Better for Us

Although Noel thought he came up with the perfect solution for spending time with his daughter, the idea wasn’t going over so well at his campaign headquarters.

“Are you insane?” Ian Walters, Noel’s longtime friend and campaign manager, asked after Noel told him what was going on.

“Why does the fact that I want to be with my daughter while I’m campaigning sound like such a bad idea?” Noel demanded as he sat behind his desk with his leg propped on the table.

“Do you realize how much bad press I have already had to deflect from this campaign?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Noel waved away the problem. “I’ve heard it all before. The bad boy turned politician is the way they like to paint me. But I’m not just some former bad boy. I care about this community and I want to make a difference. I’m not doing this for fame or fortune—I clearly already have both of those.”

With a frustrated sigh, Ian tried again. “I know that your reasons for running for office are honorable. But Dan Bridges believes that he is honorable also, and he thinks he has just as much right to claim that empty seat as you do. Dan Bridges is a family man with no skeletons in his closet that I’ve been able to find. But you have just pulled out a closet full, and now you want to bring her on the campaign trail.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m telling you, my friend, this is suicide.”

Noel took his feet down from the top of his desk. Then he stretched and leaned back in his chair as he studied Ian a moment. They had been friends since high school, so Noel was willing to give him a pass this one time. But he wasn’t about to let anyone speak negatively about his daughter. She was a part of him; he’d been denied access to her for too long as it was. He had no plans of waiting until the campaign was over to build a relationship with the most important girl in the world to him. “I’m going to say this once and once only, Ian. I will not be denied my daughter. I would rather lose this election than spend another day without her. Is that understood?”