Pulse Points. Mary Baxter Lynn

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СКАЧАТЬ Tanner conceded. Hell, if it hadn’t been for Milstead, he wouldn’t even be in the race for the Texas Senate.

      Jack lived for politics, though he’d never had the desire to run for office himself. “I work best behind the scenes,” he’d told Tanner, “grooming young men like you to run this great state.”

      In his late sixties, Milstead was a self-made man who had gotten into the nursing home business at the right time and was now a millionaire several times over.

      Tanner had met him and his wife, Sissy, and son, Ralph, before he’d married Norma. They had been old and dear friends of hers. He and Jack had hit it off immediately and in turn had become friends. Tanner guessed he admired and respected him more than anyone else he knew. Holding on to his approval was terribly important to him.

      “Cat got your tongue, boy?” Jack demanded, leaning forward, his eyebrows drawn together in a fierce frown.

      Tanner fingered his tie, feeling the humidity as though he were outside. Or perhaps it was his mentor’s intense scrutiny that made him uncomfortable. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t the smartest move I’ve ever made, and probably not great timing, but I felt it was a necessary evil.”

      “For a man without any political experience, but who’s entering the final leg of the race, you just don’t go firing your ad agency.”

      “Why not?” Tanner asked, his deep voice even and cool.

      “Because it could spell political suicide, that’s why.”

      “I disagree,” Tanner said with vigor, though his confidence did erode somewhat under Jack’s piercing gaze. Still, he defended his actions. “The agency wasn’t doing Jack-shit.” He broke off with another grin. “No pun intended, of course.”

      Jack flapped his hand, then ran it though his thick graying hair and on down to his mustache. “Yeah, yeah.”

      “Anyhow,” Tanner continued, his tone once again abrupt and all business, “it’ll work out. Besides, it’s a done deal. The Randolph Agency in Dallas is history.”

      Jack’s scowl didn’t lessen. “Well, done deals can be undone. In the political world that’s an everyday occurrence.”

      “But not in my world.” Tanner’s tone was rigid. “I make a decision, I stick to it. Just like I’ve stuck to the issues that I feel passionate about.”

      That last pointed remark brought a flush to Jack’s already heated features, and he cursed. To date, issues had been the only bone of contention between the two men. Jack had wanted to have a large say in Tanner’s platform. And Tanner had indulged him up to a point. But then, he’d had to step in and take charge, realizing that it took fire in one’s belly to win big. In order to start that fire and get it roaring, Tanner had to stick to his own convictions.

      “All right, I’ll keep my mouth shut and hope you know what you’re doing. What does Irene say about it?”

      Irene Sullivan was his campaign manager who had hired the agency in the first place.

      “I don’t know. I haven’t told her.”

      “My guess is she’ll shit a brick.”

      “Probably. Maybe then she’ll feel better.”

      Jack grunted. “Funny. Actually, she’s the one you needed to dump. She’s too much in-your-face, too ballsy to suit me. I don’t know how the two of you keep from butting heads on a daily basis.”

      “We have our moments,” Tanner said, “that’s for sure. But overall, she does a good job. She has a mind like a steel trap, and you know how well-traveled she is in the political arena. That adds to her value.”

      “How ’bout the fact that she’s a looker? Are you telling me that doesn’t fit into the equation?”

      “I’m not screwing her, Jack, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

      “I bet it’s not from lack of trying on her part.”

      “How did we get off on this topic of conversation anyway?” Tanner lost his patience. “I can and will handle Irene, keep the bit in her mouth, if need be. So don’t worry.”

      “As long as she does the job,” Jack mumbled, “I guess that’s all that matters.”

      Tanner sipped on his coffee. “Like it or not, her strategy, along with yours and lots of others, has turned me into a viable candidate.”

      “Not a damned easy task, either,” Jack muttered with a fleeting grin.

      Tanner tightened the harsh planes of his face. “No one knows that better than me. I’ll never forget that day you approached me and asked if I was interested in politics. I thought you’d lost your mind.”

      “That fateful day wasn’t all that long ago, my friend,” Jack mused, taking a drink of his coffee.

      “It seems like forever. What with trying to jockey my business and my leap into politics, I often wonder what hit me. At times, it’s almost driven me over the edge.”

      “Firing the Randolph Agency was apparently one of those times.” As if sensing Tanner was about to fire back, Jack raised his hand in a token of peace. “Sorry, didn’t mean to resurrect that dead horse.”

      “Good, because you’re right, it’s dead. What you don’t know is that I’ve had to continually kick butt behind the scenes on practically everything they’ve done—media ads, slogans, posters, letters. You name it. But the real pisser has been the name recognition factor, key to my beating an incumbent. You’ve drilled that into me from day one. Somehow I never got that point across to that agency.”

      “In defense of them, you’re a perfectionist and a hands-on kind of guy. That makes you hard to work for and with. I don’t see that changing with another agency.”

      Tanner shrugged before a grin tugged his lips downward. “True, but I’d still like for someone else to do the grunt work, especially with this new project I’m working on.”

      Since he was a longshot for the senate seat in District 2, it wouldn’t be wise to let his lucrative developing company suffer. It was his success in the business world that had been the springboard for this venture into politics, an asset that had escaped him until Jack had approached him.

      

      Like he’d told Jack, keeping both his company and his political career afloat hadn’t been easy. They had consumed him. He was either working or campaigning 24/7. Not a bad thing, he guessed, especially since his wife’s death he had no one to go home to. Work had become a panacea for his loneliness.

      “Have you thought about getting someone to mind the company store, so to speak?” Jack said into the short silence. “I don’t need to remind you what a formidable candidate Buck Butler is.”

      “As in ruthless as hell.”

      “That goes with the territory.”

      When Tanner didn’t respond, Jack went on, “Sometimes I don’t think you have the stomach for politics.”

      Tanner СКАЧАТЬ