by Carsen Taite
“Pancakes, huh?”
“Or omelets. Or French toast.” Stevie squeezed Meredith’s hand. “I think you’re missing the point here.”
Meredith grinned. “I promise I’m not. Plus, I’m sure you worked up a good appetite in your sleep.”
“Stop.”
“It’s hard.” Meredith leaned forward and kissed her. “You’re pretty adorable.”
“I’m not entirely sure that’s a compliment.”
“Rest assured, it is.” Meredith stood. “Rain check on the pancakes?”
Stevie searched for something, anything, to say to prolong the contact without sounding like the desperate one being left behind. “You know it’s not about the pancakes, don’t you?”
Meredith sat back down. “I was hoping that was the case.” She glanced at the door, wistfully, like she was being pulled in two equally important directions. “I’m so glad you came up last night. I really needed to see you. More than I realized. I’m going to miss you.”
Her voice dropped low on the last words, and Stevie felt the effect throughout her body. It helped to know she wasn’t the only one feeling bereft at the idea of separation so soon after their connection had grown stronger. Strong enough for her to feel compelled to say, “Maybe we should make a plan.” She breathed deep and pressed on. “I know your schedule is going to be insane over the next few weeks, but maybe we could have a date, even if it’s not in person.”
“Drinks via FaceTime?”
“Something like that. You could vent, and I could tell you which judges are abusing me so when you’re president, you can exact punishment.”
“Everybody wants a favor,” Meredith said.
Stevie kissed Meredith’s hand. “If you’re handing out favors, I can think of more interesting ones.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Now, go get through Super Tuesday and rack up the delegate count.”
Stevie steeled her emotions against an emotional good-bye. This was a lot harder than she’d anticipated. Something had shifted in their relationship, and she was starting to regret her decision not to have sex with Meredith the night before, if for no other reason than she’d have that memory to hold on to over the next few weeks. She pulled Meredith close and kissed her again, a long and lingering kiss, not caring if either one of them missed their plane. Most unlike her. When they finally broke for breath, Meredith stood, but she appeared a little woozy.
“Are you okay?” Stevie asked.
“If you call being lightheaded from all the kissing okay, yes, I’m great. That’s going to be hard to do on FaceTime.”
“Definitely.”
“I have to go,” Meredith announced in a quiet voice.
“I know.”
“This is harder than I expected.”
“I know.”
“I should probably just do it.”
Stevie watched to see what she would do, her heart sinking as Meredith slowly turned and walked toward the door. Five steps and her hand was on the door. Another second to turn the knob, one to open the door, and just like that she’d be gone and it would be like this whole episode had been a dream. But Meredith turned around.
“Will you come to New York for Super Tuesday? I’ll be watching the returns there that night, and I know there will be a crowd of people, but then we can go back to my place, and I promise we’ll be alone and I may not be able to take the next day off, but at least I won’t have to leave at—”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I said yes. Of course I will. I’d love to see your place, but mostly I’d just want to see you.” Stevie waved her toward the door. “Now, get out of here so I can miss you the appropriate amount to make our reunion that much better.”
Meredith grinned, kissed her again, and practically skipped out of the room. When the door shut behind her, Stevie raised her arms above her head and stretched like a cat on a sunny day, basking in the glow of the promise they’d just made. All her concerns—the press, the pressure, the politics fell away at the idea of seeing Meredith again, and now instead of holding on to the memory of last night, she had the anticipation of next time. And she had big plans for next time, none of which involved sleeping in.
Chapter Twelve
“Where are we again?” Meredith asked as the plane touched down. She laughed when Gordon shook his head. It was the third time she’d asked the question, but she was only half kidding about not being able to keep track of the hectic schedule. It was six p.m., and this was their fourth stop today as they zigged around the country, making appearances in key battleground states. The pace was exhausting, but she couldn’t afford to let up. While she’d handily won the primary in Nevada, South Carolina had been another close call, and next Tuesday’s primary races included a lot of Southern states where Jed Lankin, with his Southern drawl and pro-gun stance, had a slight lead in the polls. Rural mid-American and Southern Democrats weren’t nearly as progressive as their East and West Coast counterparts, but she hoped to gain ground with them on her more moderate positions on the economy and law enforcement if she could get them to overlook the fact she was not only a woman, but a lesbian to boot.
The plane rolled to a stop in Dallas, and as they made their way through the Jetway, Jen walked beside her. “Before we leave the airport, I’ve got a couple of VIPs coming on board the bus to meet with you. No more than ten minutes each, and we’ll still get to the dinner in plenty of time.”
Dinner, right. She’d been asked to make a few remarks at a benefit for the North Texas Food Bank. The events were starting to morph into one another. Meredith slipped a mint in her mouth and smoothed her skirt. “Who’s up first?”
“Lily Gantry. Gantry Oil and Renewables. She’s an industry leader in renewable resources and has worked hard to bring her family’s business away from oil production and into other energy sources. She worked with the speech team on some of your position papers.”
“Hold up.”
Meredith and Jen both turned to face Gordon who wore a frown. “Gantry Oil was recently the focus of a federal investigation here in Dallas and you’re going to give her exclusive access?”
“Lily Gantry hasn’t been the focus of anything other than awards for her work in the field of energy development,” Jen said with a snarl. “And she happens to be married to the criminal bureau chief of the US attorney’s office, Peyton Davis. She’s heavily involved in charitable causes, and connected eight ways to Sunday. Meredith has everything to gain from having a sit-down with her, and if she declines it would look bad. Do you really think I’d put my own sister in a position that would be harmful to her?”
Gordon held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not saying there isn’t a good reason to meet with Lily Gantry, but I need to be in on the discussion about things like this or I’m not doing my job.” He stared pointedly at Meredith. “You understand what I’m saying, right?”
Meredith did. Gordon’s contract gave him veto power over any other staff member, including Jen, and Meredith could sense his growing aggravation at the way Jen tried to circle around him. His statement about not doing his job was code for Jen wasn’t letting him do his job, and Meredith knew it was only a matter of time before he bowed out. It was becoming more and more of a problem, and she was going to have to deal with it. Soon. “I understand. I’m going to take this meeting, but, Jen, while I’m talking to Lily, give the other names on your list to Gordon, and let his team do an initial vetting before we meet. Thanks.”
The bus was parked near the tarmac, and a team was loading their luggage into the storage compartment. They’d stay in Dallas overnight and head downstate to Austin in the morning, followed by a trip to Houston in the afternoon. Meredith walked up the steps of the bus and headed toward her private room in the back with Jen on her heels. When she reached the door, Meredith kept her hand on the handle and faced her. “We need to talk about what just happened.”
“What?”
Meredith wasn’t
falling for the “what in the world are you talking about” tone. “I need everyone on the team to work together.”
“You should be telling that to him. Gordon may have a lot of insider contacts, but we need influencers. People like Lily Gantry have powerful friends, and their influence spreads wide. It’ll be the best ten minutes you spend on this junket. Way more productive than a few remarks at a dinner full of stuffed shirts.”
Meredith shut her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose to ward off the headache that was crawling its way up her neck. “I will talk to Gordon, but he’s got a strategy. It’s carefully thought out, and I signed off on it. I’m happy to incorporate your ideas, but it’s hard if you’re going to spring them on me at the last minute. A little notice would be nice. That’s all I’m saying.” For now. They’d hash this out in more detail later, but Meredith wanted five minutes alone before she had to make nice to strangers. Again.
Jen nodded. “Okay. I hear you.” She glanced back toward the front of the bus. “Are you ready?”
“I need to make a phone call. Give me five.”
“Do you want me to get someone on the line?”
Meredith couldn’t tell if Jen was being nosy or just didn’t think she was capable of doing simple things on her own anymore. If she won in November, there were lots of little things she’d no longer be able to do for herself, but she wasn’t ready to surrender all her independence quite yet. “I’ve got this. If I’m not out in five, feel free to knock.” Without waiting for a response, Meredith ducked into her room and sank onto the bed. The tiny space was her sanctuary for the few minutes she was able to rest during these road trips in between the plane flights, but right now she needed something more important than rest.
Stevie answered on the first ring. “I was hoping you’d call. Aren’t you due at a dinner in just a bit?”
Meredith laughed, happy beyond belief at the sound of Stevie’s voice. “Maybe I should hire you to go on the road with me since you seem to have such a good handle on my schedule. I can barely keep up with what city I’m in.”
“How’s Dallas?”
“From what I can see out my bus window, it looks like pretty much everywhere else I’ve been today.”
“You just need some barbecue or a big juicy steak. Some meaty, Western thing, and you’ll be just fine.”
“I miss you.” The words spilled out of Meredith’s mouth before she could stop them, and once they were out there, she wasn’t sure why she’d held back.
“I miss you too. This is harder than I thought it would be.”
“Just a few more days and I’ll be back in New York.”
“I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me too, you.” Meredith fished around for something else to say. Something that didn’t remind them both of the distance between them. “Talk to me about your day. I need to hear about the days of normal people. People who don’t try to navigate the circumference of the earth in twenty-four hours.”
“Okay, but I’m not sure it was normal. I talked to the prosecutor in the Barkley case today. She released more discovery, but not all of it, yet she continues to pressure me to get him to give up a bigger fish in exchange for a plea deal. The good news is I may have come up with an idea to get Barkley to communicate with me.”
“Sounds promising.”
“I hope so, because my initial review of the evidence only left me more confused than ever, and I think our only shot is for him to start helping me sift through it. The prosecutor’s been dangling the promise of a sweet plea offer, but I can’t tell if it’s decent until I have a better idea of the case against him.”
“Anything you can tell me?”
“No, but even if I could, would you really want me to?”
“Sorry, no. And I know you can’t talk. I suppose I’m so desperate to have a conversation that doesn’t have anything to do with this damn election.”
“We can talk in New York if you want, but I had other thoughts about what we could do while I’m there.”
“Is that so?”
“It is indeed.”
“I’m very interested in these other thoughts.”
“Would you like me to share a few of them now?”
A loud knock on the door startled Meredith, and she stood and cleared her throat. “Be right there,” she yelled at the door and then to Stevie, she whispered. “I hate this, but I have to go.”
“I get it. Totally. Just a few days and we’ll see each other in person. Be forewarned, you’re going to need to set aside a few hours with a Do Not Disturb sign on your door and your phone powered off. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“You’re going to knock ’em dead at that dinner.”
“Thanks.” Meredith knew this was when she should say good-bye, but she suddenly felt like a drama-filled teenager on the phone with her first girlfriend, worried that by hanging up the phone all would be lost. Funny since she’d never been like that when she actually was a teenager.
“Meredith?”
“Yes?”
“You got this.”
A few minutes later when Meredith was listening to the captivating Lily Gantry, her mind kept drifting back to her conversation with Stevie and lingering on what she might have planned for their date in New York, and she vowed to make the most of what little time they had and figure out a way to carve out more.
* * *
Stevie walked into the jail, shifted the box she was carrying onto one hip, and prepared to do battle. She slid the slip of paper with Barkley’s information on it to the guard. “I’m going to need to see him in a contact room with electrical outlets.”
Wrinkles formed on his forehead, and he shoved the slip back at her. “Window seat only today.”
She gripped the paper in her hand and shoved it back across the counter. “I called ahead.”
He shrugged. “Sorry.”
He wasn’t, and they both knew it. She set the box on the floor and rummaged through her bag for the ammunition she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to use. She finally located it and handed him a one-page document. “That’s an order from Judge Solomon. Are you going to comply?”
“It doesn’t say you have to see him today. Maybe the room will be available tomorrow.”
“Would you like me to call the judge?” She watched while he weighed the fun he got from giving her a hard time against the trouble he was likely to get in if his boss found out a federal judge was on his back.
She heard the large buzz of the gate lock disengaging, and he waved her through. “Room at the end on the left,” he said through the intercom. She picked up her box and walked the short distance, taking time to set up her files before Barkley showed up.
Barkley glanced back at the guard who escorted him, and Stevie tried to read his expression. It wasn’t fear. Anxiety maybe? Stevie waited until the guard shut the door and his footfalls no longer sounded in the hallway. “How have you been treated here?”
“Fine.”
The one word, though more than he usually said, was delivered with flat affect, telling her nothing. “You can tell me if someone is hurting you or threatening you. I can do something about it.”
“You have an exaggerated sense of your own power.”
“Someone’s chatty today. What’s the occasion?” She kept her tone light, hoping a bit of levity might spark him to say more.
“Why did you decide to take my case?”
“Somebody has to.”
“Not true. I could represent myself.”
She nodded like she was considering the idea. “True. You could. But why would you want to when you could have a seasoned professional like me?” She swore she detected a hint of a grin. “I brought you something.”
He didn’t ask any questions but watched intently as she used the hard edge of a file folder to puncture the packing tape on the box. After digging through the packing material, she pulled out a laptop and plugged it in. “This is an air-gapped computer. I assume you k
now what that means.”
He cocked his head and nodded in approval. “It’s never been connected to the internet.”
“Yep.” She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a flash drive. “This is a flash drive that I purchased yesterday. I took it to the FBI field office and watched them copy the discovery for your case on it, you know, the documents that Judge Solomon told them they had to unredact.”
“He issued his ruling?”
“Oh, so you have been paying attention.” She smiled to soften her sarcasm, pleased that something had penetrated the walls he’d thrown up between them. “He did issue an order. The government still has time to try to locate the encrypted documents, but they had to provide us with copies of the originals for the documents they already provided to us. I brought a copy of Solomon’s order if you want to see it, but the highlights are as follows: we cannot make copies of the documents and you will not be able to keep them in any form with you here at the jail. I did get him to agree to let you use a computer during our visits, but we can only view the documents on a computer that has not ever been nor during the course of this trial will be connected to the internet. The bonus to you is that you can be sure there is nothing installed on this laptop that could capture our conversations and send information about our activity out into the world.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a pad of Post-its, peeled one off, and placed it over the pinhole for the camera. “See, I planned for everything.”
“You think I’m paranoid.”
“Maybe I just think you’re really cautious. Let me guess, you’ve seen plenty of violations of privacy in your time at Folsom.”
He nodded so slightly she would’ve missed it had she not been paying careful attention.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that some of those violations were committed by government officials.”
Again with the almost imperceptible nod.
She pointed at the laptop. “Let’s make a deal. For now, you don’t have to say anything about the documents, simply mark anything of note for me to look at later. We’ll figure out what to do next if you unearth any smoking guns.”
