More Than Rivals (19 page)

His phone rang, and he raised his eyebrows at the caller ID—Charles Kingsley.
Huh. What does he want?
 

Despite his curiosity, Jack was chipper as he placed the call on speakerphone. “Hey, Charles. How are you?”

“Hi, Jack,” a faint voice creaked through the phone. “I’ve been better.”

At once, Jack cancelled the speakerphone and pressed the phone to his ear. “What’s going on Charles?”

“I’ve been better,” he answered. The rustle of deep breathing came over the line. “This morning, I had a heart attack—a bad one.”

“What? That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

“It is what it is. I suppose with my eating and drinking I’ve enjoyed life a little too much.”

“You deserve to enjoy life. Don’t blame yourself.” Jack touched his temple, trying to grasp what needed to be done in the situation. “You’ve called my dad, right?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to talk with you first.”

“Well, thank you. You didn’t have to. We only work together, but I’m happy to call him for you.”
 

“No, I’d like to make that call myself. I need to tell you something.”

“Okay, I’m happy to help you in any way I can.”

“I’m dropping out of the race.”
 

Jack’s face fell, and he leaned back in his chair. He was stunned, though he knew he shouldn’t be. If another opponent had called with similar circumstances, he would’ve guessed straightaway the person was dropping out. Jack hadn’t jumped to that conclusion with him because Charles was his friend. Jack cared about him too much to immediately jump to the political ramifications of a heart attack.

But Jack’s mind then focused on what the new world order would be without Charles in the political mix. Yancey would still be a front-runner, but it would essentially be a two person race between him and Lily, with the other guys way behind them. In a scenario like that, the entire complexion of the campaign normally would change; the two rival frontrunners would go head to head and duke it out while the also-rans would lob bombs from behind. It would be ugly.
   

Tongue tied by panic, Jack mumbled, “I’m truly sorry to hear that.”
 

“Don’t be too sorry.” Charles wheezed while laughing. “When I announce I’m dropping out, I’m going to endorse you.”

Jack widened his eyes, first in surprise and then in alarm. An endorsement from Charles was a political coup, but the result could be devastating—worse than the scenario he’d just envisioned was ugly. What would Lily do? Jack gasped. “Charles, are you sure?”

“Of course. Not to toot my own horn, but I think my endorsement would seal the deal for you. Sure the rest of the field will attack you, but you can weather it. Then it’ll be just you and Yancey in the fall, and you’ll win. There’s no way this district is electing a Republican. You’ll be Congressman Bengston.”

Jack closed his eyes in anguish as he contemplated telling Lily.

When he didn’t answer quickly, Charles asked, “Well, what do you think?”

“Frankly, I’m in shock.”

“You’ll be great in Congress.” Charles cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but the nurse is giving me the evil-eye. I need to call the rest of the candidates and a few others. I’m going to issue my statement within the hour.”

“I don’t know what to say, Charles. Really, I—”

“I understand it’s a surprise. Honestly, I’m even more excited to tell your father. He’s done so much for me over my career. It’s the least I could do. Plus, I think you’re the best man for the job.”

Jack cocked his head in curiosity. “Do you really think that?”

“Of course. The rest of the guys are clowns.”

“What about Ursula?”

“Oh. Ursula. You’ve become friends with her, haven’t you? I’ve seen you two talking.”

“Er. Yes, but I’m just asking for your honest opinion.”
 

“I’m sure Ursula would be good too, but I know you better.” His breath wheezed again. “I’m going to call her next. Bye Jack. Congratulations. I’m happy for you.”

The line went dead. Jack instinctively started to call Lily, hoping to get to her before Charles. He stopped, though, when he realized he had no idea what to say.
 

***

Lily felt the mustard and grease ooze onto her hands as she wolfed down the sandwich. When Jordan poked his head in the door, her mouth was full, so she waved him in with a dirty hand.
 

Jordan snickered. “We need to feed you more often.”
 

“No time,” she mumbled.
 

Her phone rang, and she glanced to see the caller—Charles Kingsley.
That’s weird
, she thought. Gulping down her mouthful, she quickly wiped a finger and answered the call. “Hello, Charles. I’m sorry I have you on speakerphone, but I’m eating for the first time today, and my hands are full. My staffer, Jordan, is here with me.”

“No need to apologize. Hello, Jordan,” Charles rasped into the line.
 

“Hello, Senator Kingsley,” said Jordan like a dutiful minion.

“Charles, are you okay? You don’t sound so well. ” Lily said.

“No, unfortunately, I’m not. I’m calling from the hospital. I’ve had a heart attack.”

“Oh my God, Charles. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.” She looked at Jordan who sat down, his mouth open in shock. She placed a hand on her own heart and responded as a nurse. Leaning closer to the phone, she asked slowly, “Can you tell me about it? What hospital are you at?”

“That’s right.” He let out a wheezy laugh. “I forget you’re a nurse. I’m at the UC Davis Medical Center.”
 

“Good. They’ll take care of you there.”

Charles then relayed Lily his story. She stared at Jordan as they took in the information; her silent frown let Jordan in on the severity of the situation. Charles clearly didn’t remember much as a good chunk of his story had been obviously retold to him. When she asked about the doctor’s prognosis, he didn’t have much to say, and Lily understood why—it wasn’t good, so the doctor hadn’t said much.
 

As Charles finished speaking, Lily sighed and spoke with polite hope. “I’m so sorry for you, but I’m sure you’re going to bounce back. You’re just going to have to work at it.”

“I know. That’s what they say. And … uh … I’m definitely going to try. I wanted to let you know I’m dropping out of the race.”
 

Lily knew reducing his workload was a medical necessity, but she felt the impact on her personally. The race would be upended, and for all practical purposes, she and Jack would be in a head to head competition. She glanced at Jordan whose eyes were wide with alarm. Her throat closed in anxiety, so she gulped to clear it and said, “That’s really unfortunate, but as a nurse, I have to say it’s probably necessary.”
 

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you. I’ve thought about it, and I’m going to endorse Jack. I wanted to give you the heads up.”

 
Her mouth dropped open, and she fixed her stare on Jordan’s equally stunned face. She managed to give Charles a gracious response. “I appreciate you telling me yourself. Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
 

“It’s the least I could do.” His voice creaked as he continued, “I’ve always respected you. You’ve got a bright future. I just think this is the right time for Jack.”

Charles was blowing smoke, but there was no use in calling him out on it. She eyed the phone. The call needed to end for everyone’s sake. “Thanks again, Charles. You need to get some rest, so I’m going to let you go.”

“You’re right about that, but I’ve got a few more calls to make.”

“Take care of yourself, okay? And let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

“Thanks, Ursula. You’re the best.”

After they said their final goodbyes, she ended the call. She studied Jordan for a moment looking for answers, but there was only one thing that came to mind. She blurted it out. “This is a giant mess.”

“I’m glad you said it and not me.”

“What a gift to Jack.”

“In a way…” said Jordan as he rose and walked to her desk. He leaned against it and crossed his arms. “In a way not.”

“But setting our relationship aside, of course, how is it not a gift to him? He’s the ordained frontrunner now. All he has to do is endure the attacks for six weeks. It should be a cake walk for him.”

“Lily, not all of Charles’s voters will go to Jack. A big chunk will go to you. I think if you played hardball, you could win it now.” He waited a beat and added, “Setting your relationship with Jack aside, of course.”

“I admit I’d get some more votes now. I’d have a better shot.”

“I’d say you have an equal shot.”

“Damn…,” Lily said. It was if Jordan was dangling a golden ring before her, but both hands were tied behind her back.
 

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I need to talk to Jack.” Just at that moment, her phone rang, and she saw it was him. “And there he is.”

Jordan stood up. “Do you want me to leave?”

“It’s okay. You already know everything.”

She answered the phone. “Hey, Sweetheart.”

“Hi, Babe.” Jack’s voice was sad. “I’m guessing you just got off the phone with Charles.”

“I did.”

“How do you feel?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, honestly. You’ve got to be straight with me about this. It’s the only way things are going to work.”

“Well then, honestly …” She glanced at Jordan who appeared enrapt in the conversation, though he could only hear one side. She decided to frame her answer so he could follow along better. “I feel … I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. How do
you
feel?”

“I’m not happy. I suppose I should be, but I’m not. I feel uneasy about it, and we need to talk.”

“We do.” She eyed Jordan. “I’m booked through tonight, but I’ll cancel everything.” Jordan nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, but we don’t have a lot of time, and I’m about to be a wanted man. Charles said he was issuing a statement within the hour. I’m going to direct all my staff to tell the press I can’t be reached for comment. I have to do it, but that also means that the media is going to plant themselves outside my house and office. I can’t be here or at home.”

“So where do you want to meet?” She snickered. “Your favorite bar in the Sunset?”

“Well, here’s the other thing. I really need to talk to my parents. Charles is calling them right now. How would you feel meeting at my parents’ place? By the time you make it down from Sonoma, I’ll have been able to talk with them, and the house is big with a gate and garage. We’ll have all the privacy we need. It will take a while for the press to look there, and Dad will get security to shoo them away.”

Lily’s tone went flat in disbelief. “You want me to go to your parents’ house?” Jordan sneered and shook his head furiously.

“I know it’s not a great choice, but I don’t have many options, and we’re probably going to need to talk for a while. I don’t think a park bench is the right place for this conversation.”

“Well, you’re right about that. I don’t want to talk about this in public.” Jordan placed his hand over his eyes as if that was a horrible idea as well. “What about my place?”

“Don’t forget the press is going to be looking for you, too.”

Checking the time, she resigned herself to the least bad option. “Okay. I’ll make sure no one in my office comments, and I’ll leave now for your parents’. What’s the address?”

Before leaving the office, Jack directed his senior staff and campaign manager to respond to any media inquiries with the briefest remarks. They were to wish Charles Kingsley a speedy recovery and then report Jack couldn’t yet be reached for comment. Each staffer looked at him dumbfounded and protested—why wasn’t he immediately accepting the endorsement? Irritated, Jack snapped back at them, ordering them to stay on message and say not a word more.
 

When he got into his car and began the drive to Sea Cliff, he called Bill to tell him the news. After hearing everything, Bill’s simple response echoed from the speakerphone. “Damn…” he said in shock.

“Yeah, that’s how I feel,” said Jack into his empty car.

“So Charles couldn’t just get out and go off into the sunset. He wanted to be a kingmaker and pick the winner. Wow.” Bill cackled. “You are such a lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
 

“Lucky. Yeah. Charles thinks he’s doing my dad and me a favor.”

“He is, isn’t he?”

“If I wasn’t with Lily, he would be, but now … I don’t know.”

“Right. I forgot about her,” Bill murmured. “Shit. That changes things. What did she say?”

“Not much yet.”

“Do you think you can bring her around? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. It’s better for one of you to be in Congress rather than neither one of you, right?”

“That’s definitely one way of looking at it, but think of the position she’s been put in. If she’s going to stay in the race, she has to attack me and hard.”

“She could drop out…”
 

Jack grimaced at the thought. “I can’t ask her to do that.”

“Then what are you going to say to her?”

“I don’t know. The first thing I need to do is talk to my parents—for a lot of reasons, including that Charles has called my dad. I’ve got to get to Dad before he goes around blabbing it to his friends.”

“Yikes.”

“So I have to tell them everything, including everything about Lily.” Stopped at a red light on Pine Street, Jack stared vacantly out the window. Like most children—regardless of age—he dreaded baring his personal life and soul to his parents, but he had to. His parents were his most important political compass. He never made a major career move without fully vetting it with them first.
 

“You’re telling them everything? Holy shit,” Bill muttered.

Jack nodded. “Holy shit is right.”

***

After parking his car in the family’s large garage, Jack stepped into the mudroom by the kitchen. He was first greeted by one of his mother’s replacement children she’d taken in after he and his brother left the house. A giant mastiff lumbered toward him and lovingly butted Jack’s knee with her head. Jack scratched the dog’s ears and crooned, “Betty. It’s good to see you. How are you, big girl?”