Chapter 21 – Jessica
My mom and dad have come to visit me. This is the last thing I need right now, but I couldn’t exactly turn them down.
“So when are you going to give us the tour of the state capitol building?” my mom asks me, as my dad and I help her out of the car.
“It’s really not that impressive, Mom,” I tell her.
I’m not about to tell her I skipped my last committee meeting. My report is due soon and I don’t want to talk to Senator Santara or the rest of them about any evidence I’ve gathered. Because I’ve had too much fun gathering it, and implicating myself in the process.
“Hold on,” my mom says, rummaging through some tote bags in the back seat. “I need to get my casserole out.”
“Hurry up Diane,” my dad tells her. “We can’t wait all day for you to find things in that huge mess of stuff you brought, that I told you not to bring.”
I shoot my dad a glare. I hate how mean he is to my mom.
“Here you go, dear,” my mom says, handing me a lasagna pan. “I made it last night. I know you never have time to eat.”
“Thanks Mom,” I tell her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I appreciate it.”
As we walk upstairs I can’t help but think of my last guests to this apartment and wish they were here now. I’d much rather entertain Dante and Marino than my parents.
“We’re only going to stay for dinner since you don’t have anywhere to put us up,” my dad says.
I breathe a sigh of relief. I thought he might insist on sleeping on an air mattress like they did once when I was in college. Why he’s too cheap to stay at a hotel when he makes good money is beyond me.
“It’s nice to see you for any amount of time, dear,” my mom says, as we enter my apartment.
“Look at this dump,” my dad says. “When are you going to find a man and get a real house? All you do is think about politics.”
I shake my head. If he only knew.
“I like my job,” I tell him.
At least I did. Before my job was to turn in the two guys I’ve fallen in love with.
Did I really just admit to myself that I’d fallen in love with them?
But I don’t have time to think about it because my dad is off on his next rant.
“Is your committee still having you do that ridiculous investigation into the strip club?” he asks me.
My parents know a little bit about the investigation to which I was assigned but they don’t know the extent of it. They certainly don’t know I’ve been working as a stripper.
“Yes,” I tell him. “Except it is not a ridiculous investigation.”
But now I trail off because I don’t know whether to defend the investigation or not. I’m beginning to think it’s a witch hunt myself.
I’ve been around the Rossi brothers day and night and the only evidence I have against them so far is that they’re sleeping with me. And I’m willing participant in that, of course.
“I think you should move past that and take your career more seriously,” my dad says, giving me advice that I don’t need, just like always.
Even though I’m used to it, I can’t help but almost explode.
“Dad, all I’ve ever done is take myself seriously.”
I think back to high school debate team, college political clubs and running for different political races. Now that I’ve made it to State Senate it’s still not good enough for him or anyone else. I still have to prove myself by somehow simultaneously taking my clothes off and taking my career more seriously.
I was really willing to do anything it took to get ahead but now I’m realizing that I’m already right where I want to be.
I love how Marino and Dante talk to me and treat me. They might be down and dirty bad boys but they sure make me feel loved and appreciated. I need to do what it takes to save Dante and Marino from the senate committee’s witch hunt that I’m a part of and stay with them at any cost.
I’m just not sure how long I can keep the committee at bay. Or what it’s going to mean for my career if I don’t expose the Rossi brothers the way that I’m supposed to.
But I’m starting to think that if I can’t be respected and if I have to do everything the head of the committee says in order to keep my job then it’s not a job worth having. And if I can’t be with the men I love— yes, truly love— then it’s not even a career that I want.