“Might I make a suggestion here, Tom?” Matt asked “Can we all agree to put yard signs in an area of the yard where traffic might actually see them as opposed to making them into a decorative feature of the whole landscape?” he asked, and felt Miss Priss go stiff next to him.
“Sure!” Tom said. “Everyone take note of that. Okay, Rebecca, what about our Silver Panthers?”
“Yeah, I am dying to know about the Panthers,” Matt said, turning to look at Rebecca, already imagining what he would do with the favor she owed him, and it was, after that heel to the foot thing, a deliciously nasty idea.
Rebecca sat ramrod straight on the edge of her chair, hands folded primly on the table, just like Tanya Kwitokowsky. She probably even had an apple for Tom in that bag of hers. “We’re on,” she said proudly, and beamed a big told-you-so smile at Matt. “We’ve got a hall, we’ve got entertainment, and we’ve got refreshments the night before the convention kick-off. But more importantly, we have the coveted list of attendees,” she said. “So all I need is the word go, and I’ll mail out five hundred invitations to come meet Senator Masters.”
Matt could not believe his ears. That group was as tight as a drum, and no one—certainly not a former beauty queen—could break that attendance list.
“That’s fantastic!” Tom shouted, slapping the table. “Well, now, Rebecca, aren’t you just the cream in our coffee? Folks, this is the kind of drive I’m looking for. The desire to accomplish goals, just like that poster says.” He paused, squinted at the motivational poster on the wall. “Well, I can’t read it from here, but you get the gist of what I’m saying. So Gilbert, work something up for me to say. Pat, will you get some campaign literature together? And Rebecca, if you’ve got a minute after we’re through here, there are some people I think I’d like you to meet.”
Miss Priss’s spine got, impossibly, even straighter, and she gushed, “I’d love to help in any way I can.”
If this went on much longer, Matt half expected Burt Parks would pop through the window singing “Here She Is . . .” while she took a little walk around the conference room, blowing kisses to them all.
“Is it Matt’s turn?” she asked with feigned innocence, and turned in her seat to face him, a smart little smirk glittering in her eyes.
“Yep. Matt, you’re on,” Tom said. “What did you do since our last meeting?”
Matt frowned; Rebecca actually had the nerve to turn the smirk up a notch. Man oh man, the poor little alien had no idea what she was up against, but if that’s the way she wanted to play it, he’d be happy to engage. Just as long as she understood that if she played with fire, she definitely would get burned.
“Talked to Doug today,” he said, turning back to the group, and began to lay out the finer points of a plausible stance on health care.
Chapter Eleven
All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure . . .
MARK TWAIN
It was nothing short of a miracle that Bud actually picked up Grayson in Austin that Friday, because he’d dumped his son the last four weekends he was supposed to have had him, and because the people Tom wanted Rebecca to meet were the new media people, hired out of Los Angeles. They were going to transform Tom’s image into someone who looked like he owned the lieutenant governor’s office (Tom’s exact words).
After dropping Grayson off, Rebecca spent the day preparing herself for the happy hour meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel. The best news was that Popinjay would not be there to discombobulate her as only he could do with that body and that face and that rapacious smile.
“I really need you to come,” Tom had told her in confidence. “These are media people with offices in L.A. They know what they are doing, and I mean, Pat’s nice and all, but she’s, well . . . you know.”
Rebecca didn’t know.
“And Gilbert and Angie,” he added with a roll of his eyes. “Now there’s a pair, huh? Don’t get me wrong . . . they’re great and all that, but they just aren’t the right type. I really need you, Rebecca. You know how important appearances are,” he said with a wink. “You’re perfect for this!”