Page 108 of Not the Plan

“Love you too,” Isadora said. She hung up.

She squeezed the bridge of her nose hard and continued her research. After an hour, she had to concede that there was no way around allowing a much earlier vote on senate officers once the amended bill passed. Daniel’s presidency might be at risk.

We keep it from coming up for a vote just in case. We should have the votes against the bill, but…A shiver went through her. The War Room meeting had been surreal.The way the members flipped was so uncharacteristic.Something is going on. We have to hold our position until we know what.

—

She had a post-lunch face-to-face scheduled with Daniel, but she wasn’t ready to face him. She checked that the box of Kleenex on her desk wasn’t empty, confident she’d need some. Her personal phone chirped with a text. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw who it was from, but her pride told her not to open it. She put the phone down and turned away. Then she swiveled back and tapped it open.

Karim:Senator Roberson is in with Julian. Loud argument about the insurance bill and demanding that Julian promise he’ll delete “it.” Unsure what “it” is.

She squinted at the message.Is this another trick? He can’t believe I’ll trust anything he says.She put her phone away and tried to figure out a lunch that would stay down in case she got too emotional with Daniel.

—

“No, Isadora. You have not let me down.”

Isadora had given up holding back, and her tears were dripping onto the table in the meeting room next to her office. The level of shame she felt was so high, she thought she might suffocate from it.

“Yes, I have, Daniel. I can’t believe I signed the amendment without double-checking. The years of hard work, trying to get to the presidency, and now it all may be compromised because I got careless?”And distracted. And stupid enough to believe that I could let my guard down.

“Since when do we double-check everything, Isa? Unless you’ve been hiding some sort of superpower from me all these years.” He paused. “Actually, that may be possible, with all of the things you’ve caught well before I did.”

She managed a tiny laugh through her sniffles.

“I don’t expect you to be perfect,” he said. “I’m sorry if I’ve put that pressure on you.”

What was it that Karim said about my perfectionism? It’s my anxiety in disguise?

Daniel got up from his seat and slid into the one next to hers. He took her free hand. “Isa, please. You don’t have anything to be this upset over. Like you said, I’ll delay the bill as long as possible. So what if it was on the agenda for this week? There are other bills I can call for a vote on. I’ll just keep delaying it and try to get some answers while you try to figure things out on your end. I’m confident you’ll get to the bottom of this before I do. And if worse comes to worst, and it passes and goes into effect, I still have the support of the majority of the party. I haven’t done anything to piss off enough people for them to change their minds.”

She hiccupped and sniffled. “You’re sure?”

“Of course I am. I’m beginning to think I have more faith in you than you do in yourself. That’s an idea Idon’tlike.”

“Okay.” She began dabbing away the moisture under her eyes.

He studied her a moment. “Is it only the amendment that has you this upset? Or is something else wrong?”

She panicked. He was right, but she’d die of mortification if he knew she couldn’t keep her heart under control. And that her mother was right, she wasn’t worth this career.

“I’ll get it together, Daniel. It’s just the threat to your presidency.” Dabbing at her eyes again, she peeked at him, hoping that explanation had been sufficient. She added an awkward smile.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” he asked.

“I can’t. You guys are back in session, there’s like a thousand—”

“I can handle anything that happens on the floor. We’re probably going to finish early anyway. And for everything else, is anyone going to die if it doesn’t get dealt with today?”

“But—”

“Okay, fine,” he said. “You forced my hand. I’m ordering you to go home, Isa. As your boss, I am sending you home for the rest of the day.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “Okay, boss man. I’m going.”

He smiled back, standing and buttoning his jacket as he went around the table toward the door. “Didn’t Julian’s aide send an email about the amendment? His new aide, Karim?”

“He did.”

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