“I’m positive,” he said. “And Dot, you’ll be a frequent guest, too.”
Pretending to be a carnival barker, Dot said, “Left Unsupervised—the best podcast you’ll ever hear. Give it a like, give it a share! I promise I won’t miss an episode.” She raised her coffee to offer a toast. “Here’s to us. No matter what happens today, we’ll always have each other.”
Their favorite mixed set of ceramic cups met, and they each took a sip.
“Shall we get to work?” Rose said.
“Let’s do it,” Fletcher said.
Dot led the way; it was time to make sure their get-out-the-vote plan was executed perfectly.
“Let’s take a pic for Kitty.” Fletcher whistled and got everyone gathered outside of the war room. They lined up with the tallest in back.
“I’ve been in front my entire life,” Rose joked.
There was a mirror in front of them. Fletcher held up his phone and took several shots from different angles, proving his Gen Z photographer status.
“You’ll make someone a good Instagram boyfriend one day, Fletch,” Dot said.
“I aim to please. I just texted you a bunch. Want to send one to Kitty and then we can post it on social? Polls open in thirty minutes. I have to monitor turnout numbers for the northern precincts.”
“You bet.” Dot started to scroll through the photos, looking for the best one.
Then it hit her. “Oh my gosh!”
“What’s wrong?” Fletcher raced back.
“We can’t post any of these,” she said.
“Why? Who has their eyes closed? Rose!”
“It’s not that.” She handed him the phone. “What do you see?”
“I see all of us in our blue sweatshirts before dawn on Election Day.”
“Nothing else?”
“No. What am I missing?”
“Fletch, look closer. When we’re standing in front of the mirror, the sweaters don’t have the initials for ‘For the Win’—the reflection turns it around. So they say, ‘WTF’ as in...”
“Oh my gosh. Holy crap, Dot,” he said, covering his mouth and laughing. “Thank goodness you caught that. We’d have never heard the end of it.”
“Can you imagine? We’d be the laughingstock of the campaign trail.” She was doubled over laughing. “What do you say I just delete these?”
“Well. Delete all but one. We may need it for comic relief in the future.”
“Or blackmail.” She winked at him and they started laughing all over again.
MEANWHILE, JOE TAYLORcalled Mary and asked if she could meet up with him and Grace at Flour Power that morning.
“I have something to share with you. And I want to do it in person. Do you mind coming over around ten?”
“I’ll be there.” She set an alarm to make sure she left the house fifteen minutes before ten so that she wouldn’t be late. She hoped Mr. Taylor didn’t have bad news about the farm.
At Flour Power, Mary waved to Mimi and got in line behind the Taylors.
“Oh, there you are! What can we get you?”