“Oh, the stuff about his girlfriends?” Hayden asked. “Do you think that’s all true, Calleigh? You don’t think the guy can be a bachelor politician without sleeping with every girl who walks past him?”
“Really, Hayden? How many women does he need to be photographed with for you to believe that the guy is dating multiple women while running for office?”
“The campaign came right out and said that he had no personal relationships with those women, and they were just friends,” Hayden reminded her.
“Convenient,” Calleigh said dismissively. “The campaign will make a statement in whatever way is most favorable to them. Whether the campaign wants to admit it or not, it just makes him look like a player.”
Hayden shrugged. “Probably. What do you think, Liz?” he asked, trying to include her.
Liz’s mouth had gone dry. Of all the days for that shit to surface, it had to be the couple days before the primary that she had refused to watch the news. The only thing she didn’t know was whether or not her involvement had surfaced. Someone surely would have said something if it had, right?
“Brady’s bachelor status is known, as well as the various dates he brings to functions. I don’t know why it’s being brought up now except as a desperate attempt by his opponent to throw off those who favor more traditional family values,” Liz told them, speaking more confidently than she felt.
“Maybe,” Calleigh said nonchalantly. “I don’t know how they explain away the woman he’s secretly seeing.”
“What woman?” Liz asked, sure that her voice gave her away. Her hands were shaking and she clenched them into fists at her sides so they weren’t visible. She could feel her heart rate picking up. No. They couldn’t know.
“There are claims that he’s having a secret affair,” Calleigh nearly whispered, as if she were telling them a secret, but her eyes stared straight through Liz. Could she possibly know?
“Isn’t that all speculation?” Hayden asked. “There really isn’t any proof. Or at least, if the competition has it, it hasn’t surfaced yet.”
Calleigh shrugged. “We’ll see. I bet if he wins, it will surface.”
Liz found herself nodding, because Calleigh was right. If the competition had any proof of this “anonymous” woman, then it would surely come to light in the coming months. How many times had she been with Brady in a public place where people could have photographed them…videotaped them together? She listed them off in her head—gala event, lake house, Fourth of July, second gala event, his house, the cabana, not to mention the time she ran into Clay at Hilton Head, after Brady had told her not to be seen in public…
Fuck. Too many places. She had thought they had been so careful, but now looking back on it, it all seemed so reckless. Anything unexpected in politics could hurt a career, especially with a race as close as Brady’s. They had been sleeping together in private for months. It all came back to what Victoria had said, “A guy who wants to keep secrets from other people…is going to be okay keeping secrets from you.” Brady’s opponents could paint this so easily as deception, and people would be asking what else he was hiding for the rest of the election. Not to mention that her hard-earned objectivity would go down the drain. She and Brady had been gambling their careers, and now it could all blow up in their faces.
The room fell silent again, and Liz was sure people could hear her thoughts. She forced herself to look away from Calleigh’s questioning stare. She didn’t know how much Calleigh knew or if, as Hayden had said, it was all speculation. Either way it wasn’t comforting.
“We heard that we should be having the final results for the Fourth District over there in the Triangle area of North Carolina any minute now. What do you think about this race, Stacy?” the commentator asked his female coanchor.
“Well, it’s really a toss-up, Ryan,” Stacy said, furrowing her brow. “There’s been so much speculation going around about State Senator Maxwell’s bachelor status and the number of women he has been seen with. The question people are asking is ‘Who is Senator Maxwell dating?’ We’ve seen him with a North Carolina state beauty queen, an environmental lobbyist, and a swimsuit model. How many women is this politician dating at once? The campaign has come out and officially made a statement. You can see it here on the left.”
A clip of a campaign’s statement appeared on the screen, and Liz skimmed it quickly as the woman read over it aloud.
“‘State Senator Maxwell has had no official relationships with any of the women that he has been photographed with. They are simply friends who agreed to accompany him to events. He is, as ever, focused on the election.’ Now, that seems pretty straightforward to me, but I wonder how many more women will surface if he wins this primary. There has already been some talk about him having relations with yet another woman.”
“That’s right, Stacy,” Ryan cut in. “Who is this mystery woman? And will more evidence turn up regarding this situation? If it does, this could look bad for Senator Maxwell if he wins the primary today and moves on to the general election.”
Liz felt as if all of the color had drained out of her face. It was all hearsay. Someone had started a rumor that had bloomed into something with the potential to cause chaos. But still, she hadn’t heard about any swimsuit model from Brady. Was that just gossip as well? And why was the news even reporting on this?
She knew why even if it was infuriating at the moment. The race was as much selling a person as it was selling a platform…maybe more so. People could rally behind a compelling candidate like Brady, but with a potential mishap like this, how far would it set him back?
“Oh, it looks like the results are finally in,” Stacy said with a smile.
Liz watched the screen along with the rest of the crowd. She was solely focused on what was about to happen. Brady was going to win. He had to win. This was his dream.
“And it looks like in an incredibly close race with a win by only a thousand votes,” Stacy cheered, “State Senator Brady Maxwell has won the primary. Congratulations, Senator.”
The room erupted into applause. People were screaming, clapping, hugging one another, dancing with strangers—Liz could even see one lady crying on her friend’s shoulder. And all she did was stand there and stare.
Brady won. He had actually won. He had beaten a very qualified candidate, someone who had been working in politics two or three times longer than him. Yet, he had come out on top.