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Paul and David walk through the door, sopping wet from the rain outside.

“Why on earth are you so wet? Did you go dancing in the rain or something?”

They look at each other with a grimace. “Not exactly,” David says.

“What is it?” I look from David to Paul. “Just tell me.”

“On the drive over here, we saw a bunch of your campaign signs. They had been vandalized…” Paul wipes his face uneasily. “And the few that hadn’t were removed completely.”

“Vandalized how?” I ask, my heart sinking.

“Someone took bright pink spray paint and wrote–” David clears his throat awkwardly “–man-whore… on them.”

“So, should we order more signs? Or does this mean everyone in Kansas hates me?”

“It really doesn’t look good, Madden,” Paul says gently. “I’m sorry.”

“It did just come out last night that Christopher Highman has a civil suit filed against him for releasing confidential documents,” David offers. “So, things don’t look great for Larry, either.”

Odette must have noticed Paul and David dripping all over the tile because she moves suddenly to the linen closet for a few towels. “Here, dry yourselves off. Thanks for taking care of the signs, guys.”

“Yes, thank you for taking care of it. I’m sure it was miserable in the rain.” I sigh. “So what do we do now?”

Paul quickly dries his hair off with the towel, then drapes it around his shoulders. “Like David said, the news about Christopher hit the media yesterday, so we’re not sure yet how this will affect Larry’s campaign. What we do know is that, according to this week's polls, you’re way behind Larry since his commercial came out.”

“And the comments on social media are… vicious,” David says quietly. “Several people compared you to a pimp and Odette to a…. well, a prostitute.”

Odette’s face pales.

Rage surges in my chest, followed quickly by shame. This is my fault. “I’m so sorry, Odette. I really hoped the commercial we made would help.”

Paul brings his hand to Odette’s shoulder. “Try to stay off of social media for a while yet… I was worried about how people might react. It’s so easy to say horrible things about someone when you’re hiding behind a screen. Don’t let it weigh you down.”

I move toward Odette and grab her hand, threading our fingers together. She stiffens at first, but the gesture must be comforting because, after a few seconds, she leans against me. “I want to make a public apology. I think that’s all I can do at this point. I need to own up to my mistakes and be honest, not just because it might endear me to voters, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

Odette looks up at me, her green eyes brimming with tears. “I’ll stand up with you. We both did this. We both lied.”

Abruptly, we hear banging on the front door. I groan, expecting to see a journalist when I open it. Much to my surprise, it’s my mother. She’s soaked with rain and crying.

I pull her inside and wrap my arms around her. It's alarming to see her so upset. My mother has probably cried in front of me three times in my entire life. Something must be horribly wrong.

“Shh, Mom. It’s okay.” I whisper, trying to calm her, but her body is convulsing with heavy sobs. If my arms weren’t holding her up, I’m positive she would collapse onto the floor.

David brings his towel over and covers her shoulder with it, alarm evident in his usually calm expression. “What’s wrong?”

I pull back so I can look at her, but hold on to her shoulders firmly so she won’t fall. She tries to calm herself, attempting to steady her breath. Finally, with tears still streaming down her face, she rasps, “It’s Sam.”

My face falls, and dread settles in the pit of my stomach. “What about Sam? What happened?”

“Is Sophie okay?” David asks, eyes wide with panic.

She takes another deep breath and manages to choke out between sobs, “He was killed… by an IED.”

“No…” I must have misheard her, or maybe there’s been some mistake. “That can’t be right.”

“Your dad is in surgery and I can’t get a hold of him.” She sits on the couch and grabs a box of tissues. “Sophie is distraught. She needs us.”

I look over at Paul. “I’m sorry. The campaign will just have to wait. I hope you understand.”