Chapter 18
Gabe had always felt a little worried—or insecure, maybe—that he needed Anya far more than she needed him.
She was so fiercely independent, so strong and self-sufficient.
That was one of the things he loved most about her, but it also felt like this low-grade thing he had to live with, like a knot in a muscle, knowing she would be okay if things ever ended between them, whereas he never would be.
Christmas Eve was the first time he started to believe he might be wrong.
It was different from how things were on Orcas, when he’d felt like she needed him mostly because she was having such a hard time in her own life.
This was something else. It was like she’d finally peeled back her armor, had shown him that he lived inside her consciousness the same way she lived in his.
They didn’t talk anymore about the podcast; after what happened in the shower, it felt kind of beside the point.
Actually, they didn’t talk much for the whole next day; it was the quietest they’d ever been together.
They ordered Thai food, answered emails.
They sat on the couch watching movies, whatever holiday stuff was on cable, napping beneath a shared blanket.
Gabe wanted to live in this stillness for as long as possible, breathing her scent, feeling her warmth as she dozed on his chest.
When they got into bed that night, their sex felt quieter too—not in a bad way.
It had that same enchanted quality, like they’d slipped through a secret portal into their own private world.
They moved so gently they could feel every inch of each other, hear each intake of breath, each whispered promise.
Afterward, as she lay in his arms, he fought to stay awake.
He was so drowsy and satisfied, but also keenly aware that he had to go back to work in the morning.
He didn’t want to close his eyes and get there faster.
“I wish I knew when I’ll see you again,” he murmured, but she didn’t respond. “Anya?”
He nudged her the tiniest bit, but she didn’t stir.
He couldn’t imagine how exhausted she was; he was more tired than he’d ever been in his life, and he only ever commuted as far as the office and back.
He settled down into the pillows, and she nestled a little nearer to him in her sleep—he always loved it when she did that.
It was the greatest feeling, knowing that even when she was unconscious, she still wanted to be close to him.
When his alarm went off at six the next morning, he hoped she might want to shower with him again, but she slept right through the alarm, and he couldn’t bring himself to wake her.
She finally padded into the kitchen when he was dressed and making coffee.
She was wearing one of his T-shirts and rubbing her eyes, her hair all messy from sleep.
“You look hot.” He grinned, and she laughed.
“Don’t make fun of me,” she grumbled. She still seemed sleepy as she settled into his arms for a hug.
“I’m not.” He kissed the crown of her head. She sighed softly, and he suddenly felt the most horrible tightness in his chest. His body must have gone tense, because she looked up at him with concern.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I don’t want to go.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to go.”
She looked pained too, but he could see she felt differently than he did. He smiled at her.
“You miss Jo, don’t you?” he asked. “You finally get three days off the trail, and you already want to be back on it.”
“It’s possible I’m a psychopath,” Anya sighed.
“Yes, but you’re my favorite psychopath.” He kissed her. “And you’re running a great campaign. I hope you’re really proud.”
She gave him a mischievous little grin that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to his bedroom.
“Nah,” she said. “I’ll be proud when we win.”
Thread posted on BlueSky by @MatesPrognosticates, January 19
@MatesPrognosticates—7:40pm—Already seeing signs Iowa isn’t going the way Wheeler hoped, Story County (home of Ames and Iowa State) delivering huge for Sessego
@MatesPrognosticates—8:09pm—Hearing five Democrats will suspend campaigns tonight, only candidates left will be Wheeler, Sessego, Liddy, and Nathan
@MatesPrognosticates—8:54pm—With a little more than half of the vote in, here’s where we stand:
Wheeler—38%
Sessego—35%
Liddy—12%
Nathan—9%
Other—6%
@MatesPrognosticates—9:23pm—Results tightening, Sessego comms director Preethi Mishra just gave a statement that Sessego won’t speak until we know more. They expect several major counties to break their way and think they have a shot to win
@MatesPrognosticates—10:07pm—Vote totals are close to final, Wheeler’s lead is down to one point and looking like it could be a tie in the delegate count, maybe he picks up one or two over Sessego but no more than that, huge upset
@MatesPrognosticates—10:12pm—Wheeler speaking now to declare victory
@MatesPrognosticates—10:26pm—Sessego crowd is RAUCUS as she takes the stage, she says this is just the beginning, thanks Iowa and tells New Hampshire they’re next
@MatesPrognosticates—10:34pm—Sessego team announces their post-results fundraising email and SMS have brought in close to $2M in the first thirty minutes. Can’t overstate what a huge night this is for the Sessego camp
Text message transcript: Anya Katz and Gabe Hunt
January 19
Gabe [10:42pm]: Congratulations
Anya [10:44pm]: Thank you!!! You too!!!
Anya [10:45pm]: God I can’t believe people are finally voting, I thought we’d never get here
Anya [10:45pm]: Did you see me on TV?
Gabe [10:45pm]: Obviously
Gabe [10:45pm]: Green silk button-down, eh?
Anya [10:46pm]: Just a little something for you
Gabe [10:47pm]: Who was that guy onstage with you and Preethi? I didn’t recognize him
Anya [10:47pm]: Hugo? Our digital road guy?
Gabe [10:47pm]: Oh that’s Hugo
Gabe [10:48pm]: Copy
Anya [10:49pm]: I gotta run we’re wheels up to Manchester!! Love you!
Gabe [10:49pm]: Love you more
Can Anything Stop Jo Sessego?
by Lily Norman, February 23, posted on
Andrew Wheeler may have eked out a narrow win in Iowa, but ever since, the Sessego team has picked up what feels like unstoppable momentum.
After stunning the field with a five-point victory in New Hampshire, the Sessego campaign was flooded with donations, social media followers, and even some major endorsements, which her campaign had previously struggled to secure.
“I am proud to support Jo Sessego, and I strongly believe that she can and should be the next president of the United States,” said Charleston mayor Angela Freeman, seen as a key endorsement ahead of this week’s South Carolina primary.
Freeman had been aggressively courted by the Wheeler camp before deciding to throw her support behind Sessego.
The good news kept coming for Sessego, with a larger-than-expected victory in her home state of Nevada that has her surging ahead in the delegate count.
The four remaining candidates will meet for another debate tomorrow night, and one big question hangs over the field: Will Governor Liddy and Congressman Nathan continue to attack Wheeler as the presumed front-runner, or will they go after Sessego instead?
Text message transcript: Anya Katz and Gabe Hunt
February 23
Anya [7:29pm]: Hey, am I gonna see you at the debate tomorrow?
Gabe [7:35pm]: I’m sorry, I can’t make it
Gabe [7:35pm]: We’re all hands here
Anya [7:35pm]: Of course, I understand
Anya [7:36pm]: I miss you
Gabe [7:37pm]: I miss you so much
Gabe stared down at his phone. He wanted to say more, but he was having so many rapidly conflicting thoughts and emotions that it was tough to know which to zero in on.
He was heartbroken not to see Anya this week, but he was also relieved he didn’t have to figure out how to regulate his face around her, to pretend he wasn’t a wreck about the state of this election.
He was devastated that he was losing, and possibly even more upset that he was pretty sure that Anya, Kira, and Simone were steering the country directly into four more years of its current corrupt and bigoted president.
He loved Anya, and he loved his friends, and he loved Jo Sessego.
But none of that changed the fact that there was no way she could win the White House.
He absentmindedly opened Anya’s Instagram feed, the same way he always did when he felt like torturing himself.
There she was huddled with Jo as they made edits on a speech, and eating pizza on the campaign plane with Preethi, and bursting into laughter on a rope line with that guy Hugo.
Hugo was all over Anya’s stories too—the two of them were in a whirlwind of rallies and excitement and late-night burger runs, all while Gabe was stuck in Maryland.
Gabe knew Anya would never cheat on him, with Hugo or anyone—she was way too principled for that.
Still, there was something about Hugo that bothered Gabe to no end.
He was like Zeke 2.0, the same dependable salt-of-the-earth quality Anya liked, except wittier, more observant.
Gabe had checked out Hugo’s feed a couple times—okay, a few times—to see if Anya was similarly all over it.
She was. Even worse, Hugo’s captions were legitimately funny.
When Gabe was up working until three or four in the morning, when the campaign seemed hopeless and sleep felt impossible and Anya didn’t text him back, he imagined her talking with Hugo.
Laughing together. Arguing over strategy, him needling her for the sheer joy of watching her cheeks turn red.
Anya falling for Hugo the same way she’d once fallen for Gabe.
It wasn’t true—Gabe knew none of it was true. But he also knew that it could be. And that thought kept him awake.
“Gabe?” Hannah stuck her head into his office. “They’re ready for you.”
Gabe had hated media huddles even when Wheeler was winning the race, but now the meetings were nearly unbearable.
The mood in the office was increasingly desperate, and the work only piled higher: more to do, less money to do it, everyone infighting and on edge.
There was general agreement that they needed a major strategy shift—and tonight, with Senator Wheeler joining by telephone from his hotel in South Carolina, they were going to decide what it was.
“Senator? Can you hear us?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah.” Senator Wheeler’s voice crackled slightly over the black speakerphone set in the center of the conference table. “Go ahead.”
“Senator, it’s time to go negative,” Hal said. Gabe opened his mouth, but Hal held out his hand to stop him. “Gabe, you’ve made a lot of smart arguments articulating the risks, but we’re out of time. If we don’t cut into Sessego’s margin, we’re done.”
“I think there’s another way,” Gabe said. “A less risky way.”
“What is it?” Senator Wheeler asked.
“We know Liddy and Nathan are likely to run out of money after Super Tuesday, or maybe even before it—but we need them out of the race now,” Gabe said. “So let’s make them an offer.”
“Offer?” Lev asked. “What offer?”
“Whatever they want,” Gabe said. “Convention spot, cabinet position, ambassador to Micronesia—let them rob the store.”
“Christmas at the horse farm?” Hal said wryly, and Senator Wheeler chuckled on the phone.
“Sure,” Gabe agreed. “Give them anything. It’s worth it to get their voters.”
“What makes you think their voters won’t go to Sessego?” Margaret asked.
“Some of them might, but the vast majority will come to us,” Gabe reasoned. “These are mainstream voters who want to win in November. They want a moderate option, not a populist uprising.”
“I think that’s probably true,” Hal agreed. “But we still need a fail-safe. Even if Liddy and Nathan leave the race, Sessego poses too big a risk. We need to neutralize her.”
“With ads that say she can’t be trusted to run our armed forces?
That she’ll open our borders?” Gabe scoffed.
“It’s racist garbage. If we run with it, we cede the high road going into the general—and that’s if we even make it to the general.
Sessego is running a positive campaign about transformational change.
If we drag this race into the mud, the backlash could be bad enough to sink us. ”
“Well, that’s an easy fix,” Hal said.
“How do you figure, Hal?” Wheeler asked.
“The ads won’t come from us,” Hal explained. “We make the media buys through the super PAC. They certainly have enough money. That way the senator never has to say he approves the message, but we still get it out there and destroy her with it.”
“I like the sound of that,” Wheeler said, and the consultants laughed. Gabe felt sick to his stomach.
“Senator, you don’t have to win this way,” Gabe pled. “Your accomplishments on defense speak for themselves. Your stance on immigration matches the voters’. Let’s clear the field, and then let’s make a full-throated case for why you’re the right choice for the American people.”
“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the last year?” Lev demanded. “It’s not enough.”
Gabe ignored Lev and spoke directly to the speakerphone. “Sir, this campaign will be a major part of your legacy. Do you want to be remembered as the candidate who played on people’s worst instincts?”
There was a long pause. They all stared at the black box, waiting for it to speak.
“Get Liddy and Nathan out, and tell the super PAC to put the attack ads on the air tomorrow,” Wheeler said bluntly. “I want to be remembered as the candidate who won.”