Page 39 of Presidential Bargain
Avon nodded and I closed the door. I opened my luggage and found my pair of black yoga pants and one of Jameson’s T-shirts I’d stashed away. I inhaled the familiar, clean scent that remained on the shirt. I slipped it over my head and instantly, my heart ached. Imissedhim.
Just as I was about to knock on Avon’s door, my cell phone rang. When I looked down at the caller ID, Jameson’s name flashed across the screen. Immediately, my heart rate seemed to triple but then I remembered how he just left, just decided to change the schedule without talking to me. I missed him terribly, but I was still angry. I ignored the call and decided that maybe distance would make his heart growfonder.
I knocked on Avon’s door and she answered it, handing me a glassofwine.
“You’re speaking my language.” I took a sip. The wine was chilled and sweet, with a delicious flavor that reminded me of strawberry jam. “Thisisgood.”
“Pizza is on itswayup.”
“They havepizzahere?”
Avon gave me a look that said, “Are you serious?” and I laughed. “I sent one of the boys out togetit.”
We got to work organizing the supplies while we waited for our pizza to arrive. When there was a knock on the door, I answered it and was met with the tantalizing aroma of cheese and garlic. It was likeheaven.
“Are you going to let me in?” Jenkins asked, after I spent enough time sniffing the box hecarried.
I smiled and let him pass. Lewis was hot on his heels, cell phone pressed tohisear.
“Senator Martin wants to talk to you,” Lewisinformedme.
“Tell Senator Martin that I’m busy right now and I’ll call him in the morning.Maybe.”
Lewis didn’t look happy to have to relay that message to Jameson. I didn’t give a fuck because there was pizza and wine, and I was finally doing something for myself. I ignored Lewis, who was still talking to Jameson, and walked over to the table where Jenkins had set down the pizza. I lifted the lid and my mouth began towater.
For the rest of the night, it was easy to get lost in girl talk, stuffing my face full of greasy goodness. Wine kept magically reappearing and I was downright giddy as we assembled care packages. Through the magic of the Internet, we had boxes of tampons, razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and bottles of shampoo and conditioner delivered to the hotel earlier in the day. I contacted a locally-owned hotel, who agreed to provide the women with a free night every week so they could sleep in a warm bed and shower. I wanted to do more for these women, but it was hard. Financially, I didn’t have much money. I did, however, have a variety of motivational quotes memorized, so I wrote a little note to each woman and tucked them inside with everything else. Avon did something similar; she had a meaningful prayer printed on a piece of cardstock and included those. And because they were women and we were women, there waschocolate.
After all of the bags had been assembled, I surveyed the pile and grinned. This was meaningful work; this would help the women at the shelter and maybe,inspirethem.
“Ms. Washington, Senator Martin is on the line again,” Jenkins informed me, just as we were boxing up the last of the carepackages.
I rolledmyeyes.
“You shouldn’t avoid him,” Avoncommented.
“But shouldn’t I make him sweat alittle?”
“He’s called five timesalready.”
“Technically, six. He called me before Icameover.”
“That’s enough sweat foroneman.”
I held out my hand and Jenkins handed me his phone. “Hello,” I said, my tone a littleterse.
“What the fuck, Georgie! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for the last fewhours.”
“I know. Avon and I havebeenbusy.”
“You could have taken a few minutes to stop and talktome.”
I scoffed at his statement. He was going to lecturemeon makinghimapriority?
“I’m sorry. It’s been a long day and we wanted to get this done before themorning.”
I heard him sigh on the other end. “How are youdoing?”
“I’m fine. Avon and I had a great day visiting a school, talking to the teachers. We bought supplies for them to hand out tostudents.”
