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believe, however, that this is the best thing for our state.”
    “I’m glad to hear that,” Gray acknowledged.
    “And I’m proud to say we have enough house votes to pass it.”
    Gray sat back in his chair. “Marcus, what about the senate?”
    “We’re good, Governor.” Marcus Newman’s polished voice matched his twelve-hundred-dollar suit. One of the new faces at the capitol, Newman came from a long line of Memphis legislators. He was clearly an ambitious man, and being assigned to this committee showed he was moving ahead fast, but so far he had operated as a team player. “Both sides agree that something has to be done, and we believe both sides have been fairly represented.”
    The crisis in education had left them little choice. With the cutbacks about to hit the schools, Gray had to offer the public something to make them see public education was worth investing in. So they had changed the graduation standards as well as the teacher evaluation guidelines. Both teachers and students were getting extra scrutiny in hopes of giving the public a school system they’d be willing to send their kids to. He had made his own contribution when he took Maddie to school this morning.
    Gray’s chair swiveled beneath him as he placed his arms on the table. “So we’re saying all the bantering is over?”
    “We’ll vote tomorrow in our special committee meeting. It will have to be by proxy, of course. There’s a limit to how many folks we can get back in town this time of year, even with the special circumstances of this budget.” Speaker Johnson coughed and then reached for his water. He had been the Speaker for the past twelve years and a senator for thirty. Gray believed it was time for him to go, but he figured the man would die with his gavel in his hand—or die beating his opponent over the head with it. Either way, Johnson wouldn’t be letting go of the gavel as long as he had any fight left in him.
    Gray looked at Fletcher. His friend’s red- and blue-striped bow tie tilted at his neck, and his thick head of brown hair looked rumpled. “Set up a public signing for Thursday morning,” Gray told him.
    “Will do.”
    “Well, gentlemen, I am off to see which paper I can get to write about me tomorrow.” He laughed. The rest of the room did too, proving they had all read the morning paper as well. Gray stood, grateful the meeting had gone well. He shook hands and headed back to his office. Fletcher was right behind him, with Kurt on their heels.
    “They may pull a last-minute stunt.” Kurt ran to catch up. “I don’t trust Newman. He’s too . . . too . . . pretty .”
    “They’ll sign it,” Gray assured.
    “They’ve got too much to lose if they don’t,” Fletcher added.
    Kurt wasn’t appeased. “They’re looking for a reason to get rid of you.”
    “You read way too many newspapers.”
    Fletcher laughed. “No, he’s just been in politics too long.”
    Gray chuckled too. Kurt didn’t. “Y’all laugh. But don’t be surprised if they throw you a curveball before Thursday morning. And I need us to sit down and go over this lawsuit from the Victims’ Rights Association of Tennessee.”
    Gray looked at his watch. Almost three o’clock. Maddie would be getting home soon, and he didn’t want to miss that call. “I’ll give you thirty minutes. But when Maddie calls, you’re finished.”
    Kurt huffed. “When Maddie calls, I’ll give you a break, and then we can finish.”
    Fletcher patted Gray on the back. “You hired him.”
    There was nothing like deep friendships, and these ran the deepest. The three of them had played baseball and football together. They had gone on dates together and won Gray the student body president election together. And they had vowed that wherever the road took them, they would go together. So far they had done just that.
    “Yep, I did, didn’t I? Stupid college promise.”
    Kurt rolled his eyes. Fletcher and Gray laughed. It had been that way since