Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Dancing cats go viral. Excuse me for not trusting a million hits on YouTube to dictate my future.”
“Millions,” Dad amends. “While you’ve been licking your wounds and hiding in these hills—”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Whatever. You’re not out there. People believed in Owen. They don’t see any other candidate who makes them feel that way, who makes them believe that way. They’ve started petitions to get your name on the ballot.”
“What?”
“There’s a group of independents who have organized something called the Cade Ballot Access Committee.”
“What?” I can’t seem to find another word to say.
“It’s a complicated process, getting onto the ballot, especially when you’re not affiliated with a party. You have to go state by state to get on, and every state has its own rules. Some of them require a helluva lot of signatures. This group has teams in every state collecting signatures so they’ll be ready when you decide to run.”
“And this is separate from Chuck?”
“Yes. Chuck wants you to run for the Democrats. Is that such a stretch? You were a surrogate for Owen.”
“That’s the point. The person I believed in happened to be a Democrat. Parties prescribe too much, try to strip you of what you believe for the sake of making others believe in you. That’s not me.”
“The call for you to run, the speculation that you might, is out there. You could still mobilize and have enough of an organization to be ready for Iowa.”
This is an echo of the conversation I had with Lennix before my father arrived, but we were discussing her diving back in to manage someone else’s campaign.
Would she manage mine?
Is this even a possibility? Do I want it to be?
Something stirs in me. I don’t know if it’s my own ruthless ambition or if it’s the optimism Owen brought back to my life—the restlessness I’ve been unable to place or articulate. I meant what I said in the eulogy. Owen did make me believe again. He made me want to be a part of some solution to a world that is broken and fractured in ways that hurt the weakest, the poorest, most.
You really think you can convince a nation to change its ways? And the answer is always yes.
My own voice from another lifetime, from that first night with Lennix, haunts me.
Is the answer still yes?
Even as I ask myself the question, the pain of that phone call when I found out about Owen slams into my chest with fresh impact. I have been hiding, but not hiding myself. Hiding Lennix. I wouldn’t live through losing her, and risking her on the campaign trail while that psychopath is still on the loose? I couldn’t. I can’t.
There’s my answer.
“I came so you can at least consider it,” Dad says, standing. “Let me know your answer.”
“Answer to what?” Lennix asks from the top of the stairs. “What’s the question?”
CHAPTER 34
LENNIX
“Ahh.” Warren Cade looks up at me, his eyes cooling, hardening into volcanic glass. “Ms. Hunter. Never too far away, are you?”
He makes me sound like some grasping whore following his son around from place to place.
“Mr. Cade.” That’s the only greeting I can offer that’s neutral and authentic as I take the stairs down to join them. Nice to see you would be a lie. I think even hello would smack of phoniness “I repeat, what’s the question you came here to ask Maxim?”
“I’m not sure it’s any of your business.”
I’ll let Maxim address that.
He meets me at the stairs and leads me by the hand to where his father stands. “It’s very much her business, Dad,” he says, frowning. “I wouldn’t make a decision this important without consulting the woman I love.”
“Damn your mama’s heart,” Warren mutters. “Power has nothing to do with love, Maxim.”
“You’re wrong, Dad. You think I’d consider this because of the power it would give me, but the power I have could help the country I love. I’m not running, though, so it’s a moot point.”
“Running?” I ask. “What run? What are you talking about?”
“There’s a great deal of interest in Maxim running for president,” Warren says.
His words don’t sink in right away. It takes my mind a few seconds to process them.
“I’ve already told him no,” Maxim says.
“Don’t be hasty.” Warren runs a scathing glance over my perfectly presentable wrap dress and ballet flats. You’d think I was dressed like a stripper the way he looks at me so disdainfully. “And don’t listen to her.”
“I think you should consider it,” I tell Maxim.
Two dark heads swivel, and both men stare at me.
“Listen to her, son,” Warren says, a smile stretching across his distinguished features. “The girl knows what she’s talking about.”
I twist my lips scornfully. “This isn’t about furthering your agenda, Mr. Cade.”
“Then what is it about exactly?” Maxim asks, a frown sketched between his brows.
“For one thing,” I say, “the Dems probably have no one who can actually beat Senator Middleton.” I slide a contemptuous look toward his father. “And we both know his history of partnering with corporations to steal protected lands in addition to many other of his policies that hurt marginalized people.”