The One That Got Away by Leigh Himes

Author:Leigh Himes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction / Contemporary Women, Fiction / General
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2016-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Inside the bathroom of a West Philadelphia electronics store, I could hear the noise of the crowd gathering for the rally. It got louder by the second, much like Sam’s whining as he tried to wrestle himself out of my arms. I wouldn’t let him down, though, the place dirty and cluttered, and his costume overalls suit so pristine and white. I looked for a changing table or any kind of shelf but found only a tall radiator too thin and rickety to hold Sam. I gauged the width of the plastic toilet seat and the back of the toilet but ruled them out as well. I cringed, knowing I had no other choice. The rally was about to start.

I tugged a cream cashmere wrap out of my purse and spread it out on the dirty tile floor, then laid Sam on top of it. Six minutes and forty wipes later—me sweating through my blouse, pieces of my hair freeing themselves from the tight chignon—I looked around for a trash can. There was none. Knowing Alex was waiting for us, probably growing desperate, I did what I had to do: bundled the dirty diaper in the cashmere wrap and shoved it deep into my purse. “Sorry, Yves,” I whispered.

Half an hour earlier, when we’d met up with Alex under a tent near the rally, he’d acted like the phone call about Father Fergie had never happened, greeting us with hugs and kisses and telling me I looked “hot.” I wanted to apologize, but we were surrounded by Frank and Calvin and a bunch of supporters, so I took Alex’s lead and pretended everything was fine. I tried to read his eyes, to see if he was still mad and just playing nice for the cameras, but I couldn’t tell. Either I didn’t know him well enough or he was a really good actor. Or worse, he didn’t care.

Or maybe he was just distracted. This event was huge. The main spectator area was the parking lot of a now derelict hospital, already so full that people spilled over into the surrounding lots, even onto the street. Television trucks pushed up satellite feeds on one side of the road while newspaper reporters paced and chatted on cell phones by the raised metal stage. Police rerouted angry commuters around the block.

A few people were there to hear Alex, but most were waiting for incumbent senator Doug Blandon, Philadelphia’s hometown hero. Blandon was known as a salt-of-the-earth type, with a résumé that read like a political consultant’s dream: Gulf War veteran, son of a waitress, college football star, and father to six—four natural and two adopted. He was a personal hero of Alex’s, and I knew my husband was honored to be Blandon’s opening act. But as the proud wife, and given the headway Alex was making lately, I couldn’t help but think Blandon should have been honored too.

When Sam and I returned from our bathroom misadventures, we found Alex posing for photos

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