Rumor Has It by Cheris Hodges Page B

“Don’t think for one minute that because you and Montgomery are in the same party you have the same morals. Dominic Hall is a nasty little shit and will do anything to win.”
    â€œWhat does that have to do with Liza?”
    â€œFruit of the poisoned tree. She will do anything they want her to do and that includes distracting you, rookie.”
    â€œListen, even if they are trying dirty tricks, we’re not running that kind of campaign. I told Liza that.”
    â€œI hope you also told her where she could go and how quickly she could get there.”
    Jackson smiled and thought it was best that he didn’t tell Teresa about his evening dinner meeting with the lovely Liza. After all, he wasn’t planning on talking politics with her tonight. If he was lucky, the only thing their tongues would do this evening would be taste each other.
    â€œI’m not worried about Liza,” he said.
    â€œJackson, which head are you thinking with?” Teresa shook her head. “Let’s get back to the volunteers before you get this campaign in trouble.” As they walked, Teresa’s cell phone chimed. “Yes?”
    Jackson watched as she talked, her face contorted as if she’d sipped rancid milk. “Are you kidding me? But why? I’ll let my candidate know. Typical.”
    â€œWhat was that all about?” he asked when he saw Teresa shove her phone in her pants pocket.
    â€œState board of elections has delayed the primary.”
    â€œWhy?”
    She shook her head again and frowned. “This is how you know you’re doing something to rattle the status quo. All of the media appearances that you’ve made about voter laws and people not knowing what they need to vote has shaken people who need votes in November. So, your dear governor wants to make sure there aren’t any misunderstandings.”
    â€œThis is ridiculous,” he said.
    â€œAnd extremely transparent. He’s trying to look as if he doesn’t want to disenfranchise voters with his General Assembly cronies.”
    â€œWe have to make sure people see through this for what it is.”
    â€œNot yet. We have to focus on Montgomery and winning the primary. I wouldn’t be surprised if . . .” Teresa turned to Jackson. “You can handle this without me, right?”
    â€œYeah, what’s wrong?”
    â€œI’ve got to check on something. We’ll talk later.”
    Jackson wanted to question her further, but she zoomed away as if she had rockets on the heels of her shoes.
    â€œWhere’s Teresa going?” Daniel asked. “She seemed like she was on fire the way she shot out of here.”
    â€œShe just got a call from someone telling her that the primary has been delayed.”
    â€œWhat?” Natalie asked. “But why?”
    â€œAllegedly so the public can be notified about the current voting laws.”
    Daniel chuckled. “And let me guess, she thinks there is a conspiracy behind all of this?”
    Jackson nodded and Daniel shrugged. “You know,” Daniel said. “She might be right.”
    As much as he didn’t want to believe it, Jackson began to think that Liza’s visit that morning may have come with an ulterior motive. Pushing the thought of Liza aside, Jackson busied himself with the volunteers as they passed out flyers about the new voter ID laws that would go into effect in 2016 and signed up people to drive voters to the polls. Many of the elderly people they spoke to that morning were angry.
    â€œThat damned governor is stepping on everything we fought for during the civil rights movement,” a silver-haired woman said as she signed up to be a driver. Jackson smiled at her and wondered if she could still drive.
    She winked at him. “Don’t be fooled by the snow. I drive better than that girl Danica Patrick. And my Buick can hold about six people comfortably.”
    â€œAll with seat belts, right?”