The room was starting to fill up and waiters waltzed through, passing out hors d’oeuvres and drinks to Madeline’s many supporters. Jane stood with Madeline in the dressing room, for their last few minutes of quiet.
“This is it,” Jane stated the obvious and smiled admiringly at her boss.
It was it, thought Madeline. It was a pivotal moment in her career—for the good or the bad. Even with everything going on, Madeline had continued to check her phone to see if news of her infidelity had made the press, but at least up until then, it hadn’t. Her blackmailer had either let it go, or not upped the deadline to her new event. Journalists were already posting live from the events, showing pictures of the décor, and posting sound bites from attendees. Things were going smoothly as planned.
Jane led Madeline into the room to the first spot in her choreographed movements for the evening. She stood near Jason Bittley, the CEO of a major manufacturing company in her district, and asked about his wife. How was she feeling? If there was anything else she could do while she continued her treatment, please let them know! Jason responded positively, telling Madeline that his wife’s chemotherapy was going well and they were likely on the last round. A full recovery was expected. Madeline voiced her happiness and Jane took notes.
She then swanned to her next spot for the evening. Where Laura McDermott was mingling with other heads of local think tanks. Laura ran a think tank that supported Republican Libertarians and had created a significant amount of content that swirled the web prior to Madeline’s previous victory. How was her son doing at Stanford? Had he chosen a major? He was loving it! He’d be majoring in International Relations and minoring in French. Laura didn’t understand the minor, but apparently her son found the language interesting, quotes and emphasis around the last word. How lucky our children are that they get to study what interests them instead of studying in sole preparation for a career!
Jane continued to lead Madeline around the room while taking notes of all her personal conversations. There was no talk of the campaign, nor of any of Madeline’s political agendas. No one mentioned her opponent, Officer Austin, nor did they discuss her upcoming speech. From the conversation alone, it would seem as though Madeline was at a friendly dinner party, with only close friends who didn’t all have their own agendas for attending this bountiful evening. But this is the political dance that one must dance in order to win. Pretend that everything is friendly and perfect, when in truth one misplaced word could tear it all down.
She shook hands with journalists, smiled for pictures, and deferred all questions to Jane. She could see even the press enjoying the evening, how could they not? With all the free food and alcohol that everyone knew reporters loved.
Madeline felt elated from the evening’s ballet. She enjoyed the mingling, the handshaking, the smiles of assurance that she shared with supporters. It gave her confidence that she was doing the right thing, that she could win with the troves of support she had behind her.
When the time came, Jane led Madeline back to the dressing room to have her hair and makeup touched up before her upcoming speech. With adrenaline running high, Madeline and Jane smiled and even joked with one another about their excitement during the evening. Jane showed her some of the pictures that had already been published from the event and Madeline herself was surprised by how bright and sophisticated she looked.
With her face reapplied and her hair freshly sprayed, she went to the waiting room behind the stage where the speakers for the evening assembled. Aside from Hunter, there was the leader of the California chapter of Republican National Committee, Mark Waldo, who would introduce her, as well as California governor Timothy Boyd who had flown specially to spend an entire half hour at her event. Madeline thanked her guests and introduced them to Hunter.
“You must be busy these days!” Boyd exclaimed when hearing he was the city councilman for Harlem.
“A democrat speaking for Madeline?” Waldo said while pursing his lips in approval. “Are you sure you don’t want to switch sides?”
Hunter used his charm to connect with these older white men, who weren’t used to speaking with men like Hunter. They all voiced their praises for Madeline and the older men returned to their staff to finalize their preparations.
“How are you feeling?” Hunter asked Madeline when they were alone in the waiting room.
“Good,” she said and she meant it. She wasn’t nervous about public speaking, in fact, she loved public speaking. She found it empowering, especially when speaking about a cause she cared about, such as her reelection. At the moment, she was glad Brandon couldn’t come with her. She couldn’t imagine having this conversation with her husband by her side. “Jane really loved the speech you wrote.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said. “What did you think about it?”
“It could be a bit more refined,” she said with a wink. “But it gets your point across. I liked it.”
“Well, as it turns out, I Actually wrote a second that I am thinking about giving instead tonight.”
“Oh? Get it to Jane if you want it on the teleprompter.”
“I don’t need a teleprompter for this.” Hunter’s eyes narrowed and suddenly Madeline didn’t feel as light and high as she had all evening. “I want to help you, Maddy. I want to help you win, but only if you will help me.”
Chapter 30
“You’re on in five,” Jane said to Hunter as she brushed by him. She continued on to talk to Mark Waldo and give him his last handshake before he left the wings to
