Part 7: Stopover in Maui
Audrey and Adam were depleted after their trip to Venice Beach, raw from both the emotional intensity of confessing their feelings and stunned by the new physical frontiers they had explored. Adam tried to make light of it, "we're just like teenagers after our first time," but they both knew it was bigger than that, with more at stake than teenage heartbreak. They both had their own ways of setting boundaries, of keeping up walls, but this time together had wrecked their ability to self-protect.
The onslaught of campaign events, interviews, fundraising calls, and strategy meetings provided a surprisingly welcome relief from facing their feelings. There was no time, and too much scrutiny, for anything more than a wistful smile and occasional brush of their fingers under a table. Audrey was the type to worry, to wonder if it had all been a dream, or, worse, if he had just been caught up in the moment. But when she caught him looking at her, when she could see the brightening of his blue eyes as they met hers, she knew that that thread still connected them. The demands of their work afforded them patience they couldn't otherwise have mustered.
It had been weeks since Venice Beach but felt longer, and the pace of campaign work was ratcheting up as they approached November. They had tapped an army of supporters and a few high-profile campaign surrogates to fan out across New York to hype a midweek event after Indigenous People's Day ("NOT Columbus Day, Adam, it hurts your brand to keep saying that... tap into your California roots!"). So, of all things, they had a few days of quiet forced upon them. Or at least that's what Audrey convinced herself of as she looked at their calendar and reverse-engineered a very good reason for a questionably necessary escape.
"Remind me why we need to take this break again?" Adam asked, watching Audrey gray out Saturday through Monday on their work calendars. "We're hiding you away!" she replied, "Let your allies hype you up and then while our opponents tire themselves out trying to criss-cross the state a month before election day we save you up for the big Wednesday event, refreshed, delivering the final message that powers us through to the finish line." She smiled. He smiled back, but with a sideways grin. "I see it. I get it. But also... you're manipulative as fuck. So where are you "hiding" me?"
Audrey tried to look imperious but failed, because here they were, finally alone, and she knew that he trusted her never to risk the success of their campaign for a few days of fun. She knew that if he thought the idea was bad, or if he wanted an out from more time together, that he could maneuver it. She looked at him searchingly. His grin widened, "you know I'm in. So just tell me what you've already got all planned out." She rolled her eyes but he playfully grabbed her chin, "don't you dare roll your eyes at me when you know I'm right. You've got it all figured out already, I'm sure." She laughed in defeat.
"Well, while all of the other candidates are trying to look radiant in the middle of October, how about we make you actually radiant with some warmth and sunshine?" she offered. "You'll come back slightly tan and invigorated." "Even Venice Beach isn't summery right now," he replied, but she shook her head. "I figured for a few more hours of flight time we could get you further afield... I was thinking... Maui?"
"Maui?!" he laughed, "Seriously?" "Yes, seriously," Audrey insisted, "it's doable! I have a friend with an unused timeshare on the north shore where it's quiet and secluded. Where you can get some... rest... and rejuvenation... " she hinted. "You're insane," he answered, but in the way that she knew was his yes. He smiled, "Book it."
Audrey sold the team on her strategy at the next day's morning huddle and had flights, car rental, and accommodation squared away by noon ("As you do," Adam admired. "As I do!" Audrey agreed). "6 days," she whispered as they grabbed their coats and opened the doors of their Upper West Side office to a blast of chilly autumn rain. "6 days," he repeated.
So, six days later they were boarding a flight in uncharacteristically casual clothes, endeavoring for some anonymity with hats and sunglasses. Either no one noticed them or they were too caught up in their excitement of a stolen tropical getaway, but the hours passed quickly, and somehow they were cloaked in warm air, blinking against the bright sunshine outside of Kahului airport. They collapsed joyfully into the seats of their convertible rental car and sped off onto the highway that winds along the base of jagged volcanoes, through canopies of palm trees, and eventually along the beachy coast to their quiet condo on the north shore. Adam plucked a perfect plumeria from the tree at their door and tucked it behind her ear, his fingers lingering in her hair, both of them breathing in deeply this moment of letting go of everything else.
The place was clean and functional with the kind of wicker furniture, oversized leafy plants and pink-hued floral-print bedding that you'd find in any standard Hawaii condo. But they didn't notice because they were still caught up in one another's eyes, moving slowly, drifting, letting themselves finally begin to relax for the first time in many weeks. Oh so many weeks. "A smoke?" Adam offered with a grin, pulling out of his pocket the familiar box of Newports, and Audrey grinned back even bigger, "yes yes yes!"
