Leaning forward slightly, Amy explained, “Leeds supports their casino operations. They support Leeds. If you come up with an issue that gives Franklin an edge, they won’t like it.”

“Are you trying to scare me off?”

“I’m trying to show you the whole picture. You have a right to know what you’re getting into.”

He leaned back in his chair, staring at her. She looked completely earnest, intent.

“Look,” Jake said, “I’ve lived with wiseguys all my life. In school they used to beat me up for my lunch money. Or because I got better grades than they did. Smart kids had to play dumb so they didn’t show up those bastards.”

“In school? You mean, like high school?”

“Grammar school. They start young. I stayed as far away from them as I could. One of the reasons I took to astronomy was that they had nothing to do with it. I could spend my time in the planetarium and be away from them.”

Amy shook her head slightly. “If you work on the Tomlinson campaign you might not be able to keep away from them.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Jake thought it over for all of two seconds. Looking into Amy’s hazel eyes, he said, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I can’t let them run my life, Amy. And besides, I don’t think I’ll be important enough to Tomlinson for them to even notice me.”

Very seriously, she asked, “But if you do become important enough…”

He shrugged. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Amy broke into a happy smile. “That’s wonderful, Jake. You’re wonderful.”

Before he could think of something to say, their waiter came to the table and gestured to their half-eaten entrées. “Is everything all right?”

“It’s fine,” Jake said.

“Lovely,” said Amy.

She didn’t mention politics again for the rest of the dinner. When the check came, Amy insisted that the Tomlinson campaign would pay. Jake sat there feeling as if everyone in the restaurant were staring at him, allowing the woman to pay.

As they left the restaurant and walked across the dimly lit parking lot, Amy pointed out her car: a silver BMW.

“That’s a lot of automobile,” Jake said, impressed.

“My one extravagance,” she said. “My apartment’s just a one-bedroom flat.”

Jake thought of his own seedy place downtown.

She unlocked the car with a beep of her remote key, then turned back to Jake. He realized that she was almost his own height in her heels. In the shadows of the parking lot, he could see her eyes gleaming.

“Thanks for a lovely dinner,” she said.

“I should thank you.”

“Thank Franklin.”

“I’d rather thank you.”

She stepped close enough to touch. “I really did enjoy this evening, Jake.”

His arms slipped around her slim waist. “I did, too.”