“I will, Sir.”
“I’d come down and say hi, but I don’t want to push it. I’ll be okay for tomorrow, I think. She’s just at the White House.”
“We’re flying out tomorrow night.”
“I know, baby. Seattle’s a pretty city, too. I should be feeling better by the time you two return.” We’ll be gone for two days for trade meetings. Elliot’s leading the delegation.
“Oh, I need to tell you this.” I relate what happened on the plane and he starts laughing.
“She’s been threatening to call your parents. Glad she finally did it.”
“She has, huh?”
“Yep.” He glances at the time. “You need to go. It’s been nearly ten minutes. Traffic’s building up behind the motorcade, I’m sure.”
I hate to leave him, but he doesn’t look like he’s in nearly as much pain as he was earlier this morning. Stalling, I kiss him again. “Do you want me to come back later, after we’re finished at campaign headquarters?”
“No, baby. It’s cold, and I’ll be all right.” He gives me one last kiss and sends me out the door and back to Elliot.
Once again, he’s left behind, and I hate that.
After I’m back in the SUV and we’re underway, Elliot leans close. “How is he?”
I smile and crook a finger at him, and I’m pleasantly surprised that he lets me kiss him. “That’s from him.”
He smiles. “Thank you, Sir.” He sits back, and so do I.
“You’re very welcome, boy.”
Once we’re at campaign headquarters, I try to focus on the ads, but what I really want to do is dig into the lastest round of polling questions the bullpen team is working on.
Except Elliot wants me to watch the ads with him.
Doe Eyes, the guy I’m not super-fond of, gives us a quick update about their progress on the polling questions, an update which tells me zilch and leaves me with more questions than answers. Except with twenty-plus other things vying for Elliot’s attention, I don’t have time to follow up with them tonight. They’re working on a set of questions to send to the company conducting the polls, and I’ve already been promised that I’ll get to sign off on them before they’re sent.
Elliot’s voice focuses me again. “Jordan, what do you think?”
I drag my mind away from polling. “The ad’s fine. Boring, dull, but fine.” I address everyone. “It’s not going to hurt Elliot, but I’m reasonably sure it won’t help him. You’re hitting against Boone in particular, but he might not even be in the race come Iowa.” That’s in just over one hundred days. “I don’t think it’s wise to hit any particular GOP candidate yet. It might signal we sense a strength where we don’t. I’d rather our current ads focus on Elliot’s legislative record and the things he’s accomplished while in office as VP.”
This is all obvious to me, and I’m more than a little unsettled that the guy in charge of creating the ads missed that basic point.
Elliot nods. “Jordan’s right. Let’s stay positive, for now. We can hit hard once we know who the front-runners are after Iowa.”
“Even then, I’d wait a little,” I tell them. “Closer to their convention.”
I check my campaign e-mail to find that I’ve got the latest poll results waiting for me. I grab my campaign laptop and open it so I can download the data. This isn’t one of our in-house polls, but it’s a great gauge of where Elliot is seen amongst the huge GOP pack currently nipping at his heels when they aren’t snapping at each other’s necks.
Unfortunately, as I try to study the data, it’s just not making sense to me. Between needing to pay attention for Elliot, and my brain preoccupied by thoughts of Leo alone in his apartment, my analytical brain is telling me all resources are currently at maximum capacity.
I close my laptop and sit back to observe and listen. I’ll deal with the numbers later, once we’re home and in bed and I can sit there and study them without interruption.
Elliot glances at me, double-takes, and frowns. He leans in and I lean over to meet him halfway. “Everything all right?” he asks.
“Yeah, sorry. Just want to study those polls later, and I’m thinking about someone else.”
“Ah.”
I can tell Leo’s on his mind, too. Makes me want to shake some sense into the boy, but I know that’s not how to reach Elliot’s core and move him off his fear. Logic won’t work on him about this particular subject.
Problem is, short of defying Leo and ordering Elliot to do it, I haven’t yet figured out an answer for it, either.
