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most of his time in Annapolis. Occasionally, he would fly to Washington on a Friday and visit the campaign office but those times were few and far between.
    Kylie and I became closer than I thought we would but eventually, I got the hang of her personality and I began to like her. She was prickly but her strength and will to succeed had gotten her to the position she held. I respected that a lot.
    The last Friday of June came around quicker than I expected. Governor Coburn planned to stop by and Kylie’s assistant, Russell, who’d been conspicuously absent up until that time finally breezed into work.
    I didn’t really consider him my type since he was too tall at almost six feet four and extremely fit with an athletic build. With his dirty-blond hair, blue-green eyes, lightly tanned skin and casual wear attire, I could see how other women in the office found him attractive and swooned accordingly.
    “So, that is the infamous Russell Berkeley?” I asked another campaign aide, Claudia, while we stood in the break room. “I thought he was made up since I haven’t met him the whole time I’ve been working here.”
    Claudia glanced at me before she added two percent milk to her coffee. “His mother died in a freak car accident. I think she almost had her head decapitated or somethin’ grossly macabre like that. It was gory. Kylie let him take some time off so he could fly back to Manhattan to help his dad settle her estate.”
    “Oh, don’t I feel stupid? Open mouth, insert foot.”
    “You didn’t know, after all, no one bothered to tell you. He’s a nice guy but once you have a chance to talk to him, you’ll understand perfectly why he’s Kylie’s assistant. You know that sayin’, ‘The apple never falls too far from the tree?’ Well, it makes a lot of sense where those two are concerned.”
    “I’m confused.” I sipped from my black coffee and grimaced before I added two percent milk.
    “Kylie and Russell are half-siblings. Their mom ran off with some investment shark that worked on Wall Street. Anyway, Hugh Berkeley is Russell’s dad. She refused to attend her own mother’s funeral.”
    I tried not to show my displeasure with office gossip. Instead, I smiled at Claudia and walked back to my desk. Unfortunately, Kylie sat on my desk and glanced at my open laptop.
    “Nice to know you lock your Mac when you walk away. Can you drill that into everyone else’s heads around here?” She greeted casually.
    I smiled brightly. “I could try.”
    “Good. Russell would like to take you to lunch.”
    The look on my face must have been priceless. “Excuse me?”
    “Not on a date , Sigourney. Do I look like a pimp to you? He merely wants to go over some more sensitive information. As my number three after him, you are very important. I expect you to supervise all the aides as we grow and expand. That means you can’t chat with them like they’re your equals when they aren’t. You must maintain a certain…professional demeanor with them at all times,” Kylie further explained as she stood up.
    “Fine. Just so you know, I’m not all that close to anyone in this office. I keep to myself and I live with my best friend,” I offered as an excuse.
    “Interesting. How long have you known this best friend of yours?”
    What the hell did this have to do with my job?
    “Since we were in grade school, why? We also attended Georgetown together.”
    “I thought you attended Harvard for your undergraduate degree in Political Science?”
    “I did .”
    “Why did it take you six years to get a four year degree?”
    “I took two years off and bummed around Europe. My mom is Norwegian and although they aren’t part of the European Union, they’re part of the European Economic Community. I have a Norwegian passport. I lived for a year in Spain and a year in France. What’s your point with us playing Twenty Questions ?”
    Kylie smirked. “So you know Spanish and French fluently?”
    “I never said that,” I