Page 15 of Campaign Season
The two of them settled into a relaxed rhythm, casting and reeling at their own pace. The press pool lingered, their cameras clicking like distant woodpeckers, but Jameson barely noticed anymore.
This didn’t feel like political theater; it felt like two women enjoying a stretch of river, a new friendship blossoming in the quiet moments between laughter and the tug of the line.
As Jameson watched Aubrey’s face light up at the tug on her line, she felt a weight lift from her chest. Candace was right—politics was fundamentally about people. It was about these genuine, unguarded moments of connection. Her gaze drifted with the current. The fish was gone, but it had left its mark. She had little doubt that Aubrey Peters would leave a mark, too.
"Aw!" Aubrey groaned. "Lost that one."
Jameson winked. "Just means there's a bigger one waiting."
The White House
Alex Toles and Gil Rogers walked into the Oval Office to find Candace hunched over her laptop, giggling.
“Please tell me Lawson Klein finally got caught in a sex tape,” Alex cracked.
Candace wiped at her eyes, still laughing. “That might be the only thing that would amuse me more. Come look.”
She turned the screen. On it, Jameson was wrestling with a steelhead trout like it was a WWE opponent. Aubrey Peters had the net, but the fish slipped free, smacking Jameson squarely in the forehead.
Gil winced. “Ouch.”
Alex slapped a hand over her mouth but couldn’t hold back a snort. “Oh, God—please tell me someone in the press got that on camera.”
“Every major outlet,” Candace said, her voice rich with amusement.
In the video, Jameson hurriedly tried to push the fish back into the water but slipped in the mud and fell flat on her backside. Aubrey rushed to help, only to trip on Jameson's boot and tumble down beside her. The two women flailed on the bank as the trout thrashed at their feet. It was a perfect mess of tangled limbs and laughter.
By the time Jameson finally succeeded in nudging the fish back into the river, Alex was doubled over with laughter, tears streaming down her face. “This is Lucy and Ethel—Fishing Gone Wrong.I swear, if you added a laugh track, it would be sitcom gold.”
Candace chuckled, shaking her head. “She’s going to kill me for laughing at this.”
Gil arched a brow. “You’re not planning to stop, though, are you?”
“Not a chance.”
“Not your ordinary campaign event,” Alex commented.
“Well, you know, a lot of people say politics is fishy,” Candace deadpanned.
Alex rolled her eyes but laughed. “That sounds like something Claire would say.”
Candace shrugged, turning the laptop back, and shook her head affectionately at the video once more before closing it. The laughter in the room settled into a quieter hum, the kind that always preceded heavier business.
She looked up at Gil and Alex. “All right. Let’s get to it. What’s happening in Kaliningrad?”
Gil straightened, his tone sharpening as if someone had flicked a switch. “We’ve confirmed additional troop movements along the corridor. Nothing overtly aggressive yet, but the scale is larger than we’ve seen in the last eighteen months.”
Alex leaned forward, a slim folder in her hands. “Satellite imagery shows armor being repositioned closer to the Polishborder. Popov isn’t being subtle. The question is whether he’s posturing—or preparing for something more.”
Candace’s expression hardened, the warmth from a moment ago tucked neatly behind the practiced calm of the president. That was her life now—moving from wife to mother to president in the span of a breath. Sometimes it felt seamless, as natural as shifting gears in a car. Other times, like today, the whiplash of it left her wondering how long she could keep it up.
She forced her focus back to the table. “I want every angle. Intent, capability, timing. If Popov is building a bluff, I want to know what hand he thinks he’s holding. And if it isn’t a bluff, I need to understand what he’s willing to sacrifice.”
Gil nodded. “We’re coordinating with NATO allies for intelligence, but he’s good at misdirection.”
Candace tapped a finger against her desk, her mind already moving three steps ahead.No time for doubt. Not here.“Then we’ll get closer. I want full assessments from Defense and State by tomorrow morning. And Alex—loop in our partners in Berlin and London. If Popov is trying to fracture our alliance, I want him to see just how unbreakable it really is.”
“Yes, Madam President,” Alex said.
