“No,” I grimace, sitting up in my chair. “Come on in.”
He nods to Nolan and shuts the door behind him. Striding across my office, he takes a seat. “I come bearing bad news.”
“Great,” I sigh, wishing this day was over already. “Give it to me.”
“There’s a picture in the paper today.” Graham lays a copy of the Savannah Dispatch on my desk. “That was taken outside the Farm yesterday.”
Grabbing it and looking closely, I see Troy in the Rover. In the passenger seat is Lincoln and in the back, behind Linc, is Alison. Her face is kind of blurry, but it’s her.
Thank God Huxley isn’t visible.
I want to die. I want to crawl into a hole and just sleep until this entire fucking election is over, until everyone stops acting stupid—caring about what I do, what I say, what I support, pegging kids on me that aren’t even mine.
Nolan glares from his spot next to my brother.
“Don’t start,” I grumble, putting my head in my hands. My mind is spinning about whether Alison has seen it or not and what she’ll have to say about it. This is absolutely what she doesn’t want and what I thought I could prevent.
How fucking stupid.
“Barrett,” Nolan says, licking his lips, “this isn’t going to go over well.”
“She’s not even officially coming to see me. She’s technically with Lincoln.”
“Even if she is with your brother, and we both know that’s not true, the media will spin it to discredit you, especially with her history. You know that.”
“Fuck.”
“I’m going to need to get back to my desk and figure out how to deal with this,” he huffs, sticking his paperwork back in his briefcase. “This is exactly what we didn’t need and absolutely what I asked you not to do.”
“I didn’t do anything, Nolan. Nothing wrong.”
He pauses, his hand midair, and looks at me like I’m a child. “You just cost me a day’s work by not being able to control yourself for a little while longer.”
“There’s nothing remotely scandalous about this!”
The air in the room thickens, all of us waiting on someone else to make the next move. I want to get out of here, to find Alison, to make sure she’s okay.
“I knew this was coming.” Graham adjusts his tie and clears his throat. “I have a plan, one neither of you may like, but it’s all I can come up with considering the extenuating circumstances. Let’s use this to our advantage. I know there’s no way Barrett is not going to keep seeing her.”
“How do you know that?” Nolan asks. “He’s seen her for a while now and that’s indicative of the end.”
“Trust me.” Graham looks at me again. “Furthermore, there’s no way the media won’t find out about her past—innocent or not,” he adds as I quirk a brow. “All we can do is to go with it, play it off. Defense in the form of offense.”
“What are you saying?” I ask, leaning forward, my hands together on my desk.
He takes a deep breath and watches Nolan. “I propose we go all in. Make a statement that Barrett is in a relationship with a single mom, that he’s this benevolent man that is taking care of her and her son. Let’s swing the story our way, use it to our advantage.”
Nolan seems to consider the absurdity of this.
“She doesn’t want in the media,” I say, nixing the idea. “There’s no way she’s going to agree to this.”
“Are you going to keep seeing her?” Graham asks.
I think about it for a half of a second. “Yes.”
“Then think of it like this—as much as you want to live in Lala Land and pretend like you can do what you want on the down low, you can’t. It’s ridiculous to even consider it, Barrett. So by doing it in the open, as much as she tells you she doesn’t want to do that, you can protect her. Otherwise . . . you can’t.”
It makes so much sense coming from Graham. But I know, in the bottom of my gut, this won’t be that simple to Alison.
“If it were just me, I’d be all in,” I say, feeling my resolve wane. “But this decision isn’t just mine.”
“Since when?” Graham jokes. “You always just make decisions about shit and force everyone else to play your game. That’s what this is, in fact. We’ve told you not to see her and yet, here we are, playing along with what you want.”
I don’t answer him, my mind already on the conversation I’m going to have with her.
“I think Graham has a point,” Nolan says finally, standing up. “If you’re hell-bent on seeing this thing through, let’s run with it. Just until the election. It’s not like you’re seriously going to marry this girl or anything.”
Something about the way he says that burns me. I stand too, my chair smacking the wall behind my desk. Graham notices my demeanor and inserts himself before I can blow.