Chapter Five
Josh
I was on my way to meet Kason at the golf course. It might seem like a strange place to meet after the scandal, but the two of us needed to let off some steam, and the golf course was always the place where we did this. It was the perfect place for Kason to hide too, even though he’d be out on a big open field. There was a general rule at the club that whatever happened there, stayed there. It was all very Fight Club, but without the fighting. It wasn’t that anything even happened at the golf course, but it was a place to let off steam without fear of people talking. My younger self would have cringed, but I was actually looking forward to it.
There was something about the wide expanse of space around us that allowed us to breathe more easily. The conference had happened only yesterday, and already there was an uproar about what had happened. Our phones had been ringing off the hook, and I had no idea how we were going to come away from this unscathed.
I knew Kason was probably nervous to see me. If it wasn’t for him, the election would’ve gone smoothly, and he must know that he had messed up. Even though I was incredibly annoyed by what he had done, I still felt bad for him. He was a good guy, and he probably hadn’t meant any harm. I had known Kason for a very long time, and I considered him to be my best friend. Unfortunately, the political world was so convoluted with fake people that it was often hard to find someone you could trust. No matter what happened, though, I would always stick up for Kason. He might have made a mistake, but he was certainly not politically corrupt. Unfortunately, I was sure that this was not the side to him the public was seeing right now. Nobody liked a cheater. It was a tough predicament for me to be in because I didn’t like cheaters, either—but he was my best friend, and I would never turn my back on him.
I’d barely slept the night before thinking about what had happened, and I knew it wasn’t good to speak over the phone. We’d already taken that risk yesterday, and while I was sure that our phones weren’t being bugged, it was always better not to take a chance. We’d seen it happen to people before so there was no reason why it couldn’t happen to us.
When I arrived at the golf course, I saw that Kason’s car was already there. I made my way inside and saw him on the course, ready to start the game. He looked sad to me even from a distance.
“Kason, ready to get your ass kicked today?” I said and shot him a smile. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to tear him apart. He was already getting enough of that from the public.
He smiled gratefully at me, and I could see him visibly start to relax a bit more.
“Oh yeah? Since when did you get so cocky about golf? You should know I’m the superior one here.”
I laughed. “I think we better pull out our score card to see who’s in the lead.”
“We have a score card?” he asked.
“No. But it sounded cool.” Neither one of us had ever played for competition, and we both knew it. We liked to pretend as if we were these big golfers who liked to win every game, but that wasn’t what our days out on the course were really about. Anyway, if we were to have kept score, I was almost certain that he would be the one in the lead. He was much more of a natural golfer than I would ever be. It was like the moment he got onto the golf course, he became a different person.
We began playing, keeping the conversation light at first and waiting until there was nobody around but the two of us. When we were finally all alone, I faced him.
“You okay?” I said eventually and shot him a look that I hoped portrayed that I was worried about him.
He sighed. “I don’t know. I guess so. I thought you might be angry at me. I was stressing about meeting you today. I don’t think I slept at all last night. That press conference. I felt so bad about it. I couldn’t believe it when I was watching it. I had no idea that it was all going to come up like that.”
I shook my head. “I’m annoyed, but I’m not angry. It’s just a little bit of a speed bump for the campaign, that’s all.”
“I know. I can’t believe it. I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe how badly I messed things up for all of us. And we were doing so damn well. I just feel so bad. Let’s be honest; it’s all my fault. I’ve ruined things for us. You were in the lead.”
“Yeah, I was saying to Ralph the other day how sure I was that we were going to win. Goes to show what happens when you get too cocky. But don’t feel so bad Kason. You haven’t ruined things,” I said although I wasn’t sure how true that was. There was a big chance I wasn’t going to recover from this scandal. I was guilty by association. “What exactly happened? I assume you slept with her?”
He sighed. “I did. As I said, she was extremely good looking and seemed to want me. She was flirtatious with me from the start and very hard to ignore. Trust me; you’ll know what I mean when you see her.”
“I already saw a picture of her. I do see what you mean,” I said. She wasn’t the sort of girl I would go for, but she was definitely the type that Kason went for, so I really couldn’t blame her. A photo of her had already been circulated all over the media within minutes of the truth coming out. The photo looked very deliberate too, like she had specifically chosen it to get spread out into the world.
“She was all over me, and I just couldn’t say no. And she also seemed to have very little knowledge of who I was. I didn’t think she’d have an ulterior motive at all. I’m such an idiot. I’ve slept with people in the past, so I just assumed she was like all the others. I had no idea that this was all going to turn out this way.”
“So she set you up?”
“She totally set me up. I swear, she played dumb so well she could’ve been an actress. Maybe she is an actress. Who knows? I obviously don’t know who she is at all. She knew I had a lot of money and that I was in the public eye. She asked me questions when we were in bed together, but they all seemed so innocent. I’m such an idiot.”
“Did she say what she wants from you? I’m assuming it’s money.” It was always about money.
“Yeah, if I pay her, she’s going to retract her statement. And she wants a lot.”
I refrained from saying ‘I told you so’ even though it was on the tip of my tongue the whole time. “Are you going to do it?”
“What? Pay her? Are you kidding me? I’m not giving that bitch a dime. It’s not even about the money for me. I have money to give her, but that’s not going to do anything. To be honest, she’s already caused enough trouble for me. The damage has already been done. So paying her is not going to take the whole scandal away from me. If anything, it might make it worse. If word gets out that I paid her to keep quiet, I’ll be in even more trouble than I was to begin with. There’s no way I’m paying her. I’m just going to have to suffer the consequences of what happened. I can’t let her win. She can have her fifteen minutes of fame, and that’s it as far as I’m concerned.”
“What a mess. And how about Linda? What did she say?” I’d always liked his wife, Linda. It had always bugged me that he had only married her to get ahead in his career because she really was such a nice girl. I was certain that she loved him. And I had always thought that he loved her even though he claimed not to. I wasn’t sure why he fought it. They could’ve been such a great couple, if only he had allowed it.
For a while, he didn’t answer. We made our way around the golf course, playing in silence, and I wondered if he had even heard my question.
“She knew that I had been sleeping around. I’d never tried to conceal it much in the first place. You know what I’m like; it was probably pretty obvious. So that wasn’t a surprise to her. She said she was sad to know it for certain, though, but that now that it was in the public eye, she couldn’t stay with me. She didn’t want to be perceived as the sort of woman that just let her husband cheat on her. Which, I totally understand.”
“She left you?” I said. He deserved it, of course, but it still wasn’t nice to see my friend going through all of this. I wished I had made more of a deal about him sleeping around than I had in the past. I always told him that he shouldn’t, but I never pushed it. I figured it was his life and that he could do whatever he wanted with it.
He nodded. “Yeah, and you want to know something crazy?”
“What’s that?”
“As she left, I started to wonder if I had done the wrong thing. What if, all along, I really was with the perfect woman?”
“Ah, Kason, I don’t know what to say.” He had been with the perfect woman, but it seemed pointless to bring that up now. It was only going to make him feel worse about everything.
“You could probably tell me that you had told me that all along, and that you also told me not to get involved with the maid because she might be trouble. You could tell me that I messed up everything and that you never want to be friends with me again.”
“I won’t say that.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I was thinking that maybe I should take some time off.”
“But what about the campaign?” I said.
“I don’t know. It’s just an idea. Maybe I can spin this whole situation around and say that I need some time off for rehabilitation. The whole story might be more appealing to the public that way. I don’t know. It’s just an idea.”
I thought about that for a while and then nodded. “Yeah, you might be right, actually. You can get some time off, and we can use the story in our favor. It’s an idea. I’ll run it by Ralph and see what he says. We can’t go back and change things so this might be the only thing that we can do right now.”
“Josh, I’m really sorry about everything. I . . . I feel awful. I shouldn’t have been so careless. It was stupid of me, and I should’ve known. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for what I did. I probably should’ve felt this way a long time ago, but now that it’s out in the public eye, I’ve realized what an idiot I’ve been.”
“Don’t worry about it, Kason. I’ll rib you about it one day when the whole thing has died down. But for now, I’ve got your back.”
He smiled at me gratefully. “I look forward to the day when you mock me. At least then I know it’s not so serious anymore.”
We finished playing golf and turned our attention away from all the issues at hand. Sometimes it was good not to think about them at all. By the end of the session, we were both feeling a little bit better about everything. He apologized one last time and then headed off. I climbed into my car and heard my phone ring. When I saw it was Ralph, I felt nervous. Had something else happened?
“Hey, Ralph.”
“Josh, I tried to call you earlier but it just rang.”
“Yeah, I was actually out with Kason.”
“You were? How is he?”
“Ah, he feels awful. He’s not a bad guy you know. He just made a mistake. One that he feels awful about and is paying for dearly.”
“Hey, you don’t have to prove that to me. I like the guy; you know that. But maybe this will show him that what he’s been doing is wrong. Terrible damn time for a wake-up call, though. It hasn’t exactly put us in the best position. I’m a little angry at him, but he’s not a bad guy. Anyway, the reason I’m calling is I’ve decided to bring in some damage control.”
“Damage control? What do you mean?”
“Look, I don’t think any of us know what to do in a situation like this. We’ve got to tread very carefully with the media now. They’re going to be watching our every move, and they can turn anything the way they want it to go. We both know that. I have a friend who I think would be fantastic for the job. She knows politics inside and out, and she’s also incredible with public relations. We went to college together, and she just happens to be in between jobs at the moment. I’ve asked her to come in for an interview tomorrow. Would you be okay with talking to her? I honestly believe that this is our best bet right now.”
“You know, I actually agree with that. Also, I trust you. I don’t need to meet her. If you think that she’s the right person for the job, then I’m sure I will too. Just bring her on board. We don’t have much time to waste right now, and I don’t think we need to interview her. You know her, so just tell her to start as soon as she can.”
“Ah, that’s great. We actually should’ve had her on board from the start. I think this is exactly what we need right now.”
“Thanks, Ralph. Appreciate it.”
I put the phone down and smiled. After a day of golf with Kason and a phone call from Ralph, I was certain that everything was going to work out fine. I generally didn’t like to get others to come in and do my work for me, but this time around I actually believed that we needed all the help that we could get. The election was just too close for us to make any mistakes right now.