From the Corner of the Oval

by Beck Dorey-Stein

Back from Toledo, without an apartment or a paycheck, Sam is living in my tiny Swann Street house, in my room. So now I have a depressed, unemployed boyfriend and two roommates who are understandably getting a little resentful that my bigfoot boyfriend is thumping around our apartment, not paying rent, and not even pleasant company. This is hardly the hero’s return I’d envisioned during all those months away. I’d thought the campaign in Toledo would have been enough for Sam. In my head, I thought he’d have had his fill of cheap beer and bad food and no girlfriend. He’d come back ready to settle down with me and work in an office. But this is not the case. Like the first sip, the first hit, Sam’s time in Ohio only makes him want more of campaign life—the competition, the dynamic strategizing, the teamwork, the long hours, the risks, the relationships, the riffs with reporters and late-night epiphanies with colleagues. I know Sam is looking only at campaign jobs—none of which are in D.C., which leaves me in a catch-22. I want Sam to be happy and to have a fulfilling career, but that also means he’ll go away again.