Campaign

"I'm glad they're useful," Michelle said. "Please, when you bring them up, tell them they are your ideas."

"I can't do that. You deserve the credit."

"I don't want it. I'm new here, and I already see how all the workers are trying to get the attention of the candidate, especially the women. I don't want them to hate me.

"Would you at least agree on this. If you mention my ideas, don't say where they came from, and if anyone asks, tell them they came from workers who didn't want to be singled out."

"It's against my principles, but all right."

"It really would mean a lot to me. I can't thank you enough."

**************

A couple of days later, Elizabeth was heading out of the office with a bunch of papers on her way to a solitary working lunch at the Denny's down the street.

"May I join you," Michelle asked.

"Sure," Elizabeth said, not happy about the prospect of wasting valuable time.

The lunch turned out to be even better than the previous one. Michelle had four new ideas that were better than her first two, which had gone down well with Stan and Paula. After the business discussion, they also got to know each other better.

Michelle didn't say much about herself except that she had sold homes before getting married. She spoke mostly about her children and treated Elizabeth as an oracle about how she should navigate elementary and middle school.

Most of the conversation was Elizabeth talking about herself and her family. Michelle's questions kept her going, and she seemed to hang on every word Elizabeth said about herself, her children, and her husband.

After that, Elizabeth decided that any time she could spend with Michelle was valuable for the campaign, and the lunches were almost every day. She now ran some of her ideas by Michelle before bringing them up at a steering committee meeting, and each time Michelle helped her improve on them.

A week later, Elizabeth had enough.

"This has got to stop," she announced to Michelle at lunch and laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"This afternoon, I'm going to tell Paula and Stan where all these great ideas are coming from. You need to be there when we talk about them. There's nothing you can say to stop me. It's not about me and you. It's about getting Andy elected. Everything I say or do during this campaign has only one purpose. I think you feel the same way."

Michelle reluctantly gave in.

That afternoon, she was called into a meeting of the steering committee, and she never missed another one during her working hours. She no longer reported to Elizabeth but became the head of the one-woman marketing department.

Within a few days, Michelle was also included in the smaller meetings with the candidate, Elisabeth, Stan, and Paula. At one meeting, Stan offered to pay for babysitting if she could come to the public events. She said she'd take care of it and began showing up to every major appearance and participating in the postmortems afterward.

Elizabeth and Michelle continued to have lunch often and talk about the campaign and themselves, but as time passed, the lunches grew fewer because Michelle had to bow out due to other commitments.

Although she was too busy to think much about it, Elizabeth noticed that after many of the small meetings had ended, Michelle stayed behind after she left. Sometimes Paula and Stan were there, but sometimes they all left, except Michelle. She remembered when she used to have one-on-one meetings with Masterson. Michelle seemed to have stepped into her place.

At their lunch meetings, Michelle drew her out on Masterson's personality, how she handled him and what she thought he needed.

"Did he ever come on to you?" Michelle asked.

"No! Absolutely not! He's not that kind of man. I've seen some of the women on our team trying to attract his attention, but he's always deflected them. He's not a predator. I used to meet with him a lot, and he never made one move in that direction."

"Were you ever tempted to make a move? The way he talks about you when we're alone, I got the idea that he respects you, but maybe there's a little bit of desire there, too. Don't you think he's sexy?"

"Of course, I do, and I even pushed for the campaign to exploit that side of him - not as much as Stan wanted to do. From what I've seen recently, Stan has his ear now about that."

"Oh no!" Michelle said. "He's following my suggestions."

"Do you think it's smart to display it that openly?"

"I think when you were advising him, you had the right idea. But I think now, as the campaign is nearing the finish line, we've got to go all out. Stan agrees with me."

"Your background is in public relations, so you want to make the public feel good about your clients. They sign a contract and give you money and hope for the best."

"It's different in sales. If I don't produce, I don't get paid. You have to go all in. The customers aren't just buying your ideas and suggestions. They are buying you."

"You make it sound like they're buying your body."

"You're right. They bought my body, my soul, everything. And they paid top dollar."

"Now I'm selling Andy's body. I want all the women who see him at the campaign events to imagine the handsome man with the sculpted body standing in front of them in the bedroom. I want them so wet when they leave that they set a speed record getting home to their husbands, their boyfriends, or their vibrators."

"To do that, we've got to keep Andy's sexual magnetism at its peak. That's why I'm asking about his home life. If he's not getting what he needs there, he's not going to exude the masculine confidence that he needs right now."

"Wow!" Elizabeth said. "You are going all in."

"I have to," Michelle said with a laugh. "It's your fault. You're very persuasive."

"Me? What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember? 'Everything I say or do during this campaign has only one purpose. I think you feel the same way.'"

************

After that lunch, Elizabeth began watching Michelle whenever she wasn't busy. She noticed how much time Michelle was spending alone with Masterson. They often left for lunch within minutes of each other and also returned close to the same time.

The week before the election, Paula asked her to lunch. She was surprised because Paula never drank at lunch on a workday, but she put down a couple of daiquiris as they were discussing the campaign. Suddenly Paula put her hand on Elizabeth's, and her voice got weepy.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am," she said.

"About what?" Elizabeth asked. For a moment, she wondered if Stan's new polls showed Masterson's numbers declining.?

"I totally misjudged you. I'm such a bitch. I think I know everything about everybody. But when someone special comes along, I can't see it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've never been the A-One. I'm sure Stan thought you were and was grooming you, and I went along with him. I'm disgusted with myself."

"Oh, that's what this is all about," Elizabeth said. "Don't give it a second thought. I've heard the talk. Michelle is now the A-One, not me. To tell you the truth, I never liked that nickname. It always sounded resentful. Michelle's a much tougher cookie than I am. I'm glad they're calling her the A-One. I'm sure she doesn't mind people envying her."

Paula's forehead wrinkled.

"Wait a minute? I'm confused. Maybe it's the daquiris. I don't think we're talking about the same thing."

"Didn't you say something about me being the A-One?"

"No, you got it backward. I thought you were the anointed one, but you never were. I should have realized and warned you, but I was blind."

Anointed one. So that's what A-One meant. But what did "anointed one" mean? Elizabeth realized that it was imperative that she find out.

"Anointed one," she mused out loud. "I wonder who came up with that description in the first place."

"I don't know, but I've been hearing it ever since I've been in this business," Paula said with a sigh. "There was only one campaign I worked in where there wasn't one.

"Even the women candidates have one. Stan tried to groom me to be the A-One the first time we worked together. He raised my salary in appreciation for my anticipated service, or should I say servicing.

"You know I like sex, but I couldn't do it. I told Stan to take back the raise and even offered to quit, but he apologized and let me keep the raise. If you're doing it for money, to me it's like prostitution."

Elizabeth almost fell off her chair. Paula was so caught up in her story that she didn't notice.

"After that, Stan knew better than to involve me. I won't interfere, but I don't want to hear anything about the A-Ones.

"You know he won't let let anything affect a candidate's confidence. In the heat of a campaign, nothing is normal, including sex. If the spouse can't provide what the candidate needs, Stan makes sure someone else will. He doesn't set out to destroy marriages, but if that's a byproduct of a victory in November, he doesn't feel guilty about it. When he says he'll do anything, it includes pimping.

"Usually, the A-One is a groupie. She starts by admiring the candidate and eventually becomes obsessed with having sex with him. Michelle is different from the ones I've met before. She's smart for one thing. Her ideas have been effective. I've heard that she's going to Washington to run his office if he wins. If that happens, I'm pretty sure there will either be an arrangement with Catherine or a divorce."

Elizabeth thought about Catherine, whom she had met a couple of times. Catherine had told the steering committee that she and her husband agreed that her most important role was to hold the family together during the craziness of the campaign with the father gone most of the time. She would try to be with him on the campaign trail as often as she could, but the children came first. Poor Catherine.

**************

After lunch, it was a busy afternoon and Elizabeth didn't have a moment to think. But on her way home, the conversation with Paula immediately came into her mind, and she had to block it to focus on driving.

Ronald was at a meeting and wouldn't be home until nine. Elizabeth didn't make dinner. She took some crackers and cheese and a bottle of wine to the living room and sat down in an easy chair in the dark.

Why hadn't she seen it before? It was so obvious to her now. Stan had been grooming her to be Masterson's A-One. She had already been doing everything a wife did except for sex. Her days had been devoted to him, and she had done whatever she could think of to make him happy and support his ambitions. She had done more for him than she had ever done for Ronald.

While Ronald was fighting his career battles in the early years of their marriage, she had focused on her own. Sure, they gave each other advice, but they never worked together as intimately as she did with Masterson.

She didn't feel guilty about that, but she wondered what would have happened had Michelle not shown up. How had Stan put it: "We know he needs us, and we are there to give him sustenance. We've got to give it everything we've got to keep him on the road to victory."

Could Stan have eventually maneuvered her into supplying all of Masterson's needs? Would she have given everything for the victory?

She shuddered. She never thought she could ever cheat on Ronald, but she realized that she had been on dangerous ground. How lucky for her that Michelle had arrived when she did and that Michelle had been younger, more beautiful, an expert at sales and marketing - and a political groupie!

She liked Michelle. Not only didn't she use her status as A-One for self-aggrandizement, but she worked well with everyone. She was one of the nicest people on the campaign team.

Elizabeth caught herself. How nice was Michelle if she was willing to destroy Masterson's marriage for her sexual desires? Just like everyone in the campaign, Michelle had met Catherine and the children. Did Stan brainwash Michelle into thinking that taking care of Masterson so he could win was good for his family? Would Stan have used that argument with her if Michelle hadn't usurped her as the A-One?

Elizabeth's head hurt. What could she do now that she knew what was going on? What should she do? The answer to the first question was "plenty." If she told Catherine what she knew, she might embarrass Michelle and Stan, destroy Masterson's chances to win, and break up his marriage.

Catherine had the right to know. If she were Catherine, she would want to know, no matter how much it hurt. Elizabeth knew she would go ballistic if Ronald ever cheated on her, but maybe Catherine had a calmer personality. Maybe she wouldn't do anything except demand marriage counseling. Damn it to hell!

Elizabeth thought about Paula. She didn't like what was going on, but she put her feelings aside to get Masterson elected. Masterson was a good man with great promise. Other great men and women did far worse in their family lives than what Masterson was doing. Was she, Elizabeth, going to play god with everyone's lives?

By the time Ronald came home, Elizabeth had finished half a bottle of wine and decided not to interfere in the affair. She celebrated her decision by attacking her husband and trying to kill him with sex for a couple of hours before collapsing and falling into a deep sleep.

***********************

Two days after the lunch with Paula, Elizabeth's cell phone rang in the afternoon, and she saw it was a friend she hadn't talked to since she joined the campaign. She wasn't busy at the moment, so she took the call. Ellie sounded out of breath and concerned.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I had to tell you because if things were reversed, I would want to know. I just saw Ronald with a woman in the Marriott bar."

"It was probably a client."

"That's what I thought when I saw them two weeks ago. It was also Wednesday and at the same time. They were sitting at the same table, off in a corner. This time I watched them for a while. They were in deep conversation. He handed her an envelope. She put it in her purse. They embraced."

"Thanks for looking out for me. I'm sure it was nothing, but I'll ask Ronald about it. Please don't mention this to anyone else. The campaign is grueling right now, but the day after it's over, my political career is over, and I'm going to chill. And then I'm taking you to lunch."

"That sounds great, Liz. Good luck in the election."

"Thanks."

*************

Elizabeth decided not to mention the call to Ronald. She couldn't imagine him being unfaithful. As the campaign monopolized more of her time, she didn't see him as much as she wanted to, but each time they were together, they couldn't get their clothes off fast enough and ended up exhausted and satisfied.

The following week, she and another volunteer were the only ones at headquarters. No one else was coming in until late afternoon. She decided to see if Ronald was free for lunch. She called his private line, but there was no answer. She started to call his cell phone and stopped. She realized it was Wednesday.

She drove to the Marriott, parked in an indoor lot, and made her way to the lounge. She had been there before with clients, so she knew a table in a corner that gave her a view of the whole room without being visible to anyone who wasn't at a nearby table.

She almost fell off her chair when she saw them. He was with Michelle.

Elizabeth felt as though she were having a heart attack. Her whole body trembled, she hyperventilated and she began feeling faint. She struggled to control herself as the waitress approached. She ordered a refill for her wine, and as soon as the waitress turned around, she began sobbing. She grabbed a handkerchief from her purse and stuffed it into her mouth. She looked around. Nobody was near her.

She calmed down a little by the time the wine came, but her mind was racing as she watched Ronald and Michelle. They were smiling and laughing and talking excitedly while they ate. She tried to see whether they were touching, but she was too far away. They must have been because they were leaning into each other so much as they spoke. There was no formality, only familiarity. They obviously knew each other intimately.

When they were finished with lunch, they talked a while longer. After Ronald paid the bill, Michelle started to rise, but Ronald said something to her and she sat down again.

For the first time since she began watching them, Ronald turned his head and scanned the room. It was too quick for Elizabeth to duck, but he didn't see her. Thank goodness for the shadows that the lighting cast on her table. That's why it was perfect for meeting someone you didn't want to be seen with.

After his inspection of the room, Ronald looked at Michelle and spoke to her while reaching into his coat pocket. Without looking at it, he took out a thick envelope and put it on the table in front of him. Then he looked around again and slid it over to her. In a split second, she slid it into her open purse, closed the purse, and stood up.

Then Ronald stood up and broke Elizabeth's heart. Michelle embraced him, and he put his arms around her, too. It was a short embrace, but even from where she sat, Elizabeth could tell it wasn't perfunctory. Michelle and her husband had a deep connection that they had just expressed physically in public.

After they left, her brain seemed to explode with conflicting thoughts. What had she just seen? They hadn't kissed, but that could be because if anyone had seen them, a hug could be explained away but not a kiss. What was in the envelope? They were trying to hide the exchange. Was it money? What else could it be?

What was Ronald paying her for? How did they know each other? How long have they been lovers?

Suddenly it seemed like the fog lifted, and everything was crystal clear. Michelle had told her she sold houses, and that's how she knew about selling herself. Maybe the first part was made up, but the second was true. What had she said about her customers?

"They bought my body, my soul, everything. And they paid top dollar."

That's how Michelle knew how to present Masterson as a sex object. She had first-hand knowledge of how to sell a body to high-paying clients.

Maybe Stan had hired her to take care of Masterson because his grooming of Elizabeth wasn't moving ahead as fast as he wanted? Did Michelle mostly work only days so she could take care of her other clients, like Ronald, at night? What was Stan paying her? What did Ronald pay her? Did Stan write off the payments as campaign expenses? Did Ronald write them off as business expenses?

Elizabeth went to the ladies' room and freshened up. She looked at herself in the mirror. What a fool she was! She wondered why she had never suspected Ronald of being unfaithful. She felt like her blood was ice cold. She had no idea how, but she would make her husband pay for humiliating her.

As she drove back to the campaign office, she decided to put her revenge on hold. Election Day was only a few days away. She wouldn't tip her hand now. There was so much to do that she would hardly see Ronald until after it was all over. It wouldn't be hard to keep her discovery a secret.

When she arrived at headquarters, Michelle was already there. She fought off the inclination to stare at her and went to work.

An hour later, she looked around and saw that nearly everyone was out of the office attending to last-minute details. Michelle was at her desk. She walked over to her.

"Would you do me a favor, Michelle?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Go to Paula's office and see if you can find her list of the major donors. I seem to have misplaced mine. I need to make a couple of calls. It should be in one of her desk drawers or the filing cabinet."