Hill where he belongs.”
“Got it. I’ll tap on my contacts at TWF and see if there are recent grads we can snag for the outreach team. We can get volunteers going from there, and I think I know one of the members of Obama’s outreach team. If we can get her over here, I can talk to her about advertising. We don’t want to smear Janice’s name. I’m sure she’ll try to get ours, won’t she?”
“That she will. But staying above board is a good idea.”
“We can hit hard on the education piece, since Virginia has gotten the shaft on that from their senators. We need to let the people know that they’ll have a voice when it comes to the Senate seat.”
“That’s definitely how we’ll win,” Kelly said, opening her laptop and starting to type. I tapped into the iPad, making notes on the outreach concepts and where they overlapped with marketing. My brain whirred with the energy of doing what I loved. I closed my eyes and envisioned a successful outreach team taking the election over with sheer size and positivity. That’s what this campaign would be about. Coming out of the darkness of Janice’s old-school views on education and policy.
And maybe we could get the people to see Reynolds as their future presidential candidate—it had worked for Obama, and I was betting it could work for us too. Swiping across the screen, I made a checklist for the day. I’d probably be in the office until the late evening—we all would be. But it would be pure excitement. That’s what these things were about. That’s what it was all about. My plan came to me piece by piece. The road ahead would be hard, and maybe even impossible. But from what Kelly had said, there was hope. And hope was a big piece of what politics was about, at least in this country. There was a commotion outside, doors opening and shutting, people starting to move around.
“Sounds like the other staff members are arriving,” Kelly muttered, still typing. “We’re the important people, you and me. So we can stay in here and do what we want until the boss arrives.”
“Is he nice?” I asked, looking up.
“Hm? Oh yes. He’s been very nice on the phone, but I’ll be meeting him for the first time today. I hear he’s very handsome. And honestly, that’s what we want. Not some bizarro looking fellow like Donald Trump.” Kelly looked down
at her laptop again, typing furiously. A beep sounded from her computer. “Ah, it looks like Mr. Reynolds is on his way in. It says he was delayed due to a late night.”
“Typical,” I muttered. “Probably schmoozing with supporters. Gotta keep that cashflow coming.”
“Let’s hope that’s the case. Being rich won’t win him the race. It’s his supporters that will. We’d better hope he was schmoozing last night. And not seducing some innocent girl in a bar.” She looked up at me and winked.
“God I hope not,” I mumbled, looking back down at my iPad. I listed out the different organizations that I could contact, and dove into my email, pulling up the information I had on our recent graduates. I could get together a team of hundreds, have people out in Alexandria and Arlington by the next afternoon. I tapped my finger against the glass screen, and hummed to myself as I gathered my mailing list and began to compose a few compelling paragraphs.
Emails to send, people to talk to… It all starts here.
“You’re getting in the zone, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Love a good challenge. Even without meeting this guy, it should all be very interesting.” I heard footsteps falling over the hardwood floors out front, and I imagined the fresh young faces of the coordinators, just out of college and idealistic as all hell. I guessed I had the whole idealistic thing going on too. If this man could change things, even for one state, it would be worth it all—walking out of my job, sleepless nights spent cold-calling, getting rejected at every turn. I shivered, excitement coursing through my body. All of this, this was even better than what had happened the night before. Well, almost. A knock sounded at Kelly’s door.
“Excuse me, Miss Hernandez, Mr. Reynolds’ limo just pulled up outside. His assistant just let me know he’d like you to assemble the staff so that you could introduce him.” Kelly shut her laptop and leapt up, rushing over to the door.
“Of course, of course. Come, Sonia.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me up, pushing me through the door into the front room. About ten other people had arrived while we had been talking, each of them as fresh-faced as I’d imagined. I clapped my hands, instinctively taking the tone of a teacher.
“All right folks, let’s line up so that we can meet our Senator Hopeful! Everyone smile, act like you’re happy to be here even if you didn’t get a damn bit of sleep last night.” A few of the young people laughed as they shuffled around, forming a single line in front of the desks. Above them hung the “Reynolds for VA Senate” sign. I took a deep breath and stood to the right of the line. My pulse quickened as I watched Kelly run around, straightening up the piles of posters and bumper stickers. We didn’t have much at this stage in the game, but we would work with what we had. Because this was important. The most important thing, and it was my path to a future outside of the dark, hot office at The Washington Foundation. Kelly swung the door open, smiling brightly.
“Ah, you must be Miss Hernandez, the best of the best.”
That voice. My stomach dropped, and I tasted salt and metal at the back of my throat. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t.
“Absolutely, Mr. Reynolds. You won’t be disappointed. And I can’t wait for you to meet with the staff, especially my best friend Sonia. I stole her away from The Washington Foundation yesterday.”
“The Washington Foundation...” The voice on the other side of the door faltered and dropped off. I heard a deep sigh, the sound of a throat clearing.
Please don’t let it be. Please don’t. Please no. I wrung my hands, digging my nails into the flesh of my palm. No, no. No.
“Don’t stall, Mr. Reynolds. We have a captive audience.” Kelly reached out her hand, pulling the arm of a man with salt-and-pepper dark hair and dark blue eyes. I clutched my stomach, my gut pitching. The world seemed to tip over, and everything I knew was suddenly wrong. The job I’d left, the man I’d gone home with.
Impossible. Impossible.
John’s eyes flickered toward me, icy blue and impenetrable, no trace of the vulnerability I’d seen there last night. He cleared his throat again.
“I’m John Gregory Reynolds, Independent candidate for Senate in Virginia. Together, we’re going to take this seat and let our voices be heard.” He nodded to the team, his eyes seeking out mine again. The team of recent grads raised their voices, shouting and clapping.
I clutched my stomach again, walking down the hall towards the bathroom. I could feel John’s eyes on my back. I ducked into the bathroom, falling to my knees as I slammed the door.
“Sonia! Sonia, darling! What on earth is wrong?”
Only everything.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Sonia, come on out. I really wanted to introduce you to Mr. Reynolds. He’s in his office, and he’s very eager to meet you.” On the other side of the door, I sat on black and white tile floor of the bathroom and rocked back and forth. I didn’t respond.
“Sonia, honey, are you okay? Are you passed out in there or something?” I panted hard, trying to catch my breath. In twenty-four hours, my life had been turned upside down. And now, this, John, my one night stand, sitting in his office. The Senator Hopeful for the state of Virginia, swooping into save the country. My dream job, destroyed by a terrible decision.
“No...” I said, gulping for air. “I just have... a cramp in my leg. Not enough water this morning. Or something. I’m okay. I promise. I’ll be out in a second. And then, you know, I don’t really know about this campaign. I might need to call The Washington Foundation back. I’m not sure if I can go on the road to Richmond just—” I heard Kelly fumbling with the doorknob on the other side. The handle jiggled.
“Open up. Now.” Her voice took on a serious tone. I crawled over to the door and reached up to open it. Kelly walked in and looked down at me. Tears stung my eyes, and I clutched my knees to my chest. She let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, okay, I get it. I get these terrible cramps in my legs when my period is about to—”
“It’s fine. I’m fine,” I said, grabbing onto the cabinet and pulling myself up. Kelly reached out a hand to steady me.
“You know, Mr. Reynolds must be excited to meet you. He told me to send you back to his office by yourself so that he can talk to you. I have sung your praises, and he did know that you were the best person for the job. But I’d thought he would sit down with the both of us.” Kelly shrugged. “Maybe it’s just that he saw how pretty you are. Don’t you think he’s handsome?” My stomach pitched again, and I realized that I hadn’t had a damn thing to eat all day. My stomach growled.
“Oh he’s... fine I guess.” I glanced at Kelly, wondering if I could take off in the opposite direction when I escaped from the bathroom. If I ran out of the door, I’d be turning my back on the career I’d dreamed of. But at least I wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness of talking to John.
“You’re crazy. He’s better than fine.” She brushed off my shirt and smoothed the hair away from my face. “And don’t worry. I’m betting that you have the cramping because you’re hungry.” She said the last word as if it explained everything. “Lunch will be here soon. From Roti. You love Roti.” Kelly kept her tone soothing, as if she were talking to a small child about to go on stage for the first time. “Don’t worry, Mr. Reynolds is very nice. He will understand that you had a moment, and that you are a very professional woman. A stable, professional woman.” Kelly looked at me with meaning in her eyes.
Don’t fuck this up by acting crazy. Even if she didn’t say it, her meaning was implied. She led me by the hand down the hallway to J. Gregory Reynolds’ office. Silently, she opened the door and ushered me inside, her touch still light, like I might break. I looked down at the floor, sensing John’s presence behind his table. I looked and saw his polished shoes peeking out from beneath the desk. I glanced up and saw his cool eyes on mine, flashing quickly to Kelly.
“This is Sonia Mills, director of operations at The Washington Foundation. She also helped me manager the Connor campaign and served as outreach manager fo
r the Arlington mayoral campaign in 2012. She’s delighted to be working with us, and she just caught a cramp in her leg after you came in. Isn’t that right Sonia?” Kelly turned to me, her smile forced this time.