Page 95 of See You Next Tuesday

Election Day felt the way it usually did: something between a wild culmination, a stomach bug, a letdown, and a relief. Anya oversaw her volunteers, hopped on the phone bank herself when she could, and made out with Gabe briefly in the alley behind the copy shop/jewelry store/deli, after which they went inside and bought sandwiches for everyone. As the day wore on, there was less and less to do, and everyone was getting irritable and twitchy. Around four in the afternoon, Sierra finally proclaimed they should all go home for a bit and reconvene for a victory party later (or a drown-our-sorrows gathering the following night if necessary). They all needed a break from one another, and Sierra wanted to take the dogs out.

So Sierra was off in the woods when Anya got the call from the county clerk to tell her it was over. Gabe hugged her for a long time, then asked if she wanted him to come with her to break the news to Sierra. But Anya said no. She was the campaign manager. It was her responsibility.

Sierra read the look on Anya’s face the second she saw her standing on the back porch.

“Bad news?” she asked. The dogs lumbered up to Anya and started licking her hands and nosing at her thighs, making happy little sniffing noises.

“I’m so sorry,” Anya said. “It was much closer than the clerk expected, but the turnout was just too low. I think you’d be in a really strong position to run again, if that’s something you’d be interested in? Now that more people know who you are?”

Sierra smiled and sank into one of the rocking chairs on the porch; Anya sat in the chair beside her.

“You know I never wanted to run in the first place, right?”

Anya stared at Sierra. “What do you mean?”

“I ran because Kira asked me to. She thought it would be good for us. For you and me.”

“But, Kira…” Anya shook her head. This didn’t make sense. “Kira told me you needed help.”

“And I did!” Sierra grinned. “Look what a mess we were before you showed up. Trish or Bobbie would certainly be dead by now if it wasn’t for you. You’d think Trish would be the one to pull the trigger, hot temper and all, but I wouldn’t put it past Bobbie to poison a lemon bar.”

“No, me neither.” Anya laughed. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand?”

Sierra reached down absently to pet one of the dogs. “When I retired, I thought it was the beginning of a beautiful chapter for Lois and me. And instead…well, I didn’t know it would be the end of the story. Since she passed, everything felt a little mundane. You know that feeling? Where your days are so damn ordinary it doesn’t matter which is which?”

Anya nodded; she knew that feeling very well.

“Then this spring Kira called to tell me about you. About what happened with your mom, and how much you love campaigning. All your ideals, the way you want to make a difference. She thought maybe you and I could help each other. It sounded like a harebrained scheme to me, but what else was I doing? I thought maybe it’d be a good change of pace, a different way to pass the time. But it was more than that.”

“It was?” Anya’s voice came out choked.

“Being out in the community, hearing about people’s problems…I didn’t know a campaign would be like that. I liked how much it wasn’t about me.” Sierra smiled. “It felt like service. Maybe that’s obvious, they call it ‘public servant.’ But most politicians—they don’t really seem like servants, do they?”

“No,” Anya agreed with a small smile. “They absolutely don’t.”

“But you are.” Sierra gave Anya an affirming nod. “Kira told me you do this work because you’re called to serve. I only had to meet you for about ten seconds to know she was right.”

“Kira’s a really good friend,” Anya said, and Sierra gave her hand a squeeze.

“Why don’t you give her a call?” Sierra said. “I know she’s dying to talk to you. I’m gonna go in and give these dogs some dinner.”

At the word dinner, the dogs leapt up and barked excitedly, and Sierra laughed as she herded them into the kitchen. Anya stood and took her phone out of her pocket.

“Hey.” Kira picked up on the first ring. “How’d it go?”

“We lost,” Anya sighed. “Not by that much, but not by that little either.”

“Damn, that’s too bad. Sierra okay?”

“She seemed pretty good, actually. She also told me some things I did not know about the campaign’s origins…you asked her to run?”

“Oh damn,” Kira laughed. “Busted. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Mad?!” Anya swallowed hard to keep from crying. “Kira, that’s like the literal nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“You’d do the same for any of us,” Kira said.

“I’d lie down in traffic if you asked me,” Anya quipped, but she meant it.