Pursuit of Happiness

by Carsen Taite

  He was right. She had a pretty big war chest, but the more free PR they could grab in the form of replayed sound bites, the more money they’d have to spend in the general election. She appreciated Gordon always thinking ten steps ahead, but after weeks shaking hands and kissing babies, it was hard to leave this bubble of comfort. She looked around the room as if she could divine some reason to stall, and like magic, her gaze fell on Stevie, framed in the doorway with a huge smile on her face.

  * * *

  Stevie stood up at counsel table and motioned to the prosecutor, Emily Watkins. “Your Honor, the government has provided me with discovery, but it’s too heavily redacted to be helpful, and some of it’s missing entirely. I can’t possibly prepare for trial if I don’t have access to the exact same material the government has reviewed.”

  She’d expected more from Emily, but when she’d confronted her, Emily had thrown up her hands and said she had no control over the decision to redact the documents. When Stevie protested, Emily spouted the government’s usual line about not sharing the full contents of the classified documents with anyone who didn’t have the proper clearance. Stevie was used to this in terrorism cases, but this wasn’t that. In fact, nothing she’d been able to glean so far pointed to her client, Barkley, having shared any issues of national security, only embarrassing bumbling in the way the FBI had handled the reports of foreign hacking. It would help if Barkley would talk to her and tell her what was in the documents, but while he’d started to indulge her attempts at small talk, when it came to the case, he was still in his I can’t talk about it because everyone’s listening mode, which left her no choice but to file the pending motion to compel the government to disclose the full contents of the documents.

  Judge Solomon turned to Emily. “Ms. Watkins, what’s your response?”

  Emily cast her a woeful look and rose to address the judge. “It’s the government’s response that we cannot share the redacted portions with anyone who doesn’t possess the requisite clearance to view them. These documents have been classified as top secret. As for the omitted documents, we’re still in the process of decrypting some of the files that were seized from Ms. Palmer’s client. She’s welcome to ask him to assist us, which could speed the process along.”

  Stevie shook her head. “And let you use his assistance as an admission of guilt? I don’t think so. If they are truly government documents and they are supposed to bolster the government claims against my client, then you should be able to hand them over in a format that I can read. How will the jury assess the veracity of the documents if they can’t read them either?”

  Solomon nodded. “She has a point, Ms. Watkins. I’m inclined to view the contents of the documents you do have in camera in order to make an informed ruling.” He looked down his nose. “Unless you’re going to contend that I don’t have the right to view them?”

  Stevie watched while Emily squirmed, knowing that Emily’s bosses probably did expect her to withhold the information from everyone, no exceptions, but she had the good sense not to tank her case by denying the judge.

  “Of course, Your Honor. We will have them delivered to you this afternoon. As for the files that are being decrypted, I’m going to need a bit more time.”

  Stevie considered protesting, but decided against it for now. If Solomon reviewed the documents and then denied her access, she’d file a motion to get him to reconsider and work her way up the chain, but for now, she’d bide her time.

  “Very well then,” Solomon said. “Let’s postpone this portion of the hearing until…” He paused to consult with his courtroom deputy. “Tomorrow at two. You’ll have the rest of the documents decrypted and delivered to me no later than three weeks from today.”

  Stevie took a moment with her client in the holdover before she left. “Did you get all that?”

  “You’re good. She didn’t want to give you anything. The judge seems fair.”

  “I am good, but there’s only so much I can do if you won’t talk to me.”

  “What’s the point?”

  “You tell me,” she said, hoping he would take her up on it. She read into his comment that he was resigned to his fate because there was really no dispute that he’d shared the documents in violation of his clearance, but she was still willing to fight for him and make the government prove their case if that’s what he wanted. “If you want to end this whole process and take a plea, you can, but the prosecutor is not going to offer a deal unless you agree to meet with the FBI and answer questions they have about other security issues at Folsom.”

  He shook his head. “If I don’t leave soon, I’ll miss lunch.”

  “You still have time to change your mind,” she said, wondering why she cared so much when clearly he did not. “You have my number.”

  Stevie was back at the office by one. The place was virtually empty except for Hannah who was munching on a sandwich at her desk, reminding Stevie she’d forgotten to eat breakfast. “I’ll give you twenty dollars for half of that sandwich.”

  Hannah held out the untouched half. “No charge. Dave makes the biggest sandwiches in all the land.”

  Stevie munched a bite of the roast beef on sourdough and groaned at the tang of horseradish. “Oh my God, that’s amazing.”

  “I know.” Hannah pushed a bag of chips her way. “Try it with these and you’ll fall in love.”

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Lunch off campus. It’s Leon’s last day.”

  “And you didn’t go?”

  “I volunteered to stick around and watch the phones. Besides, between you and me, Leon isn’t my favorite. Not super sorry to see him go.”

  “He’s not anyone’s favorite.” Stevie crunched some chips. Leon, one of the attorneys in the office, had never been one of them, always talking about how he was using this job as a stepping-stone to “real” legal work. “I’m thinking everyone else was just angling to get out of the office for a while.”

  Hannah pointed at the clock on the wall. “You’re back early. I thought your hearing was going to run late.”

  “It was, but the government threw a wrench in the mix by refusing to give me documents I could actually read. Judge Solomon continued us until tomorrow afternoon so he can review the unredacted documents and hopefully decide we’re entitled to them. So, now I can handle the Fuentes hearing in the morning.”

  Hannah tapped her finger against her forehead. “You could. Or, you know, you could do something else.”

  Stevie knew where she was headed and cut her off. “I’m not going to New Hampshire.”

  Hannah reached in her desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. “Here’s the plane ticket. It’s open-ended. You can leave now for the airport, and I can book your flight while you’re en route. If you go right this minute, you might make it before the polls close.”

  Stevie shook her head. “It’s her big day. She’ll be surrounded by family, friends, campaign workers.”

  “And apparently, she’d like to be surrounded by you too since her office sent you a plane ticket and has a hotel room reserved.”

  “I have the hearing tomorrow.”

  “What time is your hearing?”

  Stevie didn’t immediately respond, unsure about telling Hannah her real hesitation. It would be tight, but she could make it back in time. The question wasn’t whether she could, it was more like whether she should. If Meredith won the primary in New Hampshire tonight, which everyone was predicting she would, the moment would be historic, and like all historic moments, would be the focal point of the entire nation. It was one thing to sneak around, dodging press in between campaign stops, but it would be quite another for her to slip into Meredith’s campaign hotel unnoticed on such a big night. “I’ll give it some thought.” She tossed off the comment and strode back to her office.

  She unpacked her briefcase and turned her phone back on, watching while it fired off news alerts, many of which had to do with exit polling for today’s primary, but then
a text message with Meredith’s name appeared in the scroll, and she punched the screen.

  Wish me luck. Miss you.

  Simple, sweet, and a total gut punch. Stevie sank into her chair. She missed Meredith too, even if she thought it was a tad irrational to miss someone she hadn’t known that long. She picked up the phone and stared at the screen, starting and stopping several replies. Good luck sounded so trite and impersonal. Miss you too seemed inadequate. She wanted to say a lot of things, but not in a flat text with no affect.

  There’s still time to say what you want in person. The internal voice tempting her to travel to New Hampshire was instantly countered with another, more practical voice that told her to use her now free afternoon for additional hearing prep. In the past, the practical voice always won, but she’d never dated someone like Meredith before where catching moments together was so difficult. And she desperately wanted more moments with Meredith.

  She stared hard at the files on her desk, their contents full of facts about real people whose freedom hung in the balance. She spent all her time focused on their lives, but she had a right to have a life too, didn’t she?

  Dammit. She pushed aside the files on her desk, grabbed her briefcase and phone, and strode back to Hannah’s desk. She held out her hand. “Give me the envelope before I change my mind.”

  Hannah didn’t hesitate, shoving it into her hand. “I’ll call the airline and book you on the next flight.” She flapped her hands. “Go, now.”

  Traffic was snarled and the cab ride was slow. Stevie tapped her foot and fought the voices in her head telling her all the reasons this was a bad idea. She hadn’t packed a bag. How was she going to dodge the press? The flights were probably all full since she’d waited until the last minute. Meredith wasn’t expecting her. What if Meredith had made plans to celebrate that didn’t include her, or more importantly, included someone else? They’d hadn’t talked about being exclusive, and Stevie was certain there were tons of adoring women who’d love the chance to stand by Meredith’s side, cameras or no cameras.

  She fished her phone back out of her bag, and reread Meredith’s text, and with a sudden burst of clarity knew exactly what to say in reply. You don’t need luck. You got this. Miss you more than you know.

  She hit send before she could rethink her words and prayed her presence would be welcome.

  * * *

  “You’re here.” Meredith pulled Stevie into her arms and whispered in her ear. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

  Stevie leaned back and met her eyes. “My hearing got continued at the last minute. I came as soon as I could. Didn’t even pack a bag.” She ducked her head and lowered her voice. “Is it really okay that I showed up? You’ve got a lot going on.”

  Meredith followed her gaze around the room. “Exactly why I need a calming force. Someone who’s not part of all this to help me escape.” Gordon and Jen chose that moment to appear at her side.

  “They’re ready for you downstairs. Let’s go,” Gordon said.

  Meredith held her ground. “Gordon, I’d like you to meet Stevie Palmer. Stevie, this is Gordon Hewitt, my campaign manager. He’s super pushy, but takes good care of me.” She watched as Stevie extended a hand, and Gordon perked up at the mention of Stevie’s name. Before he could say anything, she plunged ahead. “Stevie, I have to go downstairs and say a few words to my supporters. Will you come with me? Jen will make sure you have a place to sit near the stage.” She saw Jen and Gordon exchange curious looks and hoped Stevie hadn’t noticed. There would be a conversation at some point about how to spin Stevie Palmer, she just knew it, but she wasn’t having it now.

  Jen extended a hand. “Absolutely. Stevie, come with me. I’ll get you settled.”

  Meredith wistfully watched them walk away.

  “She’s pretty,” Gordon said.

  “She’s gorgeous, but why do I feel like you’re looking at her from a casting kind of view?”

  “Maybe I am. You know if you start appearing together in public, everyone is going to start imagining her as a First Lady.”

  “Don’t even. We are so far from that.”

  “You and her or you and the presidency? Because I can tell you the latter isn’t true, and by the way you two look at each other, neither is the former.”

  “I’m having way too good of a night to try to unpack that sentence,” Meredith said with an exasperated sigh. “How about we let it go for the night? I’ll go say a few words, rally the troops, and then take the rest of the night off and enjoy at least a few hours of privacy.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t. “The car to the airport leaves at four thirty a.m., and you have a meeting scheduled with Unite Here as soon as we land, and a full day’s schedule after that.” He wagged a finger at her. “Whatever you do, make sure you’re fresh-faced and ready to talk pro union like it’s all you ever think about.”

  “On it.” She edged away before she could say anything else, signaling to her speechwriter, Tim Akins, to follow her to the elevator. On the way downstairs, she told him her ideas about freshening up the stump speech, and asked him to write them up and run them by Gordon’s team in the morning. She’d planned to talk to Gordon about her ideas later, but this way she could focus on Stevie the rest of the night without interruption. How she wished she could go to her now, strip off this stiff suit, and…

  She hadn’t thought that far. They’d kissed sure, and their kisses had been amazing, but she’d felt Stevie ease back a bit every time they’d come close to something more. She’d gotten Stevie her own room, but that was when having her here was a hopeful expectation, not a done deal. Now that they were in the same city again, would Stevie want to take their relationship to the next level? Did she?

  Yes, she did. From the moment Stevie appeared in the hotel suite, Meredith had been consumed with the thought of making love to her, and if circumstances had been different, she would have dragged her away from the crowd and they’d both be naked right now. She prayed Stevie showing up meant she wanted the same thing.

  The elevator doors opened into the ballroom on the first floor, and Meredith put on her game face and strode into the room, shaking hands and smiling at all the supporters who’d gathered to cheer her on. She took the podium and locked eyes with Stevie for just a second before she scanned the rest of the crowd. Acutely conscious and incredibly aroused that Stevie was watching her every move, Meredith gave the speech she’d practiced a dozen times in the shower. After she’d thanked all the right people and given the media the requisite number of sound bites to play and replay over the next week, she stepped down and leaned close to Jen.

  “Tell her I’ll come to her room. Fifteen minutes.”

  Jen nodded, and Meredith walked back through the crowd, making time to press flesh with everyone in her path. She hoped no one could tell her responses were rote and her mind was elsewhere. In a few minutes, these moments would all be behind her, and tomorrow she’d start all over again in Nevada and then South Carolina, state by state, until she’d secured enough votes to win the nomination, but for tonight, all she wanted, all she cared about, was having Stevie all to herself.

  Chapter Eleven

  Stevie stood in the middle of the hotel room, strangely anxious. She wrote it off to the fact she’d epically failed to pack a single thing for this last-minute trip, but she knew there was way more to her roller coaster of feelings than that.

  Jen had escorted her to the room, which seemed a bit like overkill, but when she’d asked her about it, Jen’s response had been terse. “Mere said to keep you from the media, and she asked me to see to it personally. All the professionals on staff are busy tonight, and a lot of the volunteers are college kids angling for jobs in the administration—big on enthusiasm and political smarts, but not very savvy when it comes to working the press.”

  Stevie noted a slight tone when Jen mentioned how the “professionals” were busy, and she wondered if Jen resented having to escort her to this r
oom rather than hang out with the rest of the movers and shakers in Meredith’s campaign. She cast about for something to say that would dissolve the tension. “It must mean a lot to Meredith to have you here with her. Have you worked on all of her campaigns?”

  “Hers, our dad’s, and our brother James Jr. My brother Michael and I are the cogs in the Mitchell political machine.”

  “She’s lucky to have you.”

  Jen scrunched her face, like she was thinking really hard. “I guess. We work well together, but she’s got a whole team for this race.”

  Stevie detected an undercurrent of resentment in Jen’s words, but merely replied, “Teams are good.”

  “Sure, yeah. Well, if you need anything, let me know.” Jen handed her a card and pointed out her cell number at the bottom. “The place is crawling with the press corps, but the registration for this room is not under the campaign block, so no one should bother you, but if you decide to wander the halls or order room service, you do so at your own risk. And Meredith’s.”

  Jen’s parting words sounded ominous, and now that Jen had left her alone in the room, Stevie grasped the reality of her situation. She was in a hotel with the entire campaign team for what was expected to be the next Democratic nominee for president. There really wasn’t a bigger fishbowl. She was still wearing her suit from court, and she didn’t have a change of clothes or even a toothbrush and she hadn’t eaten since the half sandwich she’d stolen from Hannah hours earlier and some pretzels on the plane. She also had absolutely no idea when Meredith was going to show up. She’d said fifteen minutes, but that had been thirty minutes ago, and judging by the size of the crowd downstairs, she’d likely only made it through half of them by now.

  Stevie paced the room and took in her surroundings. It was more than a room; it was a full suite, complete with a sitting area, a full-sized desk, an oversized bathtub, and a king-sized bed with two robes stretched out across the duvet. She sat on the edge of the bed and fingered the sleeve of one of the robes while her mind processed the implication. She’d spent the time on the plane finishing up prep for tomorrow’s hearing, and hadn’t allowed her thoughts to wander to what would happen once she showed up at Meredith’s hotel, but just being here was a promise of sorts. Was she ready to make good on it?