“Yeah. Same here. I had to tell people very early on that I’m a member of the club so that the media knew from the get go and didn’t judge me for it later on. I don’t really go anymore, but I do try and donate money when I can so that they know I do still think about it. Admittedly, it’s also nice for the public to see me doing good things, although that’s not the real reason I do it. It’s good to help Uncle Paul out where I can. Do you still ride?”
“Sometimes. Not as often as I would like, though. Whenever I do, I realize how much I miss it. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of going for a ride. Even just talking about it now makes me want to get back on again. How about you?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t been on the bike in years. It’s sitting in my garage gathering dust. I actually haven’t even given it much thought until now. You’re right, though; there really is nothing like that feeling. I should go for a ride again. It would probably be the best way to get rid of my stress. Uncle Paul would be so disappointed in us. Hell, I’m actually disappointed in us.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I think we should keep that bit of information to ourselves. He has enough on his plate as it is. The last thing he needs is to hear that his family is not into motorcycles anymore. I don’t think he will ever rid himself his passion for riding. It’s ingrained in him in a way that it isn’t with us.”
“Maybe it’s in us too, but we’ve just forgotten it. Who knows? All I know is that I’m going to go for a ride soon.”
“Me too.”
The burgers arrived, and the waitress continued to flirt with us a bit more. She was a pretty thing, but I couldn’t help but wish it was Reagan standing there flirting with me. When she walked away, we both chuckled.
“Nothing wrong with getting hit on by a pretty waitress,” he said. “Which reminds me, how’s your love life these days? Despite looking the same, you were always more of a hit with the ladies.”
I laughed. “Not quite. Well, to be honest, there’s not much to say about it. It’s a pretty dry love life at the moment.”
“I don’t believe that one bit.”
“What? Why not? I don’t always have a girlfriend.” Is that what everyone thought of me? That I always had a woman on my arm? I’d always assumed myself to be very discreet, although I probably had boasted about it a few times.
“True, but you generally have some girl that you’re with. Or you at least have someone that you’re sleeping with. Go on, you can tell me. I’m your cousin. I’m not going to run off and tell the media. I wouldn’t do that, you know.”
I thought of Reagan and almost said something. But I couldn’t do that to her, and I couldn’t do that to the campaign. She could lose her job, and I could lose all the votes that I was finally starting to gather up. It was tempting to talk about it and to get an opinion from someone else. But it wasn’t worth it.
“Oh, I know you wouldn’t go off and tell the media. That’s not the reason I’m not telling you anything. It’s really just a case of me having no love life at all. I’m not even sleeping around right now. Boring, huh?”
“Wow, this election must really be taking up a lot of your time then.”
“Yeah, it is. No time for anything at the moment other than work. That’s why I’m glad I took this lunch break with you. It’s good to take a break every once in a while. I should do it more often. But having time for lunch and having time for a relationship are two very different things.”
“You know, I always thought that you would be the one to get married first out of the family,” he said thoughtfully.
“Seriously?” That came as a surprise to me. I’d never once even indicated that I wanted to get married.
“Yeah, I’m not sure why but I always believed that.”
“Nah, after what happened with my mother, I don’t really think about things like that.”
“Yeah, I understand. Anyway, you have the election to worry about. The last thing you need is your mind on a woman.”
I laughed. “Exactly.
Chapter Twenty
Reagan
Time was flying, and the closer we were getting to the polls opening, the more nervous I was starting to feel. Everyone around me was nervous too, but this was the first time that I was ever involved in something like this, and I had no idea how to handle it. My emotions ranged from excitement to fear throughout the day. My biggest concern was that Ralph had hired me for damage control and to help sway the public in Josh’s favor. If we didn’t win, it would look like I hadn’t done my job, even though I wasn’t sure if there was anything else that I could do.
I groaned when I saw the time. It was coming up on six-thirty, and everyone had already left the office. I had no idea how they managed to leave so early when there was so much to be done. I looked up and noticed that Josh’s lights were still on in his office. The fact that he was still there meant that he was just as nervous about the situation as I was. No, he was probably more nervous. I still had several things I wanted to work on with him, and my list of ideas and action points seemed to grow by the hour. I thought about going to talk to him, but I still felt nervous when the two of us were alone. It had been fine during the week with Ralph and some of the other members of staff around as a buffer, but I didn’t want to be in his office alone.
I put my head down to work and hoped that I could get everything finished soon, but when I heard a noise and looked up, I saw that Josh had walked out the office and was walking right toward me.
“Are you the only one here?” he asked and looked around.
I nodded. “Looks like it. Clearly some people are not at all nervous about the polls opening up. Either that or I stress for nothing.”
He chuckled. “No, you’re just a hard worker like me. We battle to switch off.”
“Yeah, and I guess it’s easier for some of them as they have their families to go back to. I don’t even have a dog waiting for me. Which reminds me, I really should get a pet.”
“You’ve been great here, Reagan. I wish everyone would work as hard as you do.”
“Sometimes I’m not sure who has it right, though. But I know things will calm down soon. To me, it’s worth the effort right now.”
“I agree. The only thing that’s stopping me from working more is that I’m starving. Want to go out and grab something to eat? We can continue to talk business.”
I grinned. “I’d like nothing more. I was just thinking how silly it was that I didn’t think of bringing any food. Although I didn’t think I’d still be here at this time.”
“Should we go to your friend’s diner? That way you don’t have to feel guilty about eating in other places.”
I was surprised that he had remembered that. I nodded and grinned. “I’d love that. Give me ten minutes. I just want to finish off something here, and then we can go.”
“Perfect. Just shout when you’re ready.”
I quickly finished up what I was doing and gathered up my things. I walked over to Josh’s office and knocked, and we both laughed. There was nobody else in the office, so knocking was pretty pointless, but it had now become a standard joke between us. Whether I knocked or didn’t knock, we’d both end up laughing about it.
“Ready to go?” I said.
“I’m ready.”
We got into our respective cars and made our way over to Dana’s. I’d messaged her from the office to ask her to keep me a table, and I was glad for it because when we arrived, the place was swarming with people.
“Is this place ever quiet?”
“Only when we close,” she said and laughed. Then she looked curiously up at Josh.
“Oh,” I said. I’d completely forgotten that she hadn’t met him. “Dana, this is my boss, Josh. And Josh, this is my best friend, Dana.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Josh,” Dana said and shook his hand.
Josh beamed at her, and I was reminded again of how charming he could be. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Dana.”
“
You have?”
“Well, I’ve heard a lot about your cooking, and your coffee. Reagan doesn’t like to go anywhere else but here. You’ve got a true fan in her.”
Dana smiled. “She’s a good friend. Also, she gets free coffee when she’s here. That’s how I keep her support. Come on; I kept a table open for you.”
We followed Dana to the table, and as she walked away, she winked at me when Josh wasn’t watching. I knew she was itching to ask me about Josh, but she couldn’t do it with him right there. She came back moments later with a glass of wine for each of us and told us it was on the house.
“Do you know what you want to order?” she asked.
“What’s good here?” Josh asked as he examined the menu. “I’m the worst when it comes to making decisions at a restaurant. I prefer going by recommendation. I’ve looked at the menu twice already, and I still have no idea what I want. Everything sounds great, and Reagan has pretty much told me that everything is good, which hasn’t helped matters.”
“It’s true though; everything is good here,” I said. “Dana, why don’t you surprise us? Just bring us whatever you want. I also don’t feel like making any decisions at the moment. I think our minds are too frazzled from work.”
Dana laughed. “I can do that for sure. I know what you like, but I’m not sure about you, Josh. Anything that you don’t eat?”
“I eat everything,” he said.
“You’re my favorite sort of customer then. Great, two dishes of my choice coming right up,” she said and walked off.
“Isn’t she great?” I said to Josh. I was so proud of Dana and what she had achieved in life.
He smiled. “She seems very nice.”
“She is. How lucky for me to have a best friend that owns a great café. I come here all the time. Right, let’s talk business. I have tons of things I want to discuss with you. And, I’ll have you know, I work even better when I have a glass of wine.”
“Is that what you were scribbling down when I saw you in the office?” he asked.
“Yeah. I keep coming up with new ideas. We don’t have much time, but I do have a lot of ideas. And I really believe that we need to make the most out of every single moment that we have. The last thing we want to do is to get too confident now. That’s the exact moment that the opponent will use to sweep right past us. We have to make sure we are ahead of the game at all times.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’m all ears. And I work well with wine too.”
We spoke nonstop for the next hour, and I was glad to see that he was on the same page as me when it came to my ideas. I think he had finally realized that it was good to listen to me now and that I knew what I was doing. But, when the food arrived, steaming pots of hot dumplings in a mild curry sauce, he stopped me.
“While I do appreciate all the hard work that you have put in, and while I do believe that we need to work extra hard right now, I also think that a break is important. I think we’re going to go out of our minds if we carry on all night.”
I laughed. “You’re right. Okay, let’s just enjoy this meal. Which, I might say, smells absolutely amazing.”
Josh took a bite and grinned. “It also tastes amazing. So, tell me, Reagan. Have you always been such a hard worker? Ralph tells me that you were.”
I chuckled as I remembered how competitive I used to be in college. “Yeah. I’ve always believed in working hard. I was top of my class when I graduated.”
“Nice. That’s not an easy feat. So, did you start work straight after college?”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I wasn’t used to talking about personal things with anyone other than Dana. “Uh. No. I took a break. How about you? Have you always wanted to be a senator?” I was much happier asking the questions than answering them.
Thankfully, Josh didn’t seem to notice my discomfort. He shook his head. “No. I had no idea what I wanted to be. When I was younger, I thought I was going to just ride motorcycles my whole life. I have no idea how I thought I’d actually make money out of that. But that was the plan for a while.”
“Motorcycles? Seriously? Now that’s something I don’t know about you.”
“I’m sure there are a lot of things you don’t know about me. But yes, that’s one of them. My uncle runs a motorcycle club, and for a while, all the male members of our family were involved in it. Some still are, but for the most part, most of us have gone our separate ways. It was nice, though, while it lasted. For a brief moment in time, we had a strong family connection with one thing that kept us all together. I can kind of see why my uncle was so desperate for us all to stay in the club. It’s sad that we’ve all drifted the way we have,” he said.
He continued to talk about the club and all his cousins, and it was nice to see such a human side to him. He didn’t often show this side to the rest of the world. I thought his funny and cocky side was incredibly amusing, but I liked that he had a softer side too. We spoke for so long that when Dana came to clear the plates, I had actually forgotten that I had eaten.
“Dana, that was incredible,” Josh said to her.
“It was. Amazing.”
“Room for dessert?”
“Sure, why not,” Josh said and grinned at me.
I laughed. “Yeah, okay. Hard to resist really,” I said, and for a brief moment, I wasn’t sure if I was talking about the dessert or about Josh. I hoped nobody else thought the same thing and found myself blushing slightly at the thought.
The dessert arrived, and we continued to talk like old friends. By the end of the night, I felt more relaxed than I had been in a very long time. And it had been nice not to think about work for a change.
“I’m glad we did this,” Josh said as we stood to leave.
“Yeah, me too. I wonder if I would’ve still been in the office if you hadn’t suggested this.”
“Probably. You would’ve been working hard and starving.”
“Now I’m stuffed.”
“You were right about Dana. She sure knows what she’s doing in that kitchen. Well, thanks for joining me tonight, Reagan. Tomorrow is a brand new day, and I think I’m going to put in a few more hours at the end again. I don’t know about you, but I always work better when everyone is gone. They’re a noisy bunch.”
I chuckled. “I agree. And I’ll see you tomorrow. More than likely I’ll be working late too. I’ll try and remember to bring some food with this time.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Josh
Reagan was out for most of the day, meeting with people and gathering up more information for the upcoming campaign. For someone that hadn’t worked in this business before, she sure knew exactly what she was doing. I was sitting with Ralph, pouring over some of the work she had done when he asked me what I thought of her. The question took me by surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m the one that hired her. I had no idea if she’d be any good at this, but I assumed she would be. As I said, she knows everything about the business, she always has. She’s always had a strong viewpoint on what goes on around the world, and she’s always wanted to see changes being made in both her area and outside. It’s what I’ve always liked about her; she has this ability to see things beyond herself. I wish more people in the world could be like that. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here. I’ve just always thought she’d be good at this, and I think she’s proven me right. I was just interested to see what you thought of her.”
And just like that, something dawned on me. Was Ralph in love with Reagan? Why had I never thought of it before? He’d been nothing but nice about her, he’d gotten her a job, and he’d stayed friends with her since college days. Reagan was beautiful, so it was certainly possible. Was he asking me for his approval or did he think that something might be going on between the two of us?
“She’s great, Ralph. You did a fine job when hiring her. She’s by far the hardest working person I know. No offense, you are a hard worker too. But she goes above an
d beyond.”
Ralph laughed. “No offense taken. I don’t ever want to work as hard as she does. No offense to her, but I don’t think I’ll ever put in that many extra hours. I’d like a life too.”
I smiled. “I like your honesty, Ralph. So tell me then, are you asking me all of this because you’re in love with Reagan?”
Ralph looked completely taken aback by the question. He had just taken a sip of his coffee and he almost spat it out. “Excuse me? Why do you say that?”
“Well, you’ve just spent the last ten minutes going on about how amazing she is. And yes, she is a great worker, but it sounds to me like there might be something else going on. Are you trying to tell me that there’s an office romance?” I asked. I tried to keep it light, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if he said yes.
He shook his head and started laughing.
“What’s so funny? She’s a beautiful girl.”
“She is. But . . . well, I’m gay.”
“You are?”
“Didn’t you know? I thought it was obvious.”
I laughed. “No, I had no idea. So no office romance then.”
“Definitely not. I’m just glad you’re happy I hired her.”
Later that evening, I popped my head out the office and saw that once again only Reagan was left. She’d arrived that afternoon and had immediately started working at her desk. I wasn’t sure if I’d seen her move once from that spot. As I looked now, I saw her frowning at something on the computer screen and then furiously taking down notes. I cleared my throat and saw her jump.
She looked around the room and laughed. “Just you and I again,” she said.
“Looks like it. Want to join me for a drink?”
“I’m not sure, Josh. I was out so much today, and now I’m trying to get the paperwork sorted out and all the plans put into action.”
“Oh, I don’t mean out the office. I mean in my office.”
“You have alcohol in your office?” she asked.
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