Campaigning for Love novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Photo

The photo went up at 6:40 the next morning, on the Haskins campaign's official account.

Hallie read it to me in the parking lot with her thermos in one hand and her phone in the other.

It showed my father, Constance and me at the check-in table, with my hand on his sleeve and a Hallam Freight banner above us.

Under it, in capital letters: DONOR'S DAUGHTER WORKS FOR KITTREDGE. IS THE SENATE FOR SALE?

"Oh, that's good," Hallie said. "That's really good. I hate it."

"There's more?"

"Sixty thousand shares and a hashtag."

She turned the screen.

#KITTREDGEBOUGHT.

I stood in a cold wind outside a furniture store and felt my insides go to water.

"Cora."

"I'm fine."

"You're green."

"I'm going in."

"You're allowed to go home."

"No," I said. "I'm not."

By eight o'clock all forty interns were gathered in the showroom, standing around the unsold sofas with their phones out.

The staff stood along the back wall.

Nelson stood at the front in a grey suit, looking like he hadn't slept.

Constance stood beside him with a folder.

She waited for the buzz to die.

"As you know," she said, "the Senator's campaign has made an accusation this morning. It's false. It's also inconvenient."

A few nervous laughs.

"We will answer it with discipline. Nobody speaks to the press. Nobody posts. Nobody reposts."

"If you are asked about Mr. Hallam, you say he is a supporter of rural infrastructure and has been for twenty years."

She turned her head.

"Miss Dunn."

Forty heads turned.

I wanted to melt through the floor.

"Miss Dunn is a gifted young woman, and we thank her."

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