“That’s crazy. Is he going to do it?”
“It sounds like it. I mean, it’s kind of a long shot for him to win the general. But it’s great experience. And you never know. They want someone young who can bring energy to the party. They also think he can raise a lot of money.”
“What’s the position again?”
“Railroad commissioner.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“You’re not from Texas,” Matt said.
“Neither are you.”
“Jimmy’s talked about it before. He thought it would be something to aim for in the future. Like years down the road.” Matt closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch.
“He wants to be in charge of the railroad?” I asked.
“That’s not what they do. They deal with gas and oil regulations. It’s hard to explain.”
“Was he calling just to tell you?” I asked. I was already bracing myself for this to send Matt into a spiral—one more thing Jimmy got that he didn’t, one more step forward that he wasn’t taking.
“He said he wanted my advice. If he does this, he’s going to have to start fund-raising soon,” he said. Then he gave me a wry smile. “He also just wanted to show off, I think.”
“The Jimmy Dillon Show has officially started,” I said. “He’s probably looking in the mirror, smiling at himself and brushing his hair.”
Matt made a small “hmmph” sound, but then he laughed and nodded in agreement. “No shit,” he said.
—
Jimmy officially declared that he was running in November, and that same day he asked Matt to help him put together a fund-raiser in DC. “Can he do that?” I asked. “Get money from people outside of Texas?”
“Oh sure,” Matt said. “That’s part of why they wanted him to run. He has all these DC connections.”
They wanted to get the fund-raiser together quickly, to get people excited about the campaign. “We’re going to aim for two weeks from today,” Matt said. “We think it’ll be good for momentum.”
Right after that, there’d be another fund-raiser in Houston, hosted by Jimmy’s parents. “We’ll raise a lot more money at that one, but the DC one will be great to spread the word.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I said. I almost didn’t notice that Matt referred to Jimmy’s campaign as “we.”
—
I called Ash that night to have her fill me in on everything. “This is bonkers,” she said. “It’s all happening so fast. Jimmy is running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He doesn’t know which end is up.” But I could hear the pride in her voice. I told her they should stay with us when they came to town for the fund-raiser, and she accepted right away. “That would be so great,” she said. “I’ve been thinking it would be hard to be stuck in the hotel room with Viv.”
I’d made the offer before telling Matt, and I was worried he’d be annoyed, but he just said, “Oh good.” It was hard not to notice that he’d been in a better mood since working on the fund-raiser, and when I mentioned that to him, he just said, “Yeah, this is exciting,” and I kissed him on his temple, which made him smile and say, “Thank you.”
—
For the next couple of weeks, Ash and I texted all the time and called each other at least once a day. A lot of it was just going over the logistics of the trip—they were only coming for one night, but it felt like there was so much to sort out. We’d been in touch since they moved, of course, but it wasn’t with the same frequency as when they lived here. It was nice to have a reason to be in contact so often, and as I texted her one night to tell her that the owner of United States of Spinning was getting a divorce, I realized just how much I’d missed her.
Ash rented a portable crib and high chair from some company that specialized in traveling with infants, and it was all delivered early on the morning they’d arrive. I set up the high chair in the dining room and hauled the crib upstairs to the guest room, then spent the rest of the day cleaning the apartment.
They got there in the afternoon, and when I opened the door, they were standing on the front stoop, each of them holding a bag with two suitcases behind them. There was so much stuff that I almost made a joke about them moving in, but stopped when I saw their strained smiles.
Instead, I leaned down to Viv and unsnapped her from her stroller. As I picked her up, I noticed the little gold balls on her tiny earlobes. “Look at you, Viv,” I said. “With your ears pierced already. Such a lady.”