Conservative Affairs (5 page)

“Are you sure?” she asked, unable to stifle the sigh of relief that escaped her lips. Jo saw the tension drain from her body and a brightness return to her eyes.

It was clear that she was happy to see Jo take the fall, should there be one.

Drawing another long breath, Jo nodded her head, even though her hands trembled in her lap. She wasn’t sure, really, but somehow it felt like the right thing to do.

“Jo? We can tell her if you’d rather.” Gabe’s shaky voice offered her a way out, but his mousy expression seemed to beg her not to take him up on the offer.

“No. I’ve got it,” Jo insisted. “I’ll even draft the statement. I can have it to you before five,” she said, offering Jacquelyn a professional explanation for her actions, and got out of the car.

Before she could close the door, Gabe stuck his head out. “Thank you, Jo,” he said, offering her a smile that didn’t quite hide his frazzled expression. “I know this is a big thing to take on, but we’re happy to have you on the team.”

Pursing her lips to keep from letting out a half-amused laugh, she shook her head, shut the door and walked away.

It’s no wonder Gabe was so alone in the world, she thought. He was a good person, but weak. If he couldn’t muster the backbone necessary to step up in a situation like this, there was no way he could be seen as loyal to anyone.

Chapter Five

Could you pinpoint the moments your world changed forever? Madeline believed you could. For her, there were a number of such moments, happy ones that left her heart soaring as well as devastating ones that had left her feeling as though everything she knew and loved was being picked up by an Oklahoma twister and spun around in the sky until it plummeted back into the earth at breakneck speed.

Take the moment she was elected mayor. Although that had been a happy life change, something she had worked hard for, it had left her with the feeling that nothing would ever be the same again. She had been correct. It had turned everything upside down, thrusting her headfirst into a world filled with trade-offs, games, cameras and public scrutiny.

That life-changing moment had led to the others too. The moment John told her he didn’t love her anymore. The moment he announced he would be sleeping in a separate bedroom. The moment she realized for the first time that he wouldn’t be coming home for the night.

That day had been like any other. They hadn’t spoken until she got home from work. Then they had fought. He threw a bottle of wine across the room and walked out the front door. He had done all these things before. And, as she had each night when he left before, she had left the outside light on for when he drunkenly stumbled home and then had laid in bed as usual, waiting to hear the sound of the front door open and slam before allowing herself to fall asleep. That night, though, the door had never opened. Finally, at 3:15 a.m., she forced herself to admit that he wasn’t coming back. Everything around her felt as if it had turned to quicksand, shifting beneath her and trying to pull her into its depths.

It was a moment she replayed often, evoking it whenever she needed an extra surge of strength to get through a particularly difficult day.
If I got through that,
she would remind herself,
I can get through anything. I can get through this.

As she caught the words falling reluctantly from Jo Carson’s mouth, though, she felt as if she just might stop breathing.

Hotel. Affair. News channel. The words repeated in her mind, a vortex leading to the swirling and haunting world of her inner demons.

She had assumed for months that John was cheating. Without any evidence, though, it had been easy enough to ignore. That was the way she wanted it. She didn’t want to think about her husband sleeping with another woman. It was much easier to get through the day pretending that everything would be all right when she got home.

“Do you want to comment on the story, ma’am?”

The compassion in Jo’s voice broke through her distress, finally capturing Madeline’s attention. She looked up to tell her to tell the press John was a lying, cheating asshole, but when she opened her mouth, a choked sob came out instead of words.

Jo was by her side immediately, pulling her into an embrace as the tears began to fall. Madeline wanted to be strong, but it was as if someone had opened the floodgates. She leaned into Jo’s embrace and quietly sobbed.

Jo continued to repeat, “I’m so sorry,” as she stroked Madeline’s hair.

Madeline was not big on showing emotion in the first place and crying in public could be disastrous for female politicians. But being here with Jo was oddly comforting. She was thankful that she was the one who had come into her office to tell her the news. She was even more grateful that Jo had had the foresight to lock the door. No one needed to see the mayor bawling like a baby. Not even Jo Carson, she decided.

Sniffling, Madeline did her best to regain her composure. “I apologize, Jo.”

“No, don’t apologize. I’m here if you need anything.”

The sympathy was too much. For reasons she couldn’t explain, it triggered another sobbing fit.

* * *

As Madeline Stratton sobbed quietly in her arms, Jo felt her own heart breaking. She fought off tears of her own, continuing to stroke Madeline’s hair, trying to channel her empathic reaction into an alternative outlet.

What kind of jackass would crush the heart of such an extraordinary woman? Would walk out on someone so beautiful, someone whose blue eyes held within them both intelligence and sweetness, especially when they were crying? It didn’t make sense that someone this incredible should be crying her eyes out, wondering what she had done wrong.

Then again, it didn’t make sense that Jo was the one who had rushed to her rescue, who had
needed
to be there when Madeline got the news. She didn’t have an established relationship with the mayor like some of the other staff members did, but a tornado could not have ripped her away from Madeline’s side in that moment. If Madeline needed her, she would be there, even if she couldn’t explain why.

“Do you want to get out of the office?” Jo asked carefully, deciding that if she were having a breakdown of her own, she wouldn’t want to be here.

Madeline nodded her head weakly. When she looked up at Jo, the raw pain in her eyes was enough to make Jo’s eyes pool with tears.

“Wait here for a minute. I’m going to shuffle some things on my desk, and I’ll drive you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Madeline insisted.

“No. I’m not going to have you driving yourself anywhere right now. Please, just wait a moment.”

For a woman who was usually filled with enough fight to take on an army by herself, Madeline’s concession came too easily. “Okay,” she agreed in a voice barely above a whisper.

Before Jo was out the door, she added, “Please tell the reporters ‘no comment.’ I don’t know what else to say.”

Jo nodded, feeling every bit of Madeline’s pain as if it were her own.

Quickly she walked to Jacquelyn’s office and shut the door behind her.

“Holy shit, you’re as white as a ghost. How’d she take it?”

“I’m taking her home and getting her out of here.” Jo had to focus harder than normal to make the words come out calm and collected. “Also, her response is ‘no comment.’ She figured it would be easier that way.”

“Okay, are you coming back here after you take her home? I want to know all about it, what she says.”

“Have a fucking heart, Jacquelyn! This is her marriage, not some topic of petty gossip,” Jo shot back before opening the door and walking to her desk to grab her things.

Her blood was boiling by the time she got back to Madeline’s office, so she took an extra minute outside of the door to calm down. Tensions were running high, and she needed to be the strong, steady one right now. She knocked lightly on the door. “It’s me.” Entering quickly, she gathered everything Madeline might need if she decided to lose herself in work this evening and then draped Madeline’s coat around her body.

Grasping her by the elbow, Jo helped her to her feet. “Let’s get you out of here.” Then, as if shielding Madeline from flashing cameras instead of from the curious eyes of her staff, she hurried her out the front door and made a beeline for her little red Camaro. She always loved its sleek look, but she suddenly wished there was more room for Madeline to sit in and be comfortable. She opened the passenger door and got Madeline settled before jogging around and getting in herself.

Feeling somewhat safer once she was inside, Jo turned to Madeline and managed a smile. “I’m going to need directions to get you home.”

Madeline only shook her head.

“Or,” Jo offered, “you can just give me the address and I’ll type it into my GPS.” She pointed to the device mounted on her dashboard.

“No, I can’t go home—not yet anyway. If they’re not there already, it’s soon going to be surrounded by reporters.”

“Well, where do you want to go?”

“I want a drink.”

Jo considered this. If she were in Madeline’s shoes, she’d want a drink too, but where could she take her in early afternoon hours without drawing any attention?

“Do you have a particular destination in mind?” Jo asked.

“Not a bar.”

“I figured as much. Let me think.”

In the silence, Jo considered her options, which were few and far between. The desperation she felt fueled her next question. “How does my place sound? You can have a few drinks there and relax. We’ll play the rest by ear.”

Jo knew she was crossing a line by offering her place as a refuge for her boss, a risky move maybe, given that they barely knew each other—and some of what the mayor thought she knew about Jo was totally false. There was nevertheless some contentment in her heart when Madeline agreed.

“That would be nice.” Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a slight smile emerged from Madeline’s grief-stricken face. “Thank you for this, Jo. I appreciate it.”

Jo squeezed her hand and nodded. There was nowhere else she could have imagined being, though ironically, considering she was a speechwriter, she knew she would not have been able in that moment to conjure up the words to express that.

There was just something about Madeline Stratton. Every move, every expression, everything she said mesmerized her. Even when she was in pain, she was captivating. Usually when she brought someone home, she had no more on her mind than getting her into bed.

Not that she couldn’t envision doing that with Madeline, but it was different with her. She wanted to know what Madeline was thinking, feeling. Wanted to be there when things were bad as well as good.

She delved deeper into her thoughts as she drove, mentally shaking her head. Wanting to throw Madeline into bed—that was a highly inappropriate thought given the circumstances. And the fact that Madeline was straight, of course. She would have to be content just being Madeline’s friend, something she would have once thought impossible.

Friend?
Jo rolled the word around in her mind. Was she Madeline’s friend? A week ago, she would have considered herself just a staff member, but something had changed between them over breakfast yesterday. Jo hoped the familiarity between them was blossoming into a friendship. Madeline Stratton was one hell of a woman, and Jo would give her left arm to be friends with someone of her caliber, intelligence and wit.

She hoped this visit to her apartment wouldn’t ruin those chances. She pictured every nook and cranny in the place. Had she left anything out that would make Madeline view her differently? She didn’t think so—she never knew when her mom might pop by, so she was generally careful—but she couldn’t be sure. She’d just have to keep her eyes peeled.

The mental inventory did serve to remind her that she was out of beer. Hell, she didn’t even know if Madeline drank beer.

“What would you like to drink?” Jo asked, although she would have laid money on the table that Madeline was a whiskey drinker.

Madeline let out a sad laugh. “Red wine, but only when the cameras are on.” She hesitated before adding, “I think I’d like to have some Jameson tonight.”

Jo had to stifle the sound of approval rising in the back of her throat. The hot ones always drank whiskey.

“Do you want it straight, or should I get something to mix?” Jo asked, again knowing the answer.

“Straight.”

The response was hotter than anything Jo could have imagined coming from the mayor’s mouth. An intense desire to kiss Madeline rose up within her. Imagining how poorly the ultraconservative woman would react to that, she fought to keep her raging hormones in check.

She stopped at a liquor store and put the car in park. “I’ll be right back.”

Fumbling with her wallet, Madeline pulled out a credit card. “Here, use this.”

“I’ve got it.” Jo smiled. It was the least she could do, and it would be best to keep the liquor store from knowing that the mayor was stocking up on booze in light of her current public relations challenge.

“Well, take it in case you change your mind.”

“No,” Jo said firmly. “Do you want anything else?”

“A pack of Camel Menthols?”

Jo’s smile grew. There was definitely more to Madeline Stratton than met the eye.

“You got it,” Jo said and headed inside.

Scanning the shelves for the Jameson gave her the chance to clear her mind. She was going to have Madeline Stratton in her apartment this evening, and chances were she was going to get drunk. That meant that whatever salacious thoughts Jo had about Madeline were going to have to be locked away. Not that Jo would have acted upon them. Even so, they were dangerous thoughts to be having when alcohol was added to the mix.

She grabbed a bottle of Jameson from the shelves and picked up two packs of Camel Menthols at the counter. She paid and made her way back to her car, promising herself that she wouldn’t do anything stupid tonight. She had a job to keep, a reputation to uphold, a secret to hide and a friend who needed her support—nothing more.

Chapter Six

“She was a bitch today. That’s all I know.” Jacquelyn’s words were dripping with bitterness as she once again recounted her side of today’s events to Gabe, but all Gabe wanted was to know if Jo needed anything.