Page 17 of Not the Plan

“Oh. Guess I was distracted.”

“You were?”

“Yeah. You don’t think I’m the only attractive person in this room, do you?”

He glanced down at the table, and back at her with a different sort of smile. Shy and seductive, it escaped from him, as though he was flattered and embarrassed at the same time.

“Thank you,” he said. “It’s good to know your opinion.”

Emboldened, she wanted to continue flirting but thought better of it.

“So, legal counsel?” she asked. “Did you become a lawyer so that you could work in politics, or did it go the other way around?”

“I always knew that I wanted to help people,” he said. “I just wasn’t sure how. My aunt is a lawyer, and she always said that it was a better job than people thought. That if you had the right intention, you could do wonderful things. She’s a public defender, and while I always admired what she did, it seemed so frustrating.”

“I can get that,” Isadora said.

“I figured that you could help more people from a different vantage point, where the laws are made, rather than where they’re applied. So, I got my BA in public policy first, then went to law school.”

“I got my master’s in public policy. With a focus on the health and safety net,” she said.

He smiled. “Health and safety net? Looks like we have something in common. The social safety net was my focus.” His smile faltered. “I haven’t been able to do as much as I’d like to in that area. I think that better healthcare is the best way to improve people’s overall quality of life. Not only physically, but financially. If you get sick, it’s bad enough. If you’re stressed about how much it’s going to cost, how can you focus on getting better? Then once the crisis has passed and you’re recovering, the bills start rolling in. How can you actually live? Removing that burden is part of what made California attractive to me. It was groundbreaking when you guys passed the Single Payer Act last year.”

“Yes, it was,” she said. “It wasn’t easy. And we’ve made a lot of enemies with the private insurance companies that work in the other states. Though I imagine you know that.”

He smiled again, broadly. “Yeah, I paid close attention. It must have been really rewarding to get a finished product.”

“It was.”

“If I’d known what you do, I’d have been all over you on the plane.” His face flashed red. “I mean with questions. I’d have been all over you with questions.”

He shot her another shy smile, and she wasn’t sure what to say again, but he spoke first.

“What brought you into politics, Isadora?”

“Well,” she said, “there’s that desire to help people, like you said. And yes, I feel like where laws are made is the best place that can be done. Plus, I don’t know, I just love the process, the way we move from idea to bill to law. Even the formalities of parliamentary procedure.” She shrugged. “Guess that kind of makes me a nerd.”

He smiled and winked.

“That makes two of us.”

RJ arrived, and Karim stood as Isadora introduced them.

“RJ, this is Karim. He’s taking over for Christina during hermaternity leave. Karim, this is RJ. He’s legislative director to Senator Scalzi, who also represents part of San Diego.”

Karim was a little slow offering his hand to RJ, studying him.

“You aren’t RJ Nichols, are you?”

Isadora and RJ glanced at each other as RJ slowly shook Karim’s hand.

“I am…”

“RJ Nichols, U.S. rowing team alternate?” Karim asked.

Isadora didn’t check her grin. RJ was almost never recognized outside of the rowing community in San Diego. He was playing it cool, but she was sure he was flattered.

“Yeah,” he said, a smile breaking through the surprise.

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