A Special Place for Women, Laura Hankin [brene brown rising strong .txt] 📗

the people she needed to know. Nicole was cool, if a policy nerd, with a previously untapped charisma that was just dying to show itself to a wider audience.

“I think this woman is the one,” Caroline said to Margot. “She could be our president.”

Margot’s body had tingled with anticipation. “We’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this,” Caroline said. They’d hugged each other then and squealed like little girls. And then they’d started casting spells for her without her knowledge.

And Nicole kept doing better and better on the campaign trail. She went on The View and killed it. She knocked on doors with her husband (sweet but introverted, slightly dazed by the new turn his life had taken), and made people laugh in the mayoral debates, and got the common people excited to knock billionaires off their pedestals, and got women excited to make history.

Still, she was down in the polls against the establishment candidate. So that Samhain, the Coven tried some new things, did some new rituals. They sacrificed a possum they’d found in the woods. Caroline was a little nervous—the spells were so much bigger than anything they’d tried before—but then, holy Jesus, Nicole won.

It happened so fast, the nationwide interest in her. People were making votive candles with her face on them. Out of nowhere, she’d become an icon. And that kind of thing can fuck with your head.

Not long after Nicole took office, Caroline and Margot met with her to discuss priorities, to invite her to come speak at the Nevertheless clubhouse. Nicole gave them the tour of City Hall, introducing them to her staffers, including a particularly handsome one. His interaction with Nicole was strangely charged. She turned almost giggly in his presence.

“He’s a babe,” Margot said when he left.

“More like a baby,” Nicole replied, but she blushed.

“Okay!” Caroline said. “So first on your agenda, better parental leave?” That was Caroline’s cause, the one she was most vocal about. She’d consulted with Nicole on it during the election, spending hours researching the best policies for families, helping Nicole draw up the specifics of the plan.

“Yes,” Nicole said. “That and closing the wealth gap in the city.”

“Are you sure about that one? It could be bad for business, and it’s going to make a lot of powerful people angry.”

“I’m sure.”

Caroline sighed. “Well. You need to do what you need to do.”

Later, when they were all saying good-bye and Margot started chatting with the handsome staffer, exchanging numbers with him because he loved going to art openings and she often had an extra invite, she’d noticed Nicole looking over far too often. Huh. That was something to keep an eye on.

So she cultivated a little friendship with the staffer, taking him along to the occasional opening. He was idealistic, totally in thrall to Nicole. Not the brightest bulb, but Margot enjoyed his company enough, and it was another good way to keep track of Nicole’s doings as she got busier and busier.

One night, Margot went to an event where Nicole was giving a speech. Caroline couldn’t come—she’d promised to attend a work function with her husband—so when Margot saw the staffer across the room, she made her way to his side. The staffer drank his beer too fast and stared at Nicole darkly as she spoke with her usual inspiring platitudes. Margot nudged him. “You all right?” she asked.

He shook his head. “She’s going to sell out,” he said. “On a bunch of issues. Trading them so that she can get support for her wealth tax. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine if she wants to make the wealth tax her centerpiece issue, but there’s got to be a way to fight harder for all the other things she promised too.” He frowned as Nicole finished her speech, then began hobnobbing with all the people who wanted something from her. “See that man she’s shaking hands with now? They’re solidifying a deal tonight, and then it’s good-bye parental leave and prison reform. I thought she was different, that she’d actually stick to all of her principles, but maybe she’s just a typical politician.”

“What?” Margot asked. Parental leave was the thing that Caroline cared about most, the cause that really lit her up. If Nicole only knew about the power she had behind her, that she could just let them work some magic on her behalf, she wouldn’t have to make these compromises. Margot had one glass of champagne too many, then cornered Nicole in the hallway and told her about the Coven.

“Just listen,” Margot said, because she thought that Nicole would be thrilled. Nicole froze as Margot talked about what they’d already done, the exciting possibilities of what they could do, how she couldn’t tell her the details, of course, because the circle was sworn to secrecy, but maybe Nicole could join the circle! A wary look came into Nicole’s eye, but Margot didn’t see it until it was too late.

“You all think that you’re witches,” Nicole said, when Margot took a breath. “Got it.” The subtext was clear: Oh, these women are crazy. Margot’s cheeks burned with shame, her mouth dry with apprehension. She had made a terrible mistake.

Nicole made her excuses and left the event. Then she immediately iced them out. Caroline couldn’t understand why her calls went unanswered, why her meetings were rescheduled. Margot wanted to tell Caroline, but she was afraid to disappoint her. Maybe if Nicole had some time to digest, Margot could make her come around without having to worry Caroline. But then the handsome staffer stopped responding to Margot’s texts too. And then a few weeks later, the first report of the affair came out, an affair that had been going on for months.

Caroline and Margot read the story with sinking feelings in their stomachs. “How could she do this?” Caroline said. “It’s such a bad misuse of her power.” Caroline kept scanning the article, and gasped. “Oh my God. Listen to these texts she sent him: ‘If you don’t watch out for