Read Online Domestic Affairs by Bridget Siegel - Free Book Online Page A

on that , he thought, piling it onto his ever-increasing list of resolutions. Impress Martha Ann and Billy. He smiled, knowing it was a near-impossible task. They were as elegant and meticulous as Billy’s old three-piece suits.
    The governor approached Billy and the chief of staff leaned in a bit, speaking with his usual calm. “Senator Del Giudice is here. He’s warm on section 2A of the spending bill.”
    And that goes on the list too , Jacob thought, watching Billy ask the governor to do something without ever actually asking a question and vowing to adopt the technique. Jacob constantly felt as if he were begging for something to be said or done. Billy had a way of just mentioning a fact that would immediately spur Taylor to do just what he wanted him to do. Of course , Jacob thought to himself, he also always has every domino piece in place before he asks for the push. Like his perfectly put-together outfits, Billy laid things out well before they ever needed to be done. Everything he did was slow and methodical—one might say painstakingly slow—but he was always prepared.
    Jacob often wondered how Billy managed to stay with Taylor, who was basically his polar opposite in terms of planning things out. Opposites attract , he thought gratefully, as he also couldn’t imagine Taylor, or any of them, without Billy. Everyone loved Billy, even Aubrey, who now interrupted their conversation to say, “Thank goodness for my dear man Billy. Otherwise I would have been here by myself.”
    Billy smiled, ever the peacekeeper, and stayed a careful three steps behind the governor and Aubrey. He turned to Jacob and began speaking again, not exactly in a whisper but in a tone that only the person he wanted to hear his words could make out. “Good job, kiddo. I thought we were in for at least twenty more minutes.”
    â€œWe almost got here early!”
    Billy grinned again and continued walking quietly behind the governor.
    Jacob sprinted ahead to Taylor and began grabbing the business cards that the governor was receiving from all sides and slyly passing off. When Jacob saw Aubrey grab the governor to pull him over to the Angevines, he knew he’d have at least five minutes to himself and he took the opening to run up to the stage, which was built out on the side of one of the houses under construction.
    Double-check there is water on the podium. Yes. The mic level has been adjusted. Check. The right amount of chairs set. Check. The Taylor sign perfectly straight on the front of the podium. Check.
    He rushed back to the Taylors’ side just in time to hear them moving on from Aubrey’s friends. Calm, contain, control , he reminded himself as he watched Billy, still steps back, clearly and serenely catching each person he needed to talk to. Jacob watched him move closer to the governor as Senator Del Giudice approached him. He barely looked as if he was moving but when the senator said, “Hiya, Billy!” sure enough they were so near to the governor that Taylor simply turned his head and was in the conversation.
    When the speaking program finally began, Jacob walked back behind the hundred or so people crowded in the middle of the four houses that were being built and slid back, leaning onto one of the erected support beams. He looked around at the scene in front of him, thinking it was an exact replication of every Habitat event they had ever done, including the very first. Not that Jacob was there, but he had heard about that first event so many times, it was clearer in his mind than some of his own memories. He wondered if maybe the stories had evolved, as all political stories do, with the passing of time; it seemed less likely that they would be able to re-create the same event so many years in a row. Although they did have it down to a science. Even theirstage positions stayed the same: Taylor at the podium, Aubrey stage left looking adoringly at him, Billy in back of the