More Than Rivals (10 page)

Jack slowly shook her small hand, sensing the shift in her demeanor toward him. It made him sad because after their conversation at the beach, he only wanted to know her better. “You’re welcome,” he said, mustering a smile. “And thank you for coming to my turf this time.” He felt her begin to withdraw her hand, and he tightened his grip. “Where are we going next time?”

“Next time?” She laughed.

“Yes, next time.” He let go of her hand and grinned. “We have to go again. I’m training for a triathlon.”

She snorted. “You’re still working on your … stamina?”

“Unless we’re talking about running, that is not a funny joke,” Jake said, wagging his finger at her.

“I think it’s very funny.” She smiled, turned on her heel, and ran off, calling behind, “Let me know the next time you’re in Sonoma.”

The following week, Lily received a text message from Jack, and she stared at her phone for so long the screen went black. She frowned and tapped the phone to wake it up. His message reappeared, waiting a reply.

Hey! I’ll be driving down 101from Ukiah next Saturday. Are you up for a run?

She wasn’t sure how to answer. Their blunt conversation about their personal lives had confused her. It should’ve been freeing because they’d talked like good friends, but Lily couldn’t get over the wave of angst she felt that day. She’d been so open with him, only to hear he was still seeing his girlfriend. It wasn’t news to her, but hearing him confirm it broke off a sliver of her heart.
 

She studied his text message again, thinking it begged a simple question.
What does he want from me?
She carefully considered all of their conversations and decided there was a safe answer—he wanted to be friends. He was a flirt to be sure, but he really was looking only for friendship from her. Did she want that from him?

She typed out her response.

Maybe. What time are you coming through?
 

After she and Jack agreed on a meeting place for their run, Lily finally decided she had to disclose to her parents that she’d become friendly with him. She did it casually, after Luke had gone to bed. While her mother and father cleaned the kitchen, she sat in the breakfast nook working on her laptop.
 

As he dried a dish, Pablo asked, “Lily, can you see if you’re available for the block party next weekend? It might be nice for you to make an appearance.”

“I know Luke can’t go because he has a Boy Scout sleepover. Let me check my calendar.” She pulled up her calendar on her computer and shook her head. “I can’t. I have to be in Eureka.”

“All right. I’ll let them know,” he said as he placed the dish on a shelf.

Biting her lip, she prepped herself before she told a white lie. “You know, I just saw something on my calendar that I forgot to mention.”

“What’s that, honey?” Martha asked as she scrubbed a roasting pan.

“Nothing, really. Just that I’m going running with John Bengston tomorrow afternoon.”

While her mother gave her a suspicious look, her father smiled. “That’s the man who played soccer with Luke, right?”

“That’s him.”

“I liked him,” he said, folding his dishrag. “I didn’t really speak with him, but I thought it was kind to play with Luke. He seemed to enjoy it.”

“He’s a nice guy,” said Lily, pleased so far with her dad’s reaction. She knew he would be the easy one, though. Her mother was much savvier about politics.
 

“Lily, he’s also you’re opponent,” Martha said, staring at her daughter. “Isn’t that a little odd?”

“Maybe,” Lily said, as she warmed up the lines she’d practiced that morning. “But he’s a colleague. I work with his office all the time, and regardless of who wins this primary, we’ll be working together afterward. It’s not a big deal. It’s not like we’re in a two-person race together.”

“But what if it were to come down to that?” her father asked.
 

“It’s highly unlikely,” Lily answered.

Her mother dried her hands and took a seat next to Lily. “I agree it’s unlikely with Charles Kingsley leading among all the Democrats, but still … it doesn’t seem right to be too friendly with another candidate.”

“Mom, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” Lily said, staring once again at her computer screen.
 

Being an elected official had taught Lily many things in life. One of the most useful things she’d learned was how to end a difficult meeting—she simply stood up, excused herself, and promised to continue the conversation later, whether or not she ever intended to.
 

Lily rose from her seat and flipped her laptop shut. In an unruffled and pleasant voice, she declared, “Let’s talk more later. I want to take a bath.”

Unfortunately for Lily, unlike her constituents, Martha could speak to her daughter whenever she wanted. The following day she caught Lily in the quiet of the morning, as she drank her coffee and read the paper. After the morning pleasantries, her mother asked, “Lily, I just wanted to ask again about John Bengston.”

“Mom…” Lily groaned as she looked up from her paper. “What’s the big deal? I’ve gone on runs before with people I work with. Hell, I’ve gone golfing repeatedly with colleagues and donors, and I hate golf, not to mention it’s a whole lot longer than a forty-five minute run.”

“There are two issues here, Lily. One is the impact that this could have on your race. The second is emotional.”

Lily set the newspaper aside and said. “Okay. Let’s talk about them. We can start with the second.”

“Good.” Martha took a sip of coffee. “Because I’m more worried about that.”

Smiling at her motherly concern, Lily said, “Don’t be. Yes, he’s a good looking, smart guy, and we have a lot in common.” She took a breath and then reminded both herself and her mother of a fact. “But he’s dating someone, and I’m not looking.”

“All right…” her mother replied in a sardonic tone. It was her polite way of calling bullshit on someone without saying it aloud.
 

Lily ignored it. “As for the race, well, if it gets uncomfortable between us or detrimental to the race I won’t go with him again. It’s that simple.”

“Hmpf.” Martha gave her a dismissive look; she obviously didn’t think things were so simple. She took another drink of her coffee and said, “Then we’ll see.”

***

On Saturday, Lily was determined to live up to her promise to Jordan—she would keep things light with Jack. That would solve all of her issues. Not only would she avoid getting emotionally hurt, but she’d also reap the benefits of a friendship with him, including knowing a bit more about an opponent. Her determination was tested from the beginning, though, as Jack continued with his flirty friendly ways.

After they met at the trailhead in the middle of a beautiful oak woodland, she gestured to the path. “You can go first, if you want.”

“Nah,” he said and nodded up the trail. “You go ahead.”
 

“Okay.”

As she walked in front of him, she heard him say, “This way I get the best view.”

She slowly turned around with an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

He shrugged, but wore a naughty smile. “I’m just saying. It’s a rather nice view.”

“View of what?” she asked, feeling some heat in her cheeks, though she hadn’t yet broken a sweat.
 

“The valley, of course. What did you think I was talking about?”

She shook her head and began running up the trail, and he soon followed her lead. After a moment, he said in a smooth voice, “Yes, it’s a very nice view. Pretty much perfect.”

“What
are
you looking at?”

“You.”

Without looking back, she asked, “Are you flirting with me, Senator Bengston?”

“Trying to, but you make it difficult.”

Her mouth dropped open in a quiet gasp. “Shouldn’t it be difficult? We
are
colleagues after all.” She stopped herself from also bringing up the girlfriend.

“We
are
colleagues,” he said with a chuckle. “Does that mean I’m sexually harassing you? That would be unfortunate because it’s awfully fun to get a rise out of you.”

“I don’t feel harassed, but you are taunting me.”

“No, I’m just shamelessly flirting.”

She smiled to herself. “Is that really appropriate?”

“I think you passed appropriate a long time ago with your stamina jokes.”

“Aww... Has your ego been bruised?”

“A little.” He was quiet for a few seconds and added, “But the view makes up for it.”

“Whatever…” she said with a fling of her hand, though she was secretly tickled.
 

The trail was steep with switchbacks for the next mile which created a forced silence to their run. They simply couldn’t take in enough oxygen to talk and run at the same time.
 
When the trail finally leveled out, Jack called from behind, “It’s really incredible here.”

She looked beyond the trail ahead and out onto the expansive Sonoma Valley with its farms and vineyards surrounded by hills. “It is.”

“Do you miss San Francisco at all?”

“Sure. I miss the energy and mix of cultures.” She turned around and smiled. “That would be one of the great things about living in D.C. I’d be in a real city again.”

“Oh, you’re planning on moving to D.C, are you?” he said in a playful taunt.

“Yes. Aren’t you?” She laughed.

“Of course, but only one of us gets to go.”

“Or neither of us do.”

At that moment, they reached the top of the hill where a memorial bench was placed welcoming those tired from the trail. Jack nodded toward it. “Let’s sit down.”

Lily eyed the bench with suspicion. Sitting with him would likely lead to another long conversation, and another long conversation wouldn’t keep things light. Before she could make up her mind, he said, “A break would be nice after climbing that mountain.”

Her mouth twitched. She couldn’t let a comment like that go. “You need a break already?”

“No stamina jokes.” His eyes narrowed, but he wore a teasing smile.

“No jokes about my ass then.”

“But I’m not joking about it. I’m serious.”

She rolled her eyes. “I thought you said you weren’t ready for anything serious.”

“Touché,” he said with a nod. “Come on. Take a break.”

They sat at the old bench, enjoying the scenic overlook. After a moment of quiet, he asked, “So why did you move from San Francisco to Petaluma? And why don’t you move back?”

She shrugged. It was a common, yet dreaded question which she answered several different ways, depending on the audience. “I moved after David died.”

Jack winced. “I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. I should’ve guessed. You don’t have to say any more if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t talk about it much because it’s a long story, and people are so nice they want to hear all the details. I just don’t like repeating them all the time.” She sighed. “David and his death will always be part of my life, but I don’t want it to be all of my life.”

“I can understand that. Really. You don’t need to tell me. I can guess why you moved.”

 
“Actually, after he died, I first moved back to San Diego to be with my parents. Luke was born in San Diego.”

“I’d want to be with my parents, too.”

“It was the best place for me to be at the time. I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy when David died. I didn’t want to be alone for the birth, so it was good to be with my family, but it also meant I was the tragic pregnant war widow back home with her parents.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did he die?”

“Oh, it’s no secret. It’s public information. It was at the end of a six month deployment in Iraq. He was driving to a hospital when he hit a roadside bomb.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Yeah…” She still hadn’t found the appropriate response when someone described it so aptly. She found it easiest to move on. “He was a soldier first and a doctor second, and he knew the risk of his choices. I’ll always respect him for that.”

“He died a hero.”

Lily nodded, not wanting to dwell on the subject anymore. She spoke quickly. “After Luke was born, I had this overwhelming instinct to protect him, but I also missed northern California. I wanted to live in a small town, but not far from San Francisco. Petaluma made sense.”

“And your parents followed you?”

“They both liked it as a place to retire, though my dad complains about the rain in the winter,” she ended with a chuckle.

“It sounds like you found the right place to live then.”

“What about you? You grew up in San Francisco and never wanted to leave?”

He smiled. “I went to Stanford.”

“Less than an hour away from home,” she said with a laugh.

“It sounds boring now that you say it.”

“No. It’s not boring at all to stay nearby if that’s where you’re most comfortable.”

“I suppose that was it.” He looked off into the distance and said, “I always knew I wanted to go into politics, and it would be easiest to do where I grew up rather than establishing new roots somewhere else.”

“Absolutely. Your family is so connected here that you’ve got a lot to build on.”

He turned to see her again. “I am really lucky.”
 

She liked the sincerity in his voice. It was always nice to witness someone of immense privilege understand just how lucky they were in life. Still, she had to needle him. “So has it been your lifelong dream to be a Congressman?”

“Are you going to use this against me? Make me out to be some egotistical career politician?”

She pretended nonchalance. “Well, now that you’ve said it…”

“Hey!” he said, nudging her with his elbow.

“I’m joking….” She smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a politician. Hell, I’m one.”
 

“True.” He smiled and shrugged. “It’s okay. I know it’s a vulnerability that I haven’t worked much outside of elected office.”

“It’s stupid when people discount a candidate for spending their life in politics. I don’t think less of you. In fact, I think you’re meant to succeed. You’re good at it, and you work to help people.”