As Liz walked the perimeter, she took a bunch of shots of the festivities. She could picture-catalog her activity on site. Students seemed to like that kind of thing. She slid her phone into her back pocket as she approached the stage. A gate was set up so that no one other than staff and guests could wander backstage. Liz wished she had requested a press pass, and then she could have roamed around freely.
She avoided the security guard, found a stretch of unobscured fence, and leaned over the railing to see whether she could see anything. It wasn’t exactly stealthy, but she was just curious. What she saw made her grind her teeth.
Lush red hair swished over Calleigh’s shoulder as she laughed at something a guy said in front of her. She held a microphone loosely in her hand, but she didn’t seem as if she was working at the moment. Liz hadn’t been following her work too closely, but she knew that Calleigh was working in the political division of the paper. She didn’t have her own column or anything yet, which probably explained why she was in Raleigh for the Fourth instead of Charlotte. Whoever was working above her probably sent her here because they didn’t want to make the drive. Or at least that was Liz’s guess.
Ever since that incident with Hayden at the end of the spring semester, she’d had a negative reaction to Calleigh. It was strange, considering she had always looked up to her for her work at the paper. Still, she couldn’t get over the feeling that Calleigh had snubbed her on purpose. It felt personal.
Calleigh glanced off in Liz’s direction, and Liz snapped her head back over the fence. She hoped Calleigh hadn’t seen her, but she was pretty sure she had. This was not what she needed.
“Liz!” Calleigh called. Liz sighed and turned back to look over the fence. Calleigh was walking toward her with a smile on her face. She was in professional attire, with a white flouncy blouse tucked into a red pencil skirt and heels that kept sinking into the soft ground.
“Hey, Calleigh,” Liz said.
“Surprise seeing you here! I thought you would be in Chapel Hill, or home for the summer,” she said, standing against the fence.
“I stayed in Chapel Hill. I’m taking a class and writing my own column at the paper, but I came to town for the rally,” Liz told her.
“How nice! I was talking to Hayden the other day and he said someone was covering the information, but he never mentioned it was you,” she said with a big bright smile, setting her manicured hand down on the railing.
Liz had talked to Hayden only yesterday, and he hadn’t mentioned speaking with Calleigh. Though, why would he? It was none of Liz’s business, but she was damn curious as to why he was still talking to Calleigh, when he had said that it was over between them.
“Nice. I’m sure he’s so busy with his internship, it just slipped his mind. I’ll ask him when I go visit,” Liz said, trying not to bat an eyelash or crack a smile.
“Oh, you’re going to D.C.?” Calleigh asked, her fingers curling over the fence.
“Yeah, in a couple of weeks.”
“Interesting.”
“Ma’am,” a security guard called, walking over to them, “you’re going to have to step away from the fence.”
“Oh, she’s with me,” Calleigh said, flashing her press badge.
“Does she have one of those?” he asked.
“I have hers in my bag,” Calleigh said. She gestured to the cameraman standing next to her. Calleigh walked over to her bag and produced a second press pass swinging on a lanyard.
“Make sure she wears it next time,” he grumbled. “Now, move quickly. We have to clear the area.”
“Yes, sir,” Calleigh said sweetly. She handed Liz her extra pass.
“Thanks.” Liz slipped the badge around her neck. “That was fortunate,” she said as she walked to the other side of the fence.
“Yeah. We always get one extra just in case they throw someone else on the case or we need an additional photographer,” she said with a shrug. “You can keep it.”
Liz didn’t know why she followed Calleigh. She didn’t want to be near the woman, but she had given her the pass. It would be rude to walk away now. Also, deep down she knew that this put her one step closer to Brady.
“If they’re clearing the area, that must mean the Maxwell family has arrived,” Calleigh said, stalking over to her cameraman.
Liz smiled. Brady.
“I can’t wait to see Brady’s speech. Every time he opens his mouth…” Calleigh said. “Well, he’s hot.”
Liz almost laughed. For a long time she would have never thought that anyone in his or her right mind would turn down Calleigh Hollingsworth, let alone pick Liz over Calleigh. But now, as Calleigh talked about Brady like that, Liz knew that Calleigh stood no chance next to her. It was a damn good feeling.
“Don’t you think so?” Calleigh asked.
“Up until he opens his mouth,” Liz told her with a condescending smile.
“Yeah, well, you don’t have to agree with him to appreciate his good looks. He was just rated North Carolina’s most eligible bachelor,” she told Liz.
She wasn’t aware of that, but she also wasn’t surprised. He was gorgeous, ambitious, driven. Liz tried not to think too much about it. It was only a matter of time before women started trying harder to get his attention. And she didn’t want his attention diverted anywhere else.
“I’m sure someone will scoop him up soon,” Liz said wistfully.
“I can’t wait to find out who it is.” Calleigh raised her eyebrows at Liz. Calleigh seemed so confident all the time, as if she half expected Brady to find her in the crowd and start making out with her.
Before Liz had to reply, she heard a commotion behind her. She turned back to the gate she had entered, saw it open, and a pair of security guards in slick black suits walked through. The press flocked forward, pressing inward as Brady’s family filed into a private holding space.
Liz followed Calleigh through the crowd as Brady’s father walked past her. He looked dignified in a black suit, with salt and pepper sprinkled in his hair. Brady was going to age well. The smile left her face at the thought. She couldn’t think like that. Senator Maxwell’s wife was at his side, but Liz couldn’t make out much more than a short bob of blond hair before they disappeared.
Someone shoved Liz out of the way and she missed whoever walked past after them, but found a space to look through a second later. And there was Savannah Maxwell—the girl Brady had been with at the town hall meeting in Carrboro. She was dressed professional chic, in straight black pants, a red fitted tank, and a blue blazer with white buttons. Her dark hair fell stick straight to her shoulders. She looked a lot like a feminine version of Brady.
Then he appeared and Liz’s breath caught. There was no way Brady could see her over the crowd of reporters, and he wasn’t expecting her to be backstage. It was like witnessing a private moment.
He was all business today. He wore a stern expression, and his campaign mask was in place. His black suit was crisp and tailored to his build. She could tell that he was worried about something even from the distance. She didn’t know how. Had she really been spending that much time with him that she could tell something like that? Or was she making it up?
Brady kept walking past the sea of reporters and into the holding room without looking up once. Liz was disappointed she didn’t get to see more of his handsome face, but he had to work today. She could understand that.
A few minutes later, the elder Brady Maxwell was announced, and he walked onstage. His speech was as customary as it went for him. Liz hadn’t looked through most of his work, but she knew the gist of his campaign. He ran on family values. He always had. It won hearts very easily. Add his personal charisma onstage and he was a guaranteed shoo-in each time he ran for election.