Chapter 6

"I didn't know that you were still here," Sheila said frostily.

Priscilla opened the door wide and escorted her into the living room. Sheila gave Bob a hug.

"I'm so sorry about Maggie," she said.

"I know Sheila and I thank you. I've decided to go back to work tomorrow. I'm going crazy just sitting around here thinking."

She looked at Priscilla, "Could I talk to Bob privately?"

Priscilla started to leave the room, "That's Ok Sheila. She can stay. She's been a great help to me the past few days."

A strange look came to Sheila's face but she continued, "I've been talking to the International Energy Alliance for a while now and they've offered me a position as a lobbyist. It's a real nice increase in pay and a lot of travel, which I like and..."

"That's Ok Sheila, I understand. I'm probably a dead man in the Senate now anyway."

Sheila leaned forward in her chair, "No Bob, it's not like that. I've been talking to them for quite a while now. I've turned them down a couple of times. This time they said it's the last offer. It's a great opportunity. The money is great and I get a car and an expense allowance and the retirement plan is one of the best in Washington."

Sheila left out the part of her spending a few weekends on the French Riviera with the Chairman of the Alliance. She also left out the part that the President played in getting her the job.

He knew that she wasn't telling him the whole truth, "When will you be leaving?"

"They'd like me to start as soon as possible, but I told them that I'd have to stay on until you found a replacement."

"The Senate recesses in a few days. I probably won't need you for the short time we have left. It's Ok with me if you need to leave right away. I doubt that I'll be re-elected next time. You'd be out of a job in three years anyway."

"Thanks Bob. I really appreciate your understanding. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. If it's Ok with you then, I'll clean out my office and start my new position next week."

They continued to talk for a few minutes and Bob saw that she was getting antsy to leave. He stood up and told her that he wanted to lay down for a while. She shook his hand and thanked him for all he had done for her and left the room without saying a word to Priscilla.

After Sheila had closed the door behind her, Priscilla snorted, "Barracuda."

"That's Ok, she just saw the hand-writing on the wall."

Priscilla got a concerned look on her face, "What now? There's a lot of important legislation coming up in the next session. You're going to need a Chief-Of-Staff."

Bob paused for a minute, "What about you? Would you take the job? You'll be out of work in three years even if you stay as my secretary."

She started to shake her head, "No be serious. I'm not qualified for that job."

"Like hell you're not. I've seen what goes on in that office; you're the driving force in that office. Sure you're qualified. There's healthy raise that comes along with the added responsibility. All you have to do is convince everybody that I'm never wrong and keep the people away from me that I don't want to see."

"I don't think that the other Senators and aids would take me serious, Bob."

"That's your job to make them take you serious. Even I had to prove myself in the Senate. Just walk into the job and let everyone know that you're in charge and if they don't like it to step outside. Now, end of discussion. I'm going to announce tomorrow that you're my new Chief-Of-Staff. Now I won't have to keep watching my back."

"Sheila was an ambitious bitch, wasn't she?" Priscilla grinned.

"Let's go into my office and go over what still needs to be done in this session. So that you can hit the ground running tomorrow. By the way, I did tell you that this isn't a nine to five job didn't I?'