Jude: That’s my girl. Proud of you, baby. When’s the lunch?
Me: Thursday or Friday. Her assistant won’t have her travel itinerary finalized until Wednesday.
Jude: Damn.
Me: What?
Jude: I was hoping you’d be here with me by then. I understand, though. You can’t miss an opportunity like that.
Me: How’s your day going?
Jude: Good. Going to dinner with some donors in 45 min.
Me: Who?
Jude: The Branch brothers.
Me: Ah, nice. They’re a sure thing, love.
Jude: Yep. I can just relax and have a few drinks and a good steak. Should be fun. Wish you were coming with, though.
Me: I know. Me too.
Jude: Talk to your boss yet about being able to work from the road?
Me: No, didn’t get a chance.
Jude: Do it tomorrow if you can. I really want you here with me. We can have a Chicago staffer keep up with everything at the house, so don’t worry about that.
Me: I’ll do my best, babe.
Jude: Have to get in the shower. Call me later.
Me: When will your dinner be done?
Jude: It doesn’t matter if it’s done. I’ll step out to take your call.
Me: Okay. I love you.
Jude: Love you too.
I tuckmy phone back into my bag and close the door to my small office so I can get some work done. During the day, people are constantly in and out of here, often sitting down to talk. I like it since I don’t get to be in this office much, but it’s hard to get much done. I’ll use this evening to return emails and make a few phone calls.
Since Jude came to see me, I’m feeling grounded again. When things are off with us, things are off in every other area of my life, too. Before I met him, my foundation came from within myself. But now, our marriage is my emotional foundation. He’s so much more than just my lover and partner. Jude is my best friend. The yin to my yang. The first person I want to talk to, whether it’s about something good or bad.
I notice a growling in my stomach when the sun starts to set, so I order some vegetable fried rice from a Chinese place that delivers and keep powering through until it arrives.
When I finally get to eat, I curl up in the small armchair in the corner of my office, trying to clear my mind of all the things I still want to get done tonight. This job is unending. There’s always another connection to be made, another meeting to set up. I like that, but at times, it overwhelms me.
When my bosses hired me for this job, they told me to work at my own pace. Jude scoffed at that when I told him and said they knew damned well I only have one pace—full speed ahead. But I love a challenge, and I’m passionate about bipartisanship. I’m quite lucky to have fallen into a job that works so well, considering I’m a former Democratic state rep who’s married to a Republican senator. I thought the political world might consider me a woman without a country when word hit that Jude and I were together and I was dropping out of the Senate race.
I want to be with Jude on the campaign trail. Not because he’s campaigning, but because I always want to be wherever he is. But it’ll be near impossible to do my job from the campaign trail.
This job requires in-person contact, and DC is where I have most of my meetings. I occasionally have some in Chicago or New York, but most political back-and-forth happens in the nation’s capital. If I’m on the road with Jude, I’d barely have time for a few phone calls and emails every day. That’s not the kind of job I want to be doing.
And then there’s the truth that’s been nagging in the back of my mind all day—how can I claim to be working to create bipartisanship when I’m actively stumping for a Republican candidate, even if he is my husband? His opponent is no fool, and she’ll be telling the power players in the Democratic Party that I’m all talk about being middle of the road.
I scoop the last bite of rice from the white box and toss the container into the trash can, returning to my desk. If I had a couch in my office, that’s where I’d be sleeping tonight. Instead, I’ll probably take an Uber to my hotel around ten, talk to Jude, and then crash before getting up in the morning to do it all over again.
