Candidate: A Love Story (2 page)

“Kate, I’d like you to meet Grady Malendar,” Mark introduced, and Mr. Blue Eyes smiled a sort of runway model smoldering, but professional smile.

You
’
ve got to be kidding? Does that work? Of course it does. Kate, look at the smile for crying out loud.
She started to roll her own blue eyes, but Mark gave her a pleading look for best behavior, and she obeyed.

“Mr. Malendar, it is a pleasure. I’m—”

“You’re Katherine Galloway.” He shook her hand. Firm handshake, and it served its purpose. Kate was thrown off for a beat. He came out of the gate collected, almost mature. The strength in his voice, his whole demeanor was unexpected and the public relations part of her was thrilled that there appeared to be something to work with. It was as if there might be something of substance behind the lady-killer smile. She saw it for just a moment.

“Kate, please call me Kate.” She took her hand back.

“Kate it is. Thank you for meeting with us. Shall we?” He gestured, and everyone began filing toward the large conference room. Kate stayed behind to collect her notes.

Grady popped his head back into the smaller conference room. “Hey, Kate. You coming?”

“I . . . I just need to get my things. I’ll be right there.”

“Okay, because you surely don’t want to miss a moment of how we’re going to contain the spoiled-son strategy.” Sarcasm? No, maybe that was anger mixed with his smooth silky voice
.
Either way, he was still standing there.
Say something clever, Kate.

“I’m sure our strategy encompasses much more than just following you around, Mr. Malendar.”

“Grady, please call me Grady, and from what I hear you’ve been assigned to keep me in line. Am I mistaken? Kind of like a babysitter?”

So much for clever, it was time to break out the credentials. “Mr. Mal . . . Grady, I graduated top of my class at Columbia. I’ve been with Bracknell and Stevens for over five years. Now clearly someone thinks you need an image makeover, but I can assure you that I am not a babysitter.”

He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his light tan suit, leaning against the door and smiling.

She had just met him five minutes ago and already she was unnerved and a little pissed.
Babysitter? Just who the hell does this guy think he is?
Grady moved off the door jamb to let Kate pass, and to spite him she gestured that he should go first. She could tell it upset his prep school sense of propriety, and she saw first-hand what she already suspected, that Grady knew all about maneuvering. His father clearly liked being in control, but Grady was like an ice skater. He glided, smiled, and moved with efficiency. As he walked past Mandy and Sabrina, normally very astute office assistants, both women strained for one last glimpse. Kate rolled her eyes at both of them, shaking her head. Christ, she should have gone for the double latte.

Grady seemed to have a way of walking that assumed people were following him. He did glance over his shoulder to check on her, so that was something at least. He walked with purpose, made quick and fleeting eye contact with those he passed, and carried an air of importance. His laid-back demeanor was not present in his walk, and Kate found that interesting. She wasn’t sure if this was his “being made to do something” walk, or if he always carried himself this way. They both entered the conference room, and Kate moved toward the empty leather chair on the far side of the dark-lacquered conference table. Everyone had taken their seats as the senator stood by the window with Mark. He looked as if he was telling a story that required a bird’s-eye view of the city. Kate stepped over wires and found Grady, pulling out a chair for her.

“Let’s start over, Kate. After all, I didn’t realize you graduated from Columbia.” Grady spoke close to her ear. “Impressive, indeed. Allow me.”

Kate eyed him suspiciously and tried for a smile. She failed. “That’s not necessary, but thank you,” she said as she sat.

Grady smiled a full dazzling smile for the audience of onlookers around the table, and then Kate fell a bit forward as he pushed her chair harder than was necessary.

She couldn’t see his face, but she was sure the smile was now a smirk.

Chapter Two

G
rady couldn’t remember ever feeling more ridiculous, paraded around like a show pony. He understood the game, he grew up amongst the bullshit, but if he was going to be treated like an idiot he was going to have some fun. He used to love messing with his various nannies and babysitters. Except for Bonnie with the smelly feet. No one messed with Bonnie; she was infamous in his tight-knit Pasadena neighborhood. Her dad was some sort of celebrity cage fighter so all of the kids, and the parents for that matter, smiled at Bonnie and ignored the fact that she could eat a whole pizza by herself, and she wore Converse without socks, hence the epic foot odor.

This babysitter, the one hired by his father and sitting next to Grady like a good girl scout, was no Bonnie. He had never been much for uptight women, but throwing this one off was a distraction from being treated like a child. The more her ears pinked, the closer he moved into a reasonable mood. Katherine Galloway was something. Something all buttoned up and put together, but when he’d pulled out her chair he noticed three things. Her hair was red, still wet in a bun at the nape of her long porcelain neck, but real red, not dyed. He’d been with enough fakes to know the difference. She smelled like soap and pastry. Odd combination, but the absence of perfume was noted. He twirled his pen and wondered if she forgot to spritz before she sauntered to what he imagined was her sensible economical car, or if she chose not to wear perfume. Maybe it was on purpose, too much fun. At first glance, Grady had figured Kate beautifully refined, but not much of a good time. That was until he noticed number three; she was only wearing one earring. Interesting.

“Grady?” He wasn’t sure how many times his father had said his name, but it was probably time to answer.

“Yes, Dad. Sorry, I was . . . just jotting down some notes here.” He looked over at Kate, whose gaze was glued to either his father, or her absurd color-coded notes. Grady let out a breath and smiled.

“Right, so does all of that sound good to you?” his father asked, holding his cup out to one of his staffers for more coffee. Grady’s mind raced for a moment while he recalled the bits and pieces he had heard.

“Sure. Yes, I’m committing to six months of campaigning, leading up to and ending with election night. I am to make public appearances that will be scheduled at least one week in advance, with the exception of the last two weeks of the campaign when I will be needed 24/7.” Grady put his pen down, crossed his hands in front of him, and smiled a sarcastic smile that only a father would recognize. “It sounds downright delightful.”

Senator Malendar sent a warning glance over his coffee. “Grady, I appreciate your help and I know this is not what you want to be doing, but you’ll survive. And the campaign will be better for it.”

“Happy to serve, sir.” Grady saluted. His father’s eyes narrowed, and the room grew awkwardly silent.

“Okay, well, Mark, if you could please review your team’s part and what we can expect from Bracknell.” Stanley, the senator’s campaign manager, patted Grady’s father on the shoulder as his words cut through the silence.

Mark stood and proceeded to present a comprehensive campaign strategy complete with social media and video components. Mark was clearly wearing a fresh white shirt, but Grady was pretty sure that was yesterday’s blue pinstriped suit. Christ, this poor guy had probably been up all night jumping through hoops for the larger-than-life senator from California. Grady felt the walls closing in. He had agreed to campaign for his father. His mother had asked him to during a teary-eyed lunch, where she seemed so fragile he hadn’t seen that he had a choice, but he had forgotten about all the tedium. How did these people ever get anything done?

“So, that should cover everything for now. Of course this plan isn’t static, we will adjust staffing and resources as the campaign progresses or your needs change. Do you have any questions, or is there anything we are missing?” Mark finished up.

“I don’t. Sounds like you’ve laid out everything.” Senator Malendar looked to Stanley for confirmation and then stood to shake Mark’s hand. “I appreciate your putting all of this together on such short notice. Will Ms. Galloway be a dedicated . . . ” The senator paused, searching for the right word.

Grady had a headache now, so he pounced. “Babysitter?”

Every face in the conference room was now on Grady, and he wasn’t the only one who had had it. Kate glared at him and then he felt a kick under the table. No one else saw, but Grady sure felt it. She’d kicked him! Unbelievable. He looked at her to make some snide comment, and noticed her note pad was facing him with the word
apologize
written in big letters. Holy hell, this woman jumped right in.

He didn’t know why he did it, something in her eyes, fire maybe. Clearly she was going to be a handful. “My apologies, that was uncalled for, Dad, please continue.”

“Resource, will Ms. Galloway be a dedicated resource for Grady? You mentioned your understanding that we are in need of the youth vote, but I want to make sure Ms. Galloway has the time to dedicate to this . . . project.” The senator looked right at Grady.
A project
 
.
 
.
 
.
nice return, Dad!

Grady looked at Kate, who was now nodding at his father, acknowledging her commitment to his “project.” She was clearly “on,” putting her best professional tight-ass forward.
She kicked me. I
’
ve known her less than an hour and she kicked me. Christ! It
’
s my turn, Ms. Galloway.
Grady listened intently as Kate finished. Her eyes cut to him briefly; he smiled, and then pulled on his ear. Kate looked confused as she took her seat. Grady flipped his yellow pad over and wrote, “Nice earrings!” He waited for it to register, she touched her ears, and then . . .
Bingo!
She blushed.

For most people, a missing earring was probably not a big deal, but Grady guessed it was tantamount to a small crisis for someone like her. It meant she was rushing, or forgetful after a phone call. It meant, the worst thing for her type, it meant she was human, flawed. Grady had dealt with overeducated suits like Katherine Galloway his whole life. They had everything figured out and reeked of superiority. He loved meeting condescension with humor; it was less abrasive than anger and a hell of a lot more fun.

The meeting was over, every one stood, shook hands. Kate was talking with the senator, her boss, and some other guy sporting what Grady thought was a dragon tattoo that kept peeking out from his short-sleeve polo shirt. Kate had removed her lone earring. Grady smiled. Balance was restored in the Galloway universe, he thought. He joined the group as they began to look down at a laptop.

“This is fantastic. Grady, look, our campaign just sent its first tweet,” the senator said with a big grin. For an instant Grady saw his father’s vulnerability. Venturing into new territory seemed to unnerve the senator, hence the army of PR and the babysitter. He couldn’t imagine his father as anything other than a powerful senator, and Grady was pretty sure his father couldn’t imagine any other scenario either.

“That’s great, Dad. A little scary for the Twitter population, but great. Hopefully you won’t be in charge of your own tweets.”

His father laughed and everyone else followed. “Nope, that’s Javier here’s job. He is in charge of our . . .What’s it called again, Kate?”

“Social media presence, sir.”

“Right, social media. Anyway, I’ll leave you folks to it. Thank you, Mark.” The two men shook hands.

“You are certainly welcome, senator. We look forward to working with you and your team. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Kate,” the senator turned and took her hand. “Thank you. Be kind to my boy here. He’s one of my favorite people when he’s not being . . . well, one of my least favorite people.” Senator Malendar took Grady’s shoulder. His eyes softened and warned at the same time. His father needed him and Grady, despite not always liking him, loved his father.

“We will do our best, senator. Talk with you soon.” Kate smiled, looked at Grady, and her face fell. Niceties over, she turned to gather her paperwork.

Grady walked his father to the elevator, but made an excuse to return. He couldn’t help it, maybe it was the kick under the table, but he wanted just a little more Katherine Galloway.

“So, I’m curious,” he whispered just behind her as she closed her laptop.

Kate jumped a little and turned. “Can I help you, Mr. Malendar?”

“Right, so I’m curious, the earring. Forgotten on your desk after a phone call, or left at home?”

“Excuse me?” Kate moved toward the door with that “I’m very busy and I don’t have time for you” purpose.

“Which is it? Did you leave the other earring on your desk, or was it forgotten altogether?”

“Why does it matter?” she asked, as Grady held his ground at the door.

“Just curious, which is it?”

Kate pushed past him, clearly annoyed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but the other earring was left at home.”

He followed her back toward her office, telling himself he was heading to the elevator anyway. “Interesting,” he said under his breath.

Kate turned. “What does that mean?”

Grady put his hands in his pockets. Pink ears again, Kate was uncomfortable, and for some reason he had yet to explore, Grady was happy to fluster her even more.

“Nothing. It just says something about you. If you left the earring behind, you must have been rushing. Do women like you rush, Kate?” Something flashed in her eyes, warning, but he continued. “Anyway, I noticed the chink in your armor and I found myself wondering.”

She wrinkled her brow and dismissed him, moved behind her desk. A classic run to the power position, Grady thought.