I sit back in my chair while he reads bullet points off his phone to me. By the time he finishes less than five minutes later,I nod. “Okay,” I wearily say. “But I want one of you two in here with me for this. Misery loves company.”
“Dec,” Case says. “You’re up. You can get the governor his lunch, and yours, and bring it back before getting started. I have to be over at the Senate speaker’s office by one for a meeting.”
I sip my coffee. “Okay. What’s next…”
She calls in the staff for our morning meeting, includingmy comms director, Cassidy Larraby. These don’t take long, because Casey and Declan have already had the main staff meeting and know what needs to be brought to my attention now and what does not.
By eight thirty we’re finished with that, and I’m returning to budget meeting prep. Casey leaves Declan with me to go over stuff. I’m good, and determined, and a control freak, but any top governmentexecutive who insists he knows more than his staff about everything that’s going on is either psychotic, a liar, or both.
I’m juggling dozens of plates in the air. I have trusted staff I know can distill information for me into concise, accurate highlights before presenting it to me. Declan isn’t the only aide in my office, but Casey hired him as her deputy because he’s the one she trusts themost to keep an eye on everyone else in her absence, and to accurately gut-check her and me both. Even more importantly, she trusts him with my privacy, and with the kids’ privacy, and that’s incredibly important to me in light of Aussie’s confession to me.
And I like the guy. He doesn’t act like he’s trying to brown-nose, or score political points with me for higher ambitions. He doesn’t wantto run for office—ever. He does his job exceptionally well, and that he does it at what amounts to a financial sacrifice on his part speaks highly to his character. I know for a fact he could easily be pulling in $250k or more a year at the law firm, but he’s making less than $50k a year now.
My administrative assistant buzzes to let me know that everyone’s assembled for the budget meeting, andam I ready to have her send them in?
Declan’s already brought me another coffee. I take a sip before standing and pulling on my blazer. I nod to Declan, who answers her and tells her to send them in.
“You ready?” I ask him.
He gives me a smile. “Yes, sir.”
“Here we go.”
The door opens.
