"Lucille girl put that phone down", Nanna Sarah whispered to her grand daughter.

Lucille dropped her phone into her purse. "Sorry Nanna."

Lucille had been sneaking peeks at her phone the entire church service. Poll projections should be up soon and she needed to know that her plan was effective.

It did seem it though. Oliver received a standing ovation at the convention when his wife, Anne Katherine, walked out with their son and joined him center stage. Lucille thought they were such a beautiful family. They had that all-American picture perfect family thing going on. Perception.

The church service was almost over. People were now going up for prayers. Lucille said a quick prayer to herself for Aaron.

"When's the last time you talked to your momma?", Nanna asked as they walked through the church parking lot.

Lucille sighed. Her mother was a very touchy subject for her. Well to be honest, Tracy was never really a mother to her.

"I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

Nanna shook her head, gesturing to change the subject. "When is Aaron gonna be back?"

"I'm not sure", Lucille answered sadly. "But I miss him."

* * *

Oliver strolled down the hallway with his head held high; poll projections were up by 19 percent.

He walked into the conference room where he was greeted by everyone as they stood.

"Good morning", he responded, motioning for them to take their seats. "What's on the agenda for this morning guys?"

Rebecca passed him a file.

"The first thing we should talk about is poll projections", Rebecca stated. "Your numbers shot up this weekend."

Oliver nodded and smiled while studying the file. All staff members started clapping.

"This is a big step towards the right direction and I think we all know the young woman who's to thank for that."

Jancy nodded her head smiling. His eyes scanned around the table of the conference room.

"Where is Lucille?"

The smile immediately fell from Jancy's lips.

"Well moving on to the next thing on our agenda", Rebecca interjected.

* * *

Lucille typed away on the post she was working on for blogspot.

"This is ridiculous", she stated. "We should be in there."

She went on.

"We write the speech that made his poll projections go up and we're just kicked out of the 'inner circle'?", she questioned.

Lexi nodded her head in agreement. "They will need you again. Just wait for it."

Lucille shrugged.

"But as of now, I need you", Lexi stated. "For this new ad I want to create I need a photo of Mr. Reed."

"Okay, why do you need me?", Lucille asked, still looking at her computer screen.

"Well I don't want it to be a regular photo, I want it to be a selfie."

Lucille giggled. "So get him to take a selfie."

Lexi sighed. "Can you do it for me? Please?"

Lucille turned to face her. Before she could say anything Lexi spoke again.

"He'll be more open to do it if you ask him. He doesn't really know me but you, he owes you one."

Lucille folded her arms. "Fine. I'll get it to you tomorrow."

Lexi hugged her friend tightly. "I owe you one!"

Their interaction was interrupted when the door to their workspace was opened. It was Jancy.

"Mr. Reed asks that the entire communications team be present for today's meeting."

Lucille and Lexi looked at each other with a knowing look. They gathered their things and followed their superior to the conference room.

Oliver's lips curved up slightly when he saw Lucille enter the conference room. The skirt she wore did little to cover her long, olive-toned legs. To be frank, it was short.

"Good morning everyone", Lucille greeted. Lexi said the same.

"So nice of you to join us", he greeted them. "Now that everyone is here, we can continue."

----------

Everyone was packing up their things. The meeting got a bit heated about whether to proceed with the big social media campaign Lexi had in mind. She wasn't going to mention it but Lucille urged her to. She also helped her to get her point across. It didn't take much to convince Oliver but of course everyone else was against it. Oliver finally ended the discussion by saying,

"It's my career out on the line so I have the final say. We go forth with the campaign. This meeting is over."

Lucille packed up her things hurriedly to try and catch up with Oliver. He was walking very briskly down the hallway. Lucille broke into a light jog as he turned the corner. When she made it around, she almost jumped out of her clothes after being frightened by Oliver. He was just standing there.

"Jesus Christ!", she yelled out holding onto her chest.

He held in his laughter. "Do you need something, Lucille?"

She finally contained herself. "Yes, I need something. It's actually for the social media campaign."

"What is it?", he asked.

She handed him her phone. "Take a selfie."

He laughed. "You want me to take a selfie?"

"No I need you to take a selfie."

He lifted the phone up to where it was straight ahead of his face and snapped a photo. He handed the phone back to Lucille. She frowned.

"That bad huh?", he joked.

"There's an art to taking selfies", she stated. "Here watch this."

Oliver watched as she smiled while she took a photo the same way that he did. She then repositioned the phone to get a better angle. She showed Oliver the photos.

"See the difference?", she asked.

"They both look great to me. I don't see the big difference."

Lucille stared up at him. He stared back at her. She broke eye contact.

"Here", she handed him the cell phone again. "Try now."

He tilted the phone a little to the left and smiled. Lucille looked at the photo. Pleased with it, she thanked him.

"Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Reed."

"My pleasure."

She turned to walk away.

"Lucille", he called out. She turned back to face him.

"Social media campaigns will only do so much for your résumé. When you're ready for some serious work let me know."

With that said, he turned and walked away. Lucille did the same.

* * *

Lucille watched CNN while enjoying a glass of wine. Actually, her third. She picked up her cellphone and scrolled down her contact list. She only let the phone ring twice before hanging up. Two seconds later her phone started ringing. She slid the screen and brought the phone to her ear. She didn't say anything.

"You called", Oliver said into the receiver.

Lucille still said nothing.

"I can hear you breathing", he informed.

"This is me letting you know that I want real work. I don't want my resume to be filled with blogspot posts and social media campaigns. I want real work."

Oliver waited a minute before responding. "You've got it."

They both stayed silent on the line for a moment.

"Why aren't you at home?", she asked. "Why aren't you at home with your wife?"

"What makes you think I'm not home?", he challenged.

"I can hear the echo of the ball room", she said before taking a sip of her wine.

He sighed. "Sometimes I just forget why I want this so badly. It's destroying my marriage and my relationship with my son. Yet I still want it."

Lucille swallowed the last bit of wine she had and then sat her empty glass on the coffee table.

"You are a good man. You see the good in the world that not everyone can see. No one else deserves to be governor more than you do. I hope one day I get the chance to vote for you for President. You are a good man. Promise me you'll never forget that."

"I'll never forget", he said.

"Okay", Lucille said lowly.

"You have to promise to never forget the rest of your skirt at home", he mumbled.

Lucille almost didn't catch it but she did. Her face heated up immediately. She was speechless.

"I'm sorry. I overstepped", Oliver said.

"No you're right. It wasn't appropriate for a work environment. It won't happen again."

"Lucille.."

She cut him off. "It's getting late", she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Before Oliver could say goodnight, she'd hung up. He sighed deeply.

It wasn't the campaign that was making him distance himself from his wife. It wasn't the campaign that was making him think about breaking the vow of commitment he made to his wife. It was her. And now that he was making her the head of his campaign, it might even get worse.