meditated on Surry’s words for a moment, and then Danetta snapped her fingers and said, “You need one of those image consultants.”
“No way.” Surry shook her head. “People hire image consultants to fix problems they created for themselves, like Tiger Woods’s girlfriends and that woman involved with that David Petraeus sex scandal. I haven’t done anything wrong, and I don’t want to make it seem like I need to fix a problem that I shouldn’t even have.”
“You didn’t sleep with this guy, did you?” Ryla joked.
“Shut up, Ryla. You are so not funny.” Surry was at her wits’ end. She was about to lose everything she had worked so hard to build, and she had no idea how to make this train wreck go away. “Besides, I wouldn’t even have the money to pay an image consultant if I had slept with him.”
Ryla’s eyes lit up. “I have the perfect person to help you, Surry.”
“Did you just hear me say that I have no money? If I can’t get that contract to go through, I don’t know how I’m going to recoup the money I’ve spent on production.”
“Girl, please.” Ryla waved a hand in the air. “Ian Duncan would probably help you for free. You know he likes you.”
“Ian Duncan is a campaign manager. How in the world could he help me with my problem? I’m not running for public office. I just want to sell my clothes.”
“Ian is all about building the proper image. He helped Noel win his seat in Congress even after the reporters started hounding us about Noel being the father of a seven-year-old girl he knew nothing about.”
She twisted her lip and ran her hands through her freshly straightened long black hair. Surry didn’t believe in relaxers. They were accursed as far as she was concerned, manufactured only to strip the beauty and vitality from a woman’s natural hair. But now the hot comb, that was a necessity. She knew that many felt the hot comb damaged the hair, as well. But as long as it was used sparingly, she didn’t see a problem with it. “He asked me out, and I have yet to give him an answer.”
“Well, now is as good a time as any to give the man an answer,” Ryla said with a finger snap.
“I can’t do that, Ryla. The man will think I’m awful...to only call on him when I’m in trouble and in need of his help.”
“But you do need help, Surry. Maybe you need to drop your pride and call this guy,” Danetta admonished.
“Look at it this way,” Ryla tried. “Even if you’re not interested in dating Ian, he may still be able to help you. I’m not suggesting that you lead him on or anything like that. I just don’t think you should pass up an opportunity to receive the help you need, simply because you’re not interested in him.”
Who said she wasn’t interested in dating Ian Duncan? If the thought could even be imagined, the man was a much sexier version of the singer Eric Benet. Who wouldn’t want to go out with him? It certainly wasn’t that Surry didn’t want to spend time with him. The problem was that she had neither the time nor inclination to get into a relationship. Her business, her success, came first, second and third. Her life had no room for a man, especially one like Ian Duncan.
“You both make good points. But you are forgetting that my mother gave me my name for one single reason...so that I would stand on my own and embrace my womanhood.” Surry was short for Sojourner. She’d been named after the former slave turned abolitionist and women’s rights activist. And she had fully embraced Sojourner Truth’s famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech.
Ryla rolled her eyes at her friend. “We’re well aware of this crazy man-hater mantra you live by.”
Ryla and Danetta looked at each other and began reciting in unison the words from the speech Surry loved so much. “I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?”
“Hey,” Surry interrupted, her feelings hurt. “My mother helped me memorize that speech word for word. And I have experienced a lot of success by the sweat of my own womanly hands.”
“Yes, you have, Surry.” Danetta was at her breaking point as she leaned toward her friend and said, “But now you need help, and there’s no shame in that.”
“Be a woman who is humble and wise enough to know when times have changed, and move with those changes.”
“Okay, okay, you’re right.... Maybe I do need to give Ian a call.”
* * *
Ian Duncan was the hottest ticket in politics at the moment. He’d just finished a television interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN and then didn’t even have time to change his shirt for the ten o’clock interview he had scheduled with Lawrence O’Donnell, the host of The Last Word on MSNBC. Tomorrow he would do it all over again with a few other hosts on radio and television. The recent presidential election had been a big deal, but after that the most pressing question on everyone’s mind had been about the election of the reformed bad boy, Noel Carter.
Noel had been written off after news broke about his illegitimate child. Even Noel had thought he had a better chance of losing than winning. But Ian always believed in his client, and he’d devised a strategy that enabled Noel to hold a victory party on election night.
Done with his interviews for the evening, Ian threw off his suit and tie and jumped into the shower. As the hot water assaulted his body, Ian went over his next steps one by one. He had about a half dozen offers on the table from clients interested in working with him. At this point, Ian had to be very selective. He could take only those who fit into his eight-year plan.
Ian and Noel had been friends since college, so he’d taken the assignment knowing that if he lost, all the planning he’d done would be for naught. Congressional wins were nice, but Ian’s eight-year plan included managing his first presidential campaign. So, from this point on, he wasn’t taking on any more local campaigns. He was looking to run campaigns for senators and governors now. He just had to stay focused and work his plan.
As he stepped out of the shower and toweled off, Ian tried to turn his mind off work. A good night’s rest was what he needed, but his thoughts quickly drifted to Surry McDaniel. He thought about giving her a call before he went to sleep. It had been two weeks since he asked her out, but he still hadn’t received a response. The girl was definitely playing hard to get, but Ian had patience. From the moment he met Surry, Ian felt a connection. He had to find out more about this woman and he wasn’t prepared to give up. Not just yet.
Dressed in a ribbed T-shirt and black silk pajamas, he threw back the covers and was about to get into bed when his phone rang.
He picked up the phone, and a nasally voice on the other end asked, “Is this Mr. Duncan?”
He sat down on the edge of his bed with the phone against his ear. “I know this is an old joke, but my father is Mr. Duncan. I’m simply Ian.”
“Well, Ian, I have Governor David Monroe on the line. He would like to speak with you. Do you have a moment?”
Was this woman kidding? It was widely rumored that the popular North Carolina ex-governor was considering running for president. It was hard to believe, but the 2012 election had wrapped up only two weeks ago, and politicians were already putting out feelers for the next elections.
