Domestic Affairs by Bridget Siegel Read Free Book Online

mouthed, “She’s a keeper.”
    â€œSo to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?” Sophie said, raising her shoulders. “I thought you were supposed to go back to Georgia this afternoon with your boss.”
    â€œHmmmm . . . you want the truth or a lie?”
    â€œOh, definitely a lie. I love it when guys lie to me.” She rolled her eyes.
    â€œActually, I can give you both, all wrapped up into one.”
    â€œThat’s what makes me nervous about you.”
    â€œSo tomorrow morning I’m supposed to meet with David Dowling. He’s a BSD. Olivia, my friend who I mentioned to you, the one I just hired onto the campaign, she had a meeting with him scheduled tomorrow and invited me to come along.” Don’t lie. You like this girl , he reminded himself. “Okay, so I kind of invited myself so I could stay the night and see you,” he admitted.
    â€œBSD?”
    â€œOh, sorry, campaign speak. Big Swinging Dick. The type of guywho does what he wants, when he wants. And can raise a lot of money for a politician, if so motivated. We’re hoping to get him going. I think he could be one of Taylor’s biggest fundraisers for the upcoming presidential, if he so chooses.”
    â€œAre you a BSD?”
    â€œI’d call myself more of an MSD . . . you know, Medium Swinging Dick.” If that man-parts thing came to fruition—and Jacob was thinking the potential had reemerged—he didn’t want there to be a letdown.
    â€œYou guys sleep together?”
    â€œMe and the BSD? Look, I get impressed by that stuff, but not that impressed.”
    â€œNope. You and Olivia.”
    â€œHa! No.”
    â€œI saw The West Wing once and couldn’t understand a lick of any of the political crap they were talking about. All I took away was that everyone was either sleeping with each other, used to sleep with each other, or wanted to.”
    â€œNo, Olivia is just a good friend. We haven’t laid a finger on each other, scout’s honor. We met back in the ’06 campaign.”
    â€œIt’s so funny how you do that.”
    â€œDo what?”
    â€œYou never speak in years, just campaigns. Like there you said you met her in the ’06 campaign and when I asked when you moved to Georgia you said during the ’08 campaign, and that cut on your arm you got at the start of the ’04 campaign.”
    Jacob laughed, impressed she had remembered all that, but also that she had caught something he never noticed about himself. It was true. His life, at least for the last decade, was divided into campaigns. “I do do that,” he said.
    â€œIt’s kind of like parents who relate everything to their kids’ ages. You know, my mom always says things like, ‘Oh, the spaceship went up when Sophie was five.’”
    â€œCampaigns are kind of like kids.”
    â€œOkay, so which years does this one cover?”
    â€œThis one really got started about three months ago, in February,although we did spend a year as a PCIT, ‘Presidential Campaign in Training.’ Technically—well, hopefully—it runs through next November, but actually the big test is coming up this February, just nine months away.”
    â€œFebruary?”
    â€œYeah. We’ve put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, and the basket is the Iowa Caucus. It’s the first contest of the primary season and if we win that, we sail through to November.”
    â€œWith just one primary?”
    â€œYep. Iowa for us is like the first domino. If we win, we’ve been promised certain endorsements, a few political and, more importantly, some of the major unions. So all roads lead to the Iowa Caucus.”
    â€œWow. So he could really be president, huh?”
    â€œHe really could.” As many times as Jacob said it, he always found himself a bit surprised and excited by the statement. It was truly colossal.
    â€œSo then you would go work in