“I bet she has chocolate hidden somewhere in there.” Caroline hadn’t eaten breakfast and her stomach had been growling nonstop. Candy was as good as cereal in her mind. “Come on. I want to have a chat before she gets here.”
“Okay.”
Jeanine sounded apprehensive, which meant she either didn’t want to talk to Caroline or she was terrified of going into Christine’s office when she wasn’t there. Caroline knew Jeanine had been brought on board for more than one reason. Christine was running for a nationally significant position and many GOP operatives were getting a little sick of putting up with Representative Sullivan’s mood swings. Jeanine had a reputation for dealing well with both.
The tidbit about Chrissy’s moodiness had come from Tom, so there may have been some inherent bias or perhaps even a hint of sarcasm in his observations, even if they were ultimately accurate. Christine was consistently rated one of the most difficult legislators to work for. She also made The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful, year after year. Caroline teased her incessantly about both lists.
She turned to the interns. “You guys want to hang out with us for a little while? We can talk all about the latest articles I read in The American Conservative.”
It took a minute before one of them spoke up. “Representative Sullivan doesn’t want us in there,” Frank said.
Of course she didn’t. Caroline determined it was safe to be a little sassy. “What about you, Jeanine? Do you get to use Representative Sullivan’s office?”
Jeanine gave her an apprehensive smile. “What do you think?”
“Whatever. She’ll have to deal with it. And I want candy.” Caroline ignored the somewhat petrified looks she received from the interns as she opened the door and strutted inside. The room was impossibly neat. Caroline was tempted to mess things up a little, but she wasn’t a complete ass. She had an entire campaign cycle to rearrange things when Christine’s back was turned. She rummaged around in the desk drawers until she found what she was looking for.
“Ghirardelli,” she said, pulling out a large bag and staring at the label. “Assorted squares. Perfect.”
She and Jeanine sat down on the couch, with Caroline slowly unwrapping a sea salt caramel and dark chocolate square. Christine’s favorite flavor. Caroline resolved that she would try to eat every caramel square in the bag before Christine arrived.
She recognized her rudeness, but her stomach was gnawing on itself. Hopefully she wouldn’t chew with her mouth open. Caroline held the bag up. “Want one?”
Jeanine shook her head no.
Her loss. “I want to hear your opinion on something.”
“Sure,” Jeanine said carefully. “I hope it’s not on some divisive social issue on which you and I are bound to disagree.”
She wasn’t going to beat around the bush. What was the point? “I’d like to endorse Christine.”
Jeanine coughed her surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Have you asked her about this?”
“I thought I’d talk to you first. I think she’s more inclined to say yes if you’re on board.” Caroline paused. “She’s still upset about what happened at the Capitol.”
“I can tell,” said Jeanine. “Even though she doesn’t talk about it. And lately she’s been much more unapproachable than usual. She’s scaring all the interns away. I’m only half kidding.”
“How is she polling?”
“Pretty well. Better than I expected. Her approval ratings have gone up since July.”
“So have mine. I don’t get it.”
Jack’s campaign manager ran some numbers on Caroline to see what people thought of her. Her approval rating was astronomically high in Pennsylvania, a state in which she had never set foot for more than a week at a time. It was even higher than her rating in her home district, where she had always polled extremely well. Caroline couldn’t explain that anomaly but Greg seemed quite pleased with the results.
Jeanine looked at her as if she were quite peculiar. “If you can’t figure out why both of you have seen your approval ratings rise, I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Would it benefit Christine if I endorsed her? Campaigned with her?” Caroline helped herself to another caramel and dark chocolate square. “I’ll be doing a ton of appearances with Jack and figured it wouldn’t hurt to offer the same thing to her.”
“No, it wouldn’t hurt. It might be a good way to generate buzz about events.” Jeanine gave her the look again. “First you voted for Speaker Allen. Now this. And you’re marrying a Republican. Are you switching parties?”
“I didn’t hit my head, Jeanine. I got shot in the arm.”