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Chapter 12
Ben heard the knock at the door, but ignored it just as he’d been
taught to…until he heard her voice.
“Ben? It’s Julie. Could I come in for a minute?”
“Dad’s probably looking for you downstairs.” He called back.
“He found us. I asked him if I could come talk to you for a minute.
Will you let me in…please?”
Ben hesitantly got up and opened the door. Julie looked carefully
at the young man in front of her and noted his eyes were focused
on her shoes.
“Hey, it’s good to see you.” Julie let herself in the rest of the way.
“Not that the emails aren’t nice, but it’s not the same as seeing a
friend in person.” Julie didn’t miss the snort of disbelief that came
from Ben, but she did not acknowledge it. “Are you feeling any
better? Would you like me to bring up some soup or something?”
“My dad will take care of me.”
“Of course he will. I can still worry about you though.”
“I think you have enough to worry about with your campaign.” Ben
said pointedly. “Your numbers are flat. Maybe you should think
about a new manager.”
“Maybe…we’ll see what your dad has to say about that.” Julie
replied evenly.
“Dad says when something isn’t working you need to change
things up.”
“I’m sure he’s right. He’s the expert.”
“People all over the country want him to run their campaigns.”
“I imagine people all over the world seek him out. He and your
mom have done amazing things with their consulting company.
They have an incredible reputation.”
“That’s why you came to him, right?” Ben made it sound like an
accusation.
“Absolutely.” Julie admitted.
“That’s why you signed on with us so fast.”
“Yes.”
“That’s probably even why you’ve been so nice to me.”
“No.” Julie said firmly. “That’s simply not true, Ben.”
“Why else would you pretend to be friends with me?”
“I wasn’t pretending and I’m not pretending now. You’re a great
guy, Ben, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with you, writing to you.
Not because your parents are Josh and Donna Lyman, but
because you’re Benjamin Lyman and you’re a great friend.”
“Right.” Ben’s response was clipped. “As good a friend as Brian?”
“A different kind of friend than Brian.” Julie qualified.
“I’m only ten, but I don’t think friends usually kiss each other like
that.”
“Some friends do.” Julie countered. “I wish you would have stayed
downstairs earlier and talked to us about it.”
“You didn’t even see me.” Ben replied. “You only looked at him.”
“Him? Brian is your friend too.” Julie reminded Ben.
“Not anymore.” Ben answered. “He shouldn’t be yours either. He’s
wrecking your campaign.”
“I think he’s doing the best he can.”
“You’re gonna get creamed.” Ben smiled nastily. “And I won’t even
care.”
Julie’s heart constricted at the hurt and anger in Ben’s words.
“Maybe, since you’ve seen so many campaigns, it won’t matter to
you at all. But it will matter to me that you don’t care. That’s what I
liked most about you when I first met you; how much you cared.”
Julie took a chance and sat down next to the young boy. His eyes
were very shrewd, like his father’s, but she saw his mother’s
tender heart there too. “I never meant to hurt you, Ben. Honestly,
I didn’t. I’m so sorry that I did; even by accident.”
“You didn’t hurt me. You’re just the candidate in Minnesota. We’re
gonna stop and see two other candidates on this trip. No big
deal.” Ben got up and got a pop out of the fridge. “You should go
back downstairs. They’re probably waiting for you.”
Julie nodded sadly. “Okay, I’ll go. I hope we can be friends again,
Ben. You’re a good friend and I can use all the good friends I can
get these days.”
Ben didn’t answer her, so she stood up to leave just as Josh tried
to get in. On the third try, he got the door open and took in the
scene in front of him.
“We decided against dinner.” Josh told Julie. “Brian said he’ll meet
you at the event.”
“Well, this whole evening is off to a great start, isn’t it?” Julie said
sarcastically.
“Not really, no.” Josh answered seriously. “You should grab
something to eat and get your head back in the game. We can
talk when you’re done tonight.”
“Sure, because that won’t be nerve-wracking for me at all.” Julie
drawled. “I’ll talk with you then. Bye, Ben, I hope I see you later
too.” Josh held the door open for her.
“What do you say we order some room service, sport?” Josh
tousled his Ben’s hair and gave him a grim smile.
“Burgers and beer?” Ben asked naming his dad’s favorite
combination.
“Root Beer for you, but yeah, burgers and beer.” Josh agreed.
“Then we can talk campaign strategy.”
“Which campaign?”
“This one; Julie’s.”
“Shouldn’t you talk to Brian about that?” Ben replied.
“I’d like to talk it over with you first. Get another perspective.
Usually I tag your mom for this, but since you know all the players,
and she pretty much blew me off on the phone earlier, you get the
job.”
“Lucky me.” Ben muttered.
Once they’d settled in with their food on the floor, picnic style,
Josh leaned back against the bed.
“I’ve got this problem; a personnel problem.” Josh began. “I’ve got
a campaign that was a long shot to begin with, but it still isn’t
picking up speed the way it should be.”
“You always tell me to change things up when something’s not
working.”
“See, and that’s my dilemma, I don’t know what to change up.”
Josh munched on his fries wishing his wife was there to steal
some of them and help him find the right words for Ben. “I’m not
sure if it’s a problem with the strategy or the how the strategy is
being executed.”
“Could be both.” Ben offered.
“Could be.” Josh agreed. “The thing is, Brian has been pretty
consistent in how he runs campaigns; he’s quick on his feet, plans
long term, and knows how to play to a candidate’s strengths.”
“Maybe it’s the wrong candidate then.” Ben said drily and Josh
choked on a swallow of his beer.
“The trouble with that theory is that we both agreed she was the
right candidate; and if that wasn’t enough, she was more or less
handpicked by your mother. No, I think we got the right person
and I think I picked a good manager to work the campaign, but
sometimes things change over the course of the campaign and it’
s best to change something.”
“Is this because Julie and Brian are dating?” Ben asked, again
surprising his father.
“That’s…a consideration.” Josh admitted.
“Why?”
“Because…” Jesus, where was Donna when he needed her?
“Because a personal relationship, a romantic relationship, can
have…I don’t know. It’s just not the best combination, to be dating
someone you’re working with.”
“Billy and Jenny dated when they worked on Uncle Sam’s
campaign. Didn’t you and mom date when you were running Uncle
Matt’s campaign?”
“We weren’t dating.” Josh answered firmly. “We were…I don’t
know what, but we weren’t dating.”
“Only cause you were too chicken to ask her out.” Ben teased.
“I was too- Who told you that pack of lies? Did your mother tell
you I was too chicken?”
“No, it was Uncle Sam.” Ben told him.
“Sam wasn’t even there!” Josh protested. “UNCLE SAM ran off to
make millions in the private sector while I worked for peanuts to
get the Santos campaign off the ground, young man. Uncle Sam
doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And just when did he share
this great insight with you anyway?”
Ben shrugged, pleased to have gotten his father riled up. “He
said if you hadn’t been so chicken it wouldn’t have taken you ten
years to ask mom to marry you.”
“He said- that’s it. You are no longer allowed to spend
unsupervised time with Uncle Sam. Got it?”
“Got it.” Ben giggled and the sound made Josh stop in his the
middle of his plans of retribution against Sam and laugh along
with him. When they both sobered, Josh continued with their
previous conversation.
“Seemed a little tense between you and Julie when I came in
here.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing.” Ben replied, then continued after his father gave him a
skeptical look. “Remember that time Ally and me stayed in Florida,
with Grandma while you and Mom took some trip? There was this
guy that kept talking to me and Ally; kept saying how cute we were
and how proud our parents must be of us and even bought us ice
cream down by the pool. Grandma kept trying to keep us away
from him and I got mad because I didn’t get why. When you and
Mom came back you told me that the guy wanted you to run his
brother’s campaign and that was the only reason he was being so
nice to us.”
“I remember.” Josh said quietly.
“And how you told us that some people would try to use us to get
to you or Mom?”
“Ben, that’s not Julie.” Josh skipped to the bottom line.
“How do you know?” Ben asked.
“Years of experience, pal; years and years of experience.” Josh
assured him. “Julie isn’t like those people. It’s one of the reasons
we both liked her from the start.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me about Brian?”
“I think she didn’t tell YOU about Brian, because she didn’t want
you to tell ME about Brian.” Josh explained. “This wasn’t about
you, kiddo.”
“Are you going to bring in a new manager?” Ben asked.
“I haven’t decided yet.” Josh leveled. “I have the feeling that if I
try, Brian is going to quit.”
“He must really like her then.” Ben figured.
“I guess so.” Josh agreed. “If you’re done playing with your fries,
we have a round table on health issues to go to.”
Josh got up half expecting Ben to refuse to go with him. But once
again, his son surprised him. Ben put on his shoes and grabbed
his jacket without another comment.