his new assistant, and she looked much too feminine and fashionable to be a visiting state senator herself.
I gasped, and the camera crew turned to look at me.
“Destiny!” C. called, looking handsome in a navy polo shirt with thin, white horizontal stripes.
“Give me a moment,” C. said to the crew as he led me back and took me inside.
“C. Who is that?” I asked.
He sighed. “She's my beard.”
“Are you signing a bill today or something? I thought you were supposed to take me sailing.”
“I am. I will … Destiny, this is my permanent beard.”
“I don' get it.”
“Look, Destiny, I have a shot at VP. I don't want to blow it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think national voters will vote for a closeted gay man? It may work for the hicks in the sunshine state, but on a national campaign, pretending to be a gay man pretending to be straight won't cut it. Not on a McCain/C. ticket.”
“Then why don't you just come out and be who you are, C.? A straight man in his fifties who's dating a nineteen-and-a-half year old college student.”
“Yeah, sure, the day I see Florida covered in snow! Do you think I spent my entire political career to see myself peak as the governor of a state full of old fogies and oranges? No way. I finally have a shot at Washington and I'm going to take it.”
C. sighed. “Go upstairs,” he said, “Go get dressed. I'll meet you up there in a little bit. I just have to finish this photo shoot.”
I turned, forgetting to ask what the photos were for. It seemed like C. was getting his hopes up even more than I was – seriously, a McCain/C. ticket? – and I was dating a man who refused even to acknowledge my existence! I didn't like C. getting a permanent beard, but I let it slide. After all, how permanent could she be?
Stay tuned for the next chapter of the satirical romance novel, The Governor’s Mistress, by Heidi Lux. Missed the last installment? Read it here.
Follow The Governor’s Mistress:The Charlie Crist Romance Novel on Twitter @destinystclair
Artwork by Elizabeth Johnson. Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected]
