His phone pinged and my eyes opened. Reluctantly, Logan looked down at the screen. “I’m sorry.” He gave me a weary look. “I have to go now.”
“Please,” I choked. “Don’t throw your campaign away for me.”
Logan looked back over his shoulder, his smile small and sad. “Sorry, Lex. I’ve got to piss you off one last time.”
We lined the sofa, staring at Cary’s giant flat-screen. In the center of it, Logan stood in front of the campaign headquarters, flanked by reporters. The campaign’s comms director was visible in the background, biting her nails. Underneath, the chyron scrolled the headlineArthur Breaks Silence About Cheating Rumors.
“I’m going to make this brief.” Logan’s face was the sternest I’d seen it. Goose bumps rose on my arms. “I asked Alexis Stone to pretend to date me after compromising pictures of us surfaced that I deemed a risk to my political career. The entire deception was my idea and carried out at my request.”
Beside me, Nora winced, but Cary looked at the screen with shining eyes.
“Because of the nature of our arrangement, Alexis had every right to date other people.” His sternness slipped into anger. “So I’m asking—demanding—that the media leave her alone. As for me, I want to offer my apologies for misleading you. I let the pressure of the race warp my judgment. Rest assured I’m done pretending to be someone I’m not to appease people. From now on, you’ll get only the real Logan Arthur. I hope it’s enough. Thank you.”
He turned his back on the cameras. Predictably, the reporters exploded into questions, but he kept walking to the campaign office, where the comms director put an arm over his shoulders, shielding him, and they disappeared through the double doors. The cameras returned to the anchors in the studio, whose mouths were almost comically agape.
“What a fall,” said one of the comms consultants, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Logan ends up on a syllabus at the Kennedy School.”
“Epic Fuck-Ups of the Twenty-First Century,” agreed another consultant.
I tuned them out. All I could think about was what Logan had said: that he was going to stop pretending to be someone he wasn’t to appease people. All this time I’d thought he and I were complete opposites, but where it mattered, we were the same.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Nora, squeezing my hand. When I saw her face, I knew what she was going to say. “I should leave now, shouldn’t I?”
At least her voice was regretful. “I’m sorry. But I need you to keep your distance from Logan from this moment forward.”
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me and swallowed hard, willing myself not to cry.
“You’re part of a scandal now,” Nora said. “Which means you’re toxic to him. All people will see when they look at you is his lie. If he’s going to have a shot at coming back from this—”
Cary scoffed.
“We can’t have you anywhere near him,” Nora finished. “Do you understand what I’m asking?”
It was only logical.Still, how it stung. “Yes,” I said quietly. “You want me to disappear.”
39
My Favorite Person in the World
Silver lining of being asked to disappearafter a terrible scandal: as an introvert, I’d been training for this all my life. Two days after Logan had taken all the blame, public interest in me finally waned, judging by the way my social media notifications dried up. Still, I wasn’t taking any chances, so indoors I remained. I finally had the apartment sorted, anyway: I’d closed the blinds until the whole place was dark and forlorn—at first to block photographers and now simply for the ambiance—my pantry was stocked with chocolate bars, I’d hunted down every chenille blanket and draped them over me until I was shielded by a mountain of softness, and now I was curled on the couch with Patches, whose steady purring kept my serotonin levels high, all things considered.
I rubbed her ears until she closed her eyes. “It’s going to be you and me from now on. Just two golden girls living out the sunset of their lives.” True, I was only twenty-seven, but after these last few months in politics, I felt whatever age Patches was in cat years. Forget giving in to my inner sex goddess; it was time to cede the floor to my inner sexagenarian.
“This is your daily reminder that I love you.” I booped Patches on the nose, then lifted the remote. “Time to torture ourselves.”
I still couldn’t bring myself to sit through the news, what with the constant danger of Logan’s face cropping up. Instead of the real world, Patches and I had chosen to live in a sunnier one, burning through about two decades’ worth of romantic comedies during my two days of exile. But what we were about to watch had arrived in the mail from my mother: the final cut of the Happy Homes commercial. She’d attached a note that said, cryptically:Went in a different direction.
The opening credits flashed, white words against a black background:Directed byElise Stone (in spirit). Then:Directed by Roger Akins and the Bayou City Film Crew (in terms of actual direction).
I shook my head. I never should’ve taught her how to use Adobe Premiere.
Logan appeared on-screen with a toothpaste commercial smile, walking through the main hall of Happy Homes. “Welcome to the happiest animal rescue in Texas.” He spanned his arms wide like Vanna White. I let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.
The commercial cut to him kneeling down to pet two dogs side by side. “Where every animal is precious, and gets the care, attention and love they deserve. Whether they’re dogs—” The screen shifted to Logan wearing muck boots, out in the horse stables. “Farm animals—” It cut to him giving a thumbs-up next to a gerbil racing in a wheel. “Gerbils, hamsters, and rabbits—” Then it cut to him wide-eyed, trying to smile through terror as a thick snake was draped over his shoulders. “Friendly reptiles,” he quivered. The shot changed to Logan sitting cross-legged in the kitten room. “Or all the cats you could ever want.” On cue, the army of kittens barreled on-screen, running him over.
My jaw dropped as I entered the frame, crouching next to Logan.Elise Stone, you monster!She’d promisedshe wouldn’t get me on camera.
“You should adopt from Happy Homes because they’re all about love,” said Logan’s voiceover. On-screen, he and I grinned at each other. I sat up straighter on the couch.
