Chapter Nine
Josh
I’d always been good at my job, but there were times when I wondered if I had gone into the right line of work. As much as I hated to admit it, the work was sometimes exhausting, and being in the public eye wasn’t always that easy. I had made a promise to myself from the very beginning that I wouldn’t become fake. I wanted my media presence to be the same as my personal one. I envisioned people talking about me and saying, “Oh, with Josh it’s always what you see is what you get,” and for the most part, I thought I had gotten it right. But still, despite trying to be myself at all times, I still sometimes found myself smiling a little too much, or trying a little too hard. There was always something that I had to please. But, despite all that, I enjoyed what I did, and I liked my job. I truly believed in the mentality that one person could make a difference. I was more than happy to be that person.
It was Monday afternoon, and I was sitting with my head down looking through some paperwork. I often marveled at how much paperwork there still was in such a digital age. A few years ago someone in the office had signed some papers without reading through them properly and had gotten into a whole lot of trouble because of it. Ever since then, I was adamant that I’d go through the small print before signing anything. I also made a promise never to trust anyone. No matter what happened, I would be the final person to read through the document and sign it. This was the smartest thing to do, but also the most time-consuming.
“Josh, I have a few things I’d like to run through with you,” Reagan said as she walked through the door and sat down.
“Don’t you knock?” I said. I couldn’t help but notice that she was in a pencil skirt that day. It was long enough to cover up her thighs, but still short enough for me to get a good look at her legs. As I suspected, she had great legs.
She didn’t answer me but got up to close the door and sat back down again.
“Closing the door? Why? Do you want some alone time with me?” I teased. I was still very interested in seeing her guard down, but it didn’t seem likely that it was going to happen anytime soon.
She glared at me. “It’s so noisy out there. Those phones never stop ringing; it’s enough to drive anyone insane. Anyway, it’s better to speak to you without a million ears at the door. So, I’ve been looking over some of your history.”
“My history?” I said and groaned. “Why on earth would you care about my history? If you want to know about what’s going on in the office, I’ll tell you. We should be concentrating on work-related matters, not personal ones. And we should be talking about moving forward rather than looking back. You really don’t need to spend so much time looking up my past. It’s not interesting, I promise you.”
Reagan, once again, completely ignored me. Instead, she fixed me another one of her stares. “Tell me about your personal life with women.”
I laughed. “Are you serious?”
“I’m very serious,” she said, and I noticed that her pen was poised above her notepad, ready to take notes. Did she really think she was going to take notes about my personal life? What was wrong with this woman? I was starting to regret letting Ralph hire her.
I shook my head. “Why? Are you trying to find out if I’m single? Is this your way of hitting on me? Because, I must say, it’s a very interesting approach and not one that I’ve ever seen used before.”
Reagan, however, seemed immune to my charm and my banter. She shook her head and asked me once again to clarify a few things for her. She seemed adamant that she wanted to know about my history with women, and by her tone of voice, I knew that she wasn’t going to flirt back with me.
“Look, if this is your way of trying to find out if I have any scandals coming my way, you don’t have to worry. I’m not a cheater, and I’m not married. There’s no dirt on me. What you see is what you get and all that.”
“Josh, I wish you’d realize how important it is for me to know all about you. That’s the only way that we can move on and concentrate on the future.”
“And I wish you’d realize what little importance my dating life has on everything. And that I have nothing to hide. A fact you clearly don’t believe.”
“Fine,” she said and put her pen down. “But you better believe me when I say that I’ll find out if there is anything lurking in your past. It will come out. It always does.”
I laughed. “Go ahead. There isn’t a scandal lurking in every corner, you know.”
“Okay, fine. We’ll see about that. Anyway, that’s not the only reason why I wanted to talk to you today.”
“Oh yeah? You still want to get that dinner with me? Although I’m not sure it’s such a good idea anymore. You don’t seem all that interested in small talk.”
“No, I don’t care for dinner right now. And I definitely don’t care for small talk. Actually, what I wanted to talk to you about was your image.”
“My image? What’s wrong with my image? I think I look pretty good, actually.” I resisted the urge to tell her that I’d recently seen a magazine in which I was rated the hottest political figure of the year. I’d kept the magazine aside in case I ever needed to refer to it again. I wondered if she had seen the magazine too. “Oh, I see, I look too good. Is that what it’s about?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not it. And yes, you look fine,” she said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, I was sure that I saw a slight blush appear on her cheeks. It faded as quickly as it had appeared, though, so I couldn’t be too sure. “I’m not talking about your looks really. I’m talking about the way that you present yourself to the public. I don’t think you realize just how important it is to look a certain way.”
“And what way is that?”
“Oh, there are plenty of ways. But I’d like to smooth out your image a bit more. Edgy is good, but you’re a little too edgy for this line of work, and not everyone can relate to that. Brighter ties, darker suits, that sort of thing. There are a lot of things we can do to change things without being too obvious about it.”
I groaned. “Are you serious? This is crazy. Do you honestly think that it’s going to make a difference?”
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t think it would,” she said.
“I’m fine the way that I am, and anyway, my supporters are more worried about my actions than they are about my wardrobe. I’m a lot more popular than you seem to think I am. You’re not giving me the credit that I deserve. I’m the most popular by a long shot.”
“That’s what you think.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. She was beautiful, but she was really starting to get on my nerves now.
“It means that I’ve checked the latest poll and your competitor is right on your heels. That’s what it means.”
“No way. I’m way ahead,” I said. I was certain about this fact and more than happy to argue it.
“Oh yeah? Are you sure? When last did you check?”
I thought about it. When was the last time I’d checked to see who was in the lead? It couldn’t have been longer than a few days ago, maybe more. “I don’t know. I think I checked last week.”
“Josh, are you kidding me? Last week? How long have you been in this business? You know that the results change on a daily basis. No, scratch that, they change on an hourly basis. And the last time I checked, which happens to be just a few hours ago, showed that the two of you are very close. You’re still in the lead, I’ll give you that much, but not by a lot. It won’t before he passes you.”
“But I was way in the lead not so long ago.”
“Exactly,” she said. “The media can easily sway the public to go one way. That scandal hurt you.”
“But it had nothing to do with me.”
“You’re his best friend. It had everything to do with you. You need to be a lot smarter about this right now. I think you have what it takes to win this thing, but you’re going to have to be willing to change. It’s good to be confident, but it’s also good to be smart.”
Then, before I had the chance to say anything, she stood up and walked out the door. I sat there open-mouthed, trying to figure out when someone had last spoken to me that way. I thought about her calling her back in but thought better of it. Instead, I shook my head and carried on working, trying desperately not to think about the fact that I had lost so much of my lead. Had I been too confident? Not so long ago, I had been winning by a landslide.
Later that day, as I was about to head out, I saw that Reagan was still at her desk. Most people had either left or were on their way out, but she didn’t seem to be budging. Her head was down, and she was scribbling something into her notebook. She didn’t even notice me as I walked past. I found Ralph at his desk and went to talk to him.
“Hey, Josh,” Ralph said. “Good day? How crazy are things at the moment? I feel like every day is crazier than the next.”
“Tell me about it. I feel like everyone is surviving on no sleep and too much caffeine. Ralph, I wanted to ask you about Reagan.”
“Reagan? Sure. She’s amazing, isn’t she? I cannot believe how much she has done in such a short space of time. She really knows her stuff. Although I’m not surprised, she’s always been like that. If ever you want anything done right, you go to Reagan. She won’t rest until she succeeds, which is why I wanted her on this case.”
“Uh, yeah, she’s a hard worker, that’s for sure,” I said. It was a fact I couldn’t deny. “So, the two of you went to college together?”
“Yeah, I was a few years above her, but we still attended most of the same classes together. She was the smartest person there. My age had nothing on her. She just had a knack for things that the rest of us didn’t have.”
“Hmm, yeah I can see that. She’s very focused. And the two of you stayed in touch?”
“Sort of. Something happened right after college that she had to take care of, so I didn’t see her for a while.”
“Something happened? What?”
Ralph shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. We were friends, but we didn’t hang out much other than at college, so I didn’t feel it was my place to ask her. But we kept in touch and tried to see each other every now and again. We’ve stayed connected. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering. I’ve just never met anyone quite like her before. She’s not here to mess around, is she?”
“Oh no. She’s here to do her job.”
“Well, she’s doing it, that’s for sure.”
I thanked Ralph and walked out. As I left, I turned back to see what Reagan was doing, but as per usual she had her head down and was concentrating hard. In all my years, I had never met anyone who worked as diligently as she did. Such a pity she was trying to change me so much.