Power play, p.1
Power Play, page 1
Power Play
A Novel
Nikki Vilendrer
Copyright © 2015 Nikki Vilendrer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Print ISBN: 978-1-59298-890-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-59298-878-5
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2015900937
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: 2015
19 18 17 16 15 5 4 3 2 1
Cover designed by Laura Drew
eBook developed by Kris Vetter
Beaver’s Pond Press
7108 Ohms Lane
Edina, MN 55439–2129
952-829-8818
www.beaverspondpress.com
To my parents.
Thank you—for everything
and for all the wonderful family trips.
Chapter 1
She saw the mob and groaned, “I don’t need this right now!”
Dani O’Brien was running on caffeine fumes and in no mood to face the press corps blocking the way to her office. She’d already survived a horrible morning commute thanks to an overnight snowfall. And now she was contorting her legs to hide a run in her pantyhose and trying to ignore the audible protests her stomach was making after skipping breakfast and lunch because of meetings. All she wanted was to grab a sandwich and get to her desk to tackle the mounds of paper that awaited her. It looked like that was going to be a challenge.
Taking a deep breath, Dani started charging the horde to create a path.
Despite her irritation and low blood sugar, her curiosity was piqued when she realized that reporters from every major Twin Cities and national news agency were part of the blockade. It took a good amount of people to fill the wide, Italianesque marble-lined corridor of the Capitol, and there were enough members of the media present outside the pressroom to do just that. It wasn’t clear if they were waiting to enter the pressroom or watching for someone else to enter it. She couldn’t remember reading any media advisories in her recent emails, but judging from the assembled swarm something big was happening.
She came to a stop mid-stride when with a flash, literally, the group turned her way. Cameras whirred and people started rushing toward her, but she soon gathered she wasn’t their target. Following the direction of the dodging traffic, she turned around and immediately understood the reason for the mayhem.
“Oh my,” she whispered.
Growing up in a sports family and working in the legislature meant she’d frequently been in the presence of well-known athletes and public officials. Though Dani wasn’t often starstruck, the sight before her was impressive: two of the biggest names in hockey and a political legend of a mayor were standing ten yards in front of her.
Having a mayor in the Capitol wasn’t unusual, but witnessing the hockey stars inside its walls was a shock to her system.
The press were going crazy at seeing Bill Wallace, the longtime mayor of St. Paul, standing next to Lars Nelson, the state’s professional hockey team’s coach and a retired, two-time Stanley Cup champion. But Dani’s eyes were immediately drawn to the figure on the right: Luke Coffey, all-star center of the Minnesota Blizzards. Here he was in the Capitol, looking downright sexy in his fitted navy suit and wearing a guarded expression.
She just stood there, wedged next to one of the Capitol’s famous marble pillars, trying to make sense of the scene.
Luke was scanning the fast-approaching newshounds when he caught her eye. To her surprise, his gaze stopped when he saw her and his guarded expression turned into surprise. At least she interpreted it as surprise, given his sudden wide-eyed stare. Even more surprising, she thought, was that she couldn’t look away.
There wasn’t much time to process that realization before a reporter nudged Dani in his zealous efforts to get to the stars. Unfortunately for her, the unintentional push sent her straight into the immovable marble pillar. As she worked to regain her balance, she looked up to see Luke moving to approach her as he scowled at the aggressive reporter. Their heights allowed them to maintain eye contact above the crowd of newsies, but it was clear that the mob wasn’t going to allow him anywhere near her. Luke apparently realized the same thing and gave her a tentative smile.
She hesitantly responded in kind. It wasn’t like her to be so timid. Usually she’d waste no time before flashing a megawatt grin, but she had good reason to be wary—a few good reasons, actually.
Her dating history was proof that history repeats itself. The pain had diminished over the years and eventually ceased, but the memories of her past relationships with athlete ex-boyfriends had left scars. She reminded herself not to forget what she’d learned the hard way: athletes do not the best boyfriends make.
Her objective side, the part she relied on for her job, argued that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; but the unpleasant memories made her lose the tentative smile she had going. Without sparing her favorite Blizzard another glance, she pushed herself away from the marble column and headed toward her office, which was, conveniently, in the opposite direction of the hockey legends.
“Get it together, Dani.” She couldn’t stop the muttered reprimand as she approached the elevator bank. “He’s just like every other athlete.” She stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for her floor. “You’ve been down that road before—numerous times. Stay focused!”
She certainly was focused ten minutes later as she perched cross-legged on her office floor with piles of legal-sized manila folders surrounding her. She looked up when she heard a knock at her door. Tyler, her fellow committee colleague, had a bemused expression on his face as he looked at her sorry state and nodded toward her antique of a television.
“Dani, your TV isn’t on?” Tyler asked with laughter in his voice.
Dani turned back to her files as she mumbled, “No, I didn’t want any distractions while sorting these legislative requests. The Revisor’s Office just delivered another huge stack of bills and amendments.”
“Trust me, Dani, you should turn on the TV.” Tyler was already reaching for the old boxed TV sitting on one of her file cabinets when he made his statement. “Because this directly impacts your life for the next couple of months.”
Dani sat up straight to try to relieve the knot of dread that had settled in her stomach at Tyler’s words. The dread was quickly replaced by aesthetic appreciation as she saw Luke Coffey’s face displayed on the TV. She may not be keen on getting chummy with him in person, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate him from afar. Tyler turned up the volume just in time for them to hear the mayor of St. Paul respond to a question.
She almost missed what the mayor was saying while she grudgingly observed that the old adage of the camera adding ten pounds obviously didn’t apply to this group. But as she scanned the three healthy-looking men on the screen, she thought ten pounds could do the mayor some good. He was practically dwarfed by the hockey stars. And to her, Luke Coffey, with his broad shoulders and proud stance was by far the most commanding of the group. Then the mayor’s next comment penetrated her distraction and snapped her back to reality.
“Our proposal includes a significant commitment from both the City of St. Paul and the Blizzards. Since the whole state will benefit from this arena expansion, we believe we’re justified in submitting this request for funding.”
Tyler fought back a laugh as Dani sprang up from her sitting position.
“You’re kidding me!” she screeched, her voice jumping up an octave in her panic. “The Blizzards are proposing an arena expansion?” She walked to her office window to look out at the building in question. “I heard rumors, but nothing came through—”
“They must have been waiting for the right time to drop the puck, if you will.”
Dani heard the laughter in Tyler’s voice, but she couldn’t find the humor in his lame joke.
“Well, how nice of them,” she said snidely. “They wait all session to throw this bombshell into the mix.” Dani raised her hands to her head and ran her fingers through her hair—a nervous habit from childhood.
“You, Kim, and I need to sit down to develop a game plan.” Cringing as she realized that Tyler wasn’t the only one who could throw out lame puns, Dani pulled her left hand down from her head to look at her watch. “You grab Kim, I’ll secure the provisions, and we’ll meet in the boss’s office.”
Turning around, Dani stalked over to her goody drawer. This news definitely called for chocolate—lots and lots of chocolate. When she was satisfied she had enough goodies for the three of them, Dani grabbed her ever-present notepad and cell phone and headed into their representative’s office. She sidestepped the more formal meeting table and headed right for her favorite leather wingback chair.
Dani and her two coworkers made up the committee staff for the Minnesota House of Representatives’
Dani was just settling into the comfy leather chair when Tyler and Kim walked in. She was sure her expression matched the serious one Tyler was sporting—she figured the gravity of the situation had finally hit him—but the same couldn’t be said about Kim, their committee page.
“Dani, do you know who’s in the building?” Kim asked almost breathlessly. “Luke Coffey!”
No need to ask Kim how she felt about that bit of news. Her enthusiasm was palpable. Dani couldn’t even respond to Kim’s question before she excitedly continued.
“I snuck into the packed press-conference room to see him. He is so hot!” Kim practically leaped onto the couch in excitement. “Sorry, Ty. I’m sure you don’t want to hear this stuff.”
Ty, a salt-and-pepper-haired father of three girls, just waved off Kim’s comment.
“I know.” Dani replied as she tried to redirect the conversation, and then paused as she mentally replayed Kim’s comment. “I mean, I know that he’s here, not that he’s hot.” She paused. “He’s just a guy.” She sounded a little surly, but she couldn’t help it.
Kim was aghast. “Just a guy? You’re crazy!”
Dani knew her experience with athletes backed up her statement, but she wasn’t about to share her reasoning. “Did you hear why he’s here?”
“I couldn’t.” Dani thought that Kim sounded way too disappointed. “The room was so packed I had to sneak out before my claustrophobia kicked in.”
Out of the three staffers, Kim was the newest to the legislative realm. She was a college senior who was helping them during the current session by serving as a page. Dani thought Kim was a great asset to the team, and she appreciated Kim’s strong will to learn. Apparently, though, she was also prone to being starstruck.
Dani reached forward to grab a handful of the chocolate caramels she’d brought to the meeting. “Had you stayed in that press conference a little bit longer, you’d have heard that the City of St. Paul and the Blizzards are submitting a bonding request for the Rink.”
Kim sat up a bit taller in her seat. “Really? To our committee?”
“Yes, so that means that we’re adding a little more to our workload.”
“How many bills do we have to hear before the deadline, Dani?” Tyler asked.
Even though she held the senior staff position of the trio, Tyler was a legislative veteran and Dani would be relying on him heavily these next few weeks to make sure everything went smoothly.
Setting down her pen, Dani eased back in her chair and looked at the two people she’d be spending almost every waking minute with in the upcoming weeks.
“Members have another three weeks to introduce a bill if they want it to be heard in committee and moved to the floor.” Tyler knew this information, but Kim needed a refresher, so she started with the basics. She appreciated Tyler’s efforts to listen carefully.
“We’ve received about two hundred bills from representatives requesting money for projects in their districts. Most requests we received early on, but we may get a few more small proposals for trails and such. My guess is we’ll end up with about two hundred and twenty bills. Right now I’m getting a lot of revisions of and amendments to the bills we already have on file. I assume the Rink will be a large ask from the state, but most of the other bills won’t be.”
No one in the room needed to be told that the Minnesota State Sports Center, known among locals simply as the Rink, was the home of the Minnesota Blizzards Hockey Club and a year-round entertainment venue. Situated in the heart of St. Paul, the Rink was a major attraction. Ice hockey was the official state sport, and Minnesotans traveled from far and wide to get a glimpse of their beloved home team.
Kim sank down into her chair. There was no sign of her earlier enthusiasm.
“Seriously? Two hundred bills?”
Dani sent a reassuring smile her way. She understood the tinge of panic in Kim’s voice all too well after being a legislative virgin herself last year. The legislative process was definitely not as easy as the civics books led students to believe.
“Don’t worry, I promise we’ll survive.” More than anything, Dani wanted that to be true. As a new committee administrator in the House, she was out to prove that she could not just do the job, but that she could do it well.
“Even though this proposal is coming later than we’d like, we’ll treat it like every other bonding request. No special treatment just because they’re the Blizzards.”
Dani’s college acting classes must have been paying off. She saw some of the panic fade from Kim’s face, which suggested her own terror wasn’t on display. She was relieved to calm Kim’s worries, but her heart sped as she looked down at her own notepad and saw “200 bills” underlined four times. She tried to push any worry from her voice.
“The last couple months of this session are going to be grueling. We have to be on our A games. Never be afraid to ask questions. It’s a learning process, but hopefully not a public one. Thanks in advance for being such good sports. We’re all going to be pulling long hours from here on out, and we shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help. And if you ever need a little sugar rush, you both know where my candy drawer is. Deal?” Despite their less than enthusiastic responses, Dani really hoped Ty and Kim registered her sincerity.
As Tyler and Kim stood up, Dani remembered one last crucial issue she needed to discuss with them. This was directed more at Kim than Tyler, but Dani didn’t want to single her out. “Oh, one last thing. Well, two things actually.”
She stood so she could look her fellow staffers in the eyes to telegraph her seriousness. “Once we schedule the Rink bill for a committee hearing, the media will go crazy. I peeked at my email before coming in and I already had messages from three reporters looking for a scoop. I can only guess that this will be the bill of choice for the media.”
Some of Kim’s excitement reemerged at the mention of the media.
“Do you think we’ll get to be on the news?” Kim asked eagerly.
Dani shook her head. “Being highlighted on the ten o’clock news really isn’t in our job description, even during this whole crazy process. If the media approach us, we can take messages for the boss or we can refer them to our communications department.
“Second, when speaking to the public we need to remain professional at all times. Even if people get emotional or agitated, just reassure them that we’ll take a message and pass it along to the boss. Given Luke Coffey’s presence today, I think it’s safe to expect that we’ll see a player or two around promoting the proposal, but we’ll remain professional. We can’t favor one group over another.”
Dani saw Kim’s animated face dim a little upon hearing the instruction.
“Are we all on the same page?”
Tyler and Kim both nodded and left the office, looking as overwhelmed as she felt.
Dani mentally prepared a list of tasks as she checked her phone for missed messages. Sadly, relying on her memory to store her to-do list just wasn’t cutting it anymore. That’s why her notepad was always within arm’s reach.
After jotting down her must-dos and collecting the few remaining chocolate caramels, Dani headed back to her own office. It wasn’t as swank as the boss’s, but it was a private office and she was thankful for that. And she was even more grateful for the porthole of a window that overlooked Minnesota’s capital city. A number of great landmarks—the Minnesota History Center, the Cathedral of St. Paul, and the Rink, ironically—were visible from her office window.
Dani sat down in her desk chair and dropped her head into her hands. “It’s okay, Dani, you’ll get through this. You’re a professional. Just push through it!”
