Read Rumor Has It for Free Online

this team.”
    Liza beamed. “I’m glad you consider me a part of the team.”
    â€œCome on, Liza, you’ve always had my back. Hell, you’ve believed in me more than I believed in myself at times.”
    â€œWell, you’re an easy man to cheer for,” Liza said. “Who’s this meeting with?”
    â€œSome donors and possibly my competition. Ever hear of a guy named Jackson Franklin?”
    â€œBriefly. I’ve seen a few local features on him. I haven’t had a chance to really look into his background.” Liza immediately typed his name into the search engine. Links populated showing photos and stories about war hero Jackson Franklin. People loved a war hero turned politician. This was going to be trouble as well as the fact that he was fine as frog’s hair and had made her heart skip several beats when he shook her hand at the bakery.
    â€œFrom what I just Googled, this guy is going to be a tough adversary.”
    â€œWhy is that?”
    â€œWar hero, pretty attractive, and a down-to-earth guy, from what I’m reading online.”
    â€œWhat the hell does he know about politics?” She could tell that Robert was annoyed. That’s why she didn’t tell him that war heroes made good candidates and all he had to do was look at John McCain.
    â€œIt isn’t about what he knows,” she said. “It’s about what the public will perceive he knows.”
    â€œHow do we combat that?”
    â€œYou’re not going to like the answer.”
    Robert groaned. “Liza, don’t start this background bullshit again. I’m not going to advertise that my mother was a crackhead who left me on my own.”
    â€œVoters will identify with you and it will level the playing field,” she said with a frustrated sigh.
    â€œI’m not doing that, Liza, playing field be damned.”
    â€œThen what’s your plan?” she asked.
    â€œThat’s why I need you. And I need you to come up with something good.”
    Rolling her eyes, all Liza wanted to do was reach through the phone and slap sense into her friend. “I guess we can just go back as far as college. You made some great impressions on professors at UNC and we can get some of them to do some ‘I knew he’d make it’ endorsements.”
    â€œI don’t know what I’d do without you, Liza.”
    â€œYou’d suffer and never meet a quality woman to save your life.”
    â€œWhatever. Be on time, please,” he said.
    â€œI’m never late. Where is this meeting taking place?”
    â€œShooting you an e-mail with the details. Thank you, Liza.”
    After hanging up with Robert, Liza continued her research on Jackson Franklin. His pictures did him no justice at all. She remembered how he’d looked at Amelie’s: tall, muscular, and a disarming smile. That made her nervous and excited at the same time. Women voters would flock to him, and men would probably put more trust in the war hero than the lawyer. We can make this work. Jackson Franklin won’t stand a chance , she thought. But she couldn’t stop looking at his picture.

Chapter 5
    Jackson sat in front of his computer reading the information that Teresa sent over to him about Robert Montgomery. A criminal lawyer with a UNC–Chapel Hill education, a member in good standing with the North Carolina Bar Association, a mentor with the Charlotte area Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, and it went on and on. Jackson was almost ready to just jump on Montgomery’s bandwagon. He seemed like a viable candidate. Maybe Jackson could funnel his ideas to Robert and instead of spending money to fight it out on Election Day they could use their money to work on some of the projects to help the wounded warriors and low-income families. Maybe he wouldn’t have to leave the front lines to make sure things got done. Maybe he and Robert could be allies.
    Closing out the