Chapter 16 #2
Simone: So in like four hours?
Anya: Lol you know it!!
After more than a decade working in politics, Anya thought she knew quite a lot about how thrilling campaigns could be: She’d met celebrities and world leaders, flown on private jets and stood in the room as election results rolled in and candidates’ lives changed forever.
But she’d never experienced anything like this past week; she wasn’t sure many people in campaigns ever had.
The audience at The Tonight Show screaming for Jo, donations flooding in online, crowds cheering for them on the tarmac when their plane landed in New Hampshire the next morning (Anya’s birthday, and a great goddamn way to start the day at that), lines of people snaking around blocks waiting to get into Jo’s speeches and town halls, house parties so packed with activists who wanted to meet Jo that Anya and the rest of the road staff had to wait on the back porch because there was no room to stand inside.
Today was their first stop back in Nevada since the debate, and it was wall-to-wall mob scenes.
Anya couldn’t believe they were in the same city where she used to send out multiple emails a day begging people to donate and volunteer to help Jo reach the Senate.
She didn’t have to beg anymore. She felt like the rest of the country was finally starting to see what she’d always known about Jo: She was the real deal.
She was the kind of leader you spent your whole life waiting for.
She was also, at the moment, solidly two hours late for her next campaign stop. That was the problem with a candidate who genuinely cared about each and every person who came to her events—it was impossible to get her off the rope line.
“Is she almost done?” Anya asked Nicole, the senator’s body woman. “I need to get her on the phone with Kira and Simone.”
“She asked for more time. Maybe we can cancel our next stop?” Nicole bit her lip as she flipped through today’s schedule. “Dinner at Lotus of Siam? What’s that?”
“That’s local union presidents. We can’t cancel that,” Anya said.
“Can’t even be late to that unless we want to see some steelworkers have a conniption—not that I’m saying I wouldn’t,” their digital staffer, Hugo, piped in.
Hugo was Black and chubby with freckles, glasses, a scraggly beard, and a great sense of humor.
He was the only man on the road team, and so totally chill about it that they all adored him.
They’d named their group thread “Hugo’s Harem,” and at least once a day someone on it requested that Hugo buy tampons (he always did).
“Hugo’s right, no steelworker conniptions today,” Anya joked. “Just get her off the rope line ASAP.”
They were outside the Las Vegas convention center, near the north end of the strip.
They’d rented a meeting room big enough to seat a thousand for Jo’s town hall this morning, and it had been standing room only.
The Strat’s tower loomed high in the background—Anya’s breath caught as she saw two bungee jumpers leap from the side.
“Hi, Mom,” she said softly. She found that when she looked for signs of Judy, she saw them all around her. Then her phone started buzzing, and she burst into a smile when she saw Gabe’s name on the screen.
She picked up immediately. “Hey! You’ll never guess where I am.”
“Outside the convention center, looking extremely attractive in a tight red sweater?”
“What?” Anya looked around. “Are you here?”
“No, MSNBC is running live footage of the rope line while they talk about your candidate’s meteoric rise, supposedly of Jo, but I think they’re trying to juice their ratings by putting a hot staffer on TV.”
“Ha ha,” Anya fake laughed, but she flushed with pleasure. “I didn’t even realize there was national press here.”
“Of course there is. You’re the biggest story in the country.” Gabe sounded so proud of her, but there was a note of strain in his voice too.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “I was just thinking about you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I can see the Strat from here, and two crazy idiots jumped off of it. It made me think how happy my mom would be.”
“About Jo?” he asked.
“Yeah. And about you and me.”
There was a second of silence. Anya wasn’t sure if he’d cut out.
“Gabe?” She put a finger in her other ear so she could hear better. “Are you there?”
“I’m here.” He sounded perfectly clear—weird. “Listen, can I take your temperature on something?”
Something in his tone made Anya feel anxious. “What’s up?”
“It’s about this weekend,” he said carefully. “They want me in DC to do the Sunday shows.”
“Oh.” Anya’s whole body felt hollow. “And you— Are you going to?”
“I don’t want to.” His voice was low but urgent. “I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to.”
Anya already knew what was coming next. “But…”
He sighed. “But they’re not making it seem that optional.”
“Okay.” She hated how empty she sounded, but she didn’t know how to feel anything without feeling everything. “So, have you already decided?”
“Anya, please.” He sounded so pained. “If you need me in Chicago, I’ll be in Chicago.”
“I mean…” Anya took a deep breath. “Gabe, I don’t really know what to say here.”
“You know what it’s like,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, I do know.” Anya’s voice cracked. “You think it’s easy for me to leave the trail right now, with the week we’re having?”
“The week you’re having is affecting the week I’m having.”
“Of course,” Anya said curtly. “I understand.”
“Come on, don’t do that. I’m happy for you, you know I’m happy for you.”
“You just need to be in DC on Sunday.”
“I do.”
It usually brought Anya so much comfort to listen to Gabe breathing, but right now she just wanted to get off the phone.
“The senator’s almost done with the rope line. I need to go,” she said quickly.
“Anya—” Gabe started, but she didn’t hear what he said next, because she hung up.
“Hey.” Hugo put his hand on Anya’s arm, startling her. “Are you okay?”
“Mm-hmm!” Anya nodded, but her eyes were welling with tears.
“We ready to get this show on the road?” Jo came over to them, smiling brightly, but her expression changed completely when she saw Anya’s face. “Anya? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m so sorry, ma’am.” Anya wiped her eyes. “Let’s get you on the bus.”
Jo nodded, but she looked concerned. The second the bus was moving, she turned back to Anya.
“Okay, now you can tell me what’s happening.”
“Senator, really, I need to brief you. Kira’s waiting on our call—”
“Then you’d better tell me quick so we can get to the briefing.” Jo gave Anya a look that said she meant business. It always made Anya smile, the way Jo’s teacher face was so similar to Judy’s.
“It’s just Gabe,” Anya said quickly. “He was supposed to come to Chicago for my mother’s yahrzeit this weekend, but he can’t, because we rose eight points in the polls, so he has to do the Sunday shows.”
“I didn’t realize the yahrzeit was this weekend—that’s the first anniversary of her death?” Jo asked, and Anya nodded. “I see. And what are we calling Kira about?”
“She wants to expand our map—set rallies in some cities where we’ve seen spikes in donor activity, build out our national volunteer base.”
“What cities?”
“We discussed Madison, Minneapolis, and Detroit to start.”
Jo sat up a little straighter. “She wants to make a viability argument?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Anya’s heartbeat quickened. “Quinnipiac is polling general election matchups.”
“Got it,” Jo said. “Let’s get her on the phone.”
Anya dialed, and within a few seconds they had Kira and Simone on speaker.
“Simone, how do our donor numbers look in Chicago?” Jo asked. Anya looked up in surprise—what was she talking about?
“Um, good, Senator. Excellent,” Simone said through the phone. “We’re at more than thirty thousand individual donors.”
“Great. I want to kick off our Midwest tour with a rally in Chicago on Saturday afternoon. Is that possible?”
“Absolutely, ma’am.” Kira sounded excited.
“Illinois isn’t a swing state,” Anya protested, but Jo held up her hand.
“If we launch in Chicago, the media will filter to all the neighboring states and drive up turnout,” Jo said. “It’ll spike new donors and volunteers. And it’ll make news in Iowa.”
“That’s a great point,” Preethi chimed in. “I can probably even get some Iowa press to come up and cover it.”
“Good. Anya, when’s the service for your mother?” Jo asked.
Anya’s throat felt tight. “They’re saying a kaddish for her at the synagogue Saturday morning, and then we’re doing a family service at the house on Sunday.”
“I think we should be there for at least one of those,” Hugo said quietly.
“I agree.” Jo nodded. “I don’t want to intrude on your family event, so our team will go to the synagogue to support Anya. Nicole, I don’t want that on the public calendar—no press, understood?”
Nicole nodded. “Got it.”
“Senator, no. You have so much to do, you can’t leave the trail for the service,” Anya pled.
“When you’re on a campaign, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters,” Jo said kindly.
“Your mother gave countless hours helping my Senate campaign—and that’s a fraction of the time you’ve given me.
Honoring her memory and supporting you are more important to me than whatever campaign breakfast we’d schedule otherwise. Okay?”
Anya nodded; she was beyond grateful to have a boss like Jo.
She only wished Gabe felt the same way Jo did.