Chapter 2: The Governor's Daughter
Mary parked her navy Lexus in the reserved spot in front of the brownstone office building, spinning on her heel as she got out to check her reflection in the car window. She noted with some pleasure that she had coincidentally chosen to wear one of her smartest and most expensive suits: a stylish grey jacket with a nipped in waist and a slim pencil skirt. She straightened the stiff collar of her neatly pressed plum shirt whose color brought out the warm brown of her eyes and tucked her elegant -and equally expensive - black bag under her arm. Striding into the lobby of the office building, she waved in passing to the elderly security guard who sat at the desk in front of the lobby desk before taking the elevator up to the sixth floor, where Mary stepped out into the campaign office.
The office itself was moderately nice: featuring dark wood and beige carpeting, it was rather small, with a receptionist desk out front and a narrow hall to the left with doors leading off into the larger offices. The hall opened at the end to a larger room filled with desks and phones where the interns and lower level staffers worked. Mary could hear the hum of voices from the end room as she approached the desk.
"Good morning, Mary," the receptionist said, looking up and smiling warmly. Mary smiled back.
"Good morning Daisy," Mary replied, glancing at the mail in the incoming basket.
"Have you seen him?" Daisy said, a conspiratorial twinkle appearing in her eye. Mary glanced up from the mail.
"Seen who?"
"The new guy. Matt. He's back there now, he's been here for about an hour and a half." Daisy gestured towards the hall, and just then Mary could hear a tinkling of laughter echoing down the hall.
"Is he? Goodness," Mary said, unable to keep the hint of annoyance out of her voice. Dropping the mail back into the basket, Mary strode down the hall, slowing as she neared the end and stopping just before reaching the corner.
He was facing the desks against the back wall, chatting with the staffers and interns sitting there. None of them had noticed her and she stood silently peeking just around the corner, sizing him up. He was tall, but not terribly so – perhaps just an inch or two taller than her in her heels. His back to her, she looked him up and down once. His clothes were plain, of decent quality but certainly not as nice as hers, and she noticed with petty pleasure a few faint wrinkles in his blue button-up. He had clearly not dressed up to come into the campaign office: from the back, she noted his plain black pants and the way he had rolled the cuffs of his blue dress shirt up to his elbows. She smiled smugly to herself: this was what her father had been raving about? From what she could tell, he looked more suited to be an accountant at some cheap insurance firm, not a wunderkind new speechwriter.
As she watched, he finished laughing and lifted his right hand to look down at the worn leather watch on his hand.
"Christ, it's almost ten o'clock already," she heard him say. He sounded awfully sure of himself, with not the slightest hint of nerves or uncertainty. "I should really get going, it's been great meeting you guys." The staffers he was talking to looked up at him, grinning.
"Are you sure?" Anna, one of the staffers replied. "I think Mary was supposed to be coming in this morning, if you stick around a while longer you can introduce yourself. I'm sure she'd like to meet you." Mary raised her eyebrows at the sound of her own name. But Matthew- that was his name, right?—Matthew just leaned down and picked up a Starbucks cup off the desk he had been leaning against.
"I'd better not," he said, "I'm late as it is. And unlike Mary Crawley, I don't think I can get away with coming in to work at ten-thirty on a Monday morning. I guess we can't all be the governor's daughter, can we?" he said, a mocking tone to his voice. Mary's mouth fell open a moment, her slight disdain for this average looking young man quickly turning to a burning disgust that set her eyes ablaze with fury. How dare he speak like that about her to the staffers? He had only just met them; she had been working with some of them for years, ever since her father's last election. She could hardly believe his audacity.
It wasn't as if she hadn't heard such talk before, though. As the governor's daughter and as a Crawley working in government, she knew most people thought her father had gotten her the position. This was definitely not the first time someone had insinuated that her career had benefitted from her family name and her father's significant influence.
Lifting her chin to a defiant angle and straightening her shoulders, Mary strode into the room, stopping in the middle and turning to face Matthew's back squarely.
"Good morning," she said loudly, her voice the perfect blend of politeness laced with haughtiness. Matthew spun around, his mouth agape, the coffee in his cup sloshing a little. Mary raised her eyebrows the slightest fraction and smiled tightly at him.
"You must be Mr. Grant. My father told me you might be here. I'm Mary Crawley." Mary extended her hand without moving so that Matthew had to stumble forward a bit to shake it. Grasping his hand firmly to the point of aggression, Mary stared at him bluntly, looking him up and down once. He wasn't much more impressive from the front, she decided, although she could see how some could find him charming. With his rather rounded chin, oddly flippy dark blonde hair, and clear blue eyes, he had a boyish, approachable quality about him that would no doubt help him in his political career.
"Yes, he-hello, it's just Matt, actually," Matthew stuttered, his mouth still hanging open a bit. Mary nodded curtly and pulled her hand away, turning her steely gaze on the staffers sitting awkwardly behind him, their faces red at the awkwardness of the situation.
"Good morning," she said to them, her tone a great deal warmer than it had been when she had introduced herself to Matthew. "I'm sorry to run in like this, I just swung by to drop off the newest polling data for Anna." Mary stepped deftly around Matthew and reached into her bag, drawing out a manila envelope and handing it to Anna. "Take a look at the data on approval ratings for public works, would you? The governor just worked with the legislature to pass some new funding for major road repairs, I was thinking maybe we could do some do some publicity to make sure people know about it, and see if that could raise his ratings on that issue. Just something to consider." Anna nodded. Mary turned and took a few steps back towards the hall.
"Well, I'll be off then. Sorry to dash like this," she said to the staffers, barely glancing at Matthew, who was still standing awkwardly in the center of the room, staring at her incredulously, "but I'd better not be any later to make it to the office this morning. I don't suppose that would look good, would it?" she said slyly, and she shifted her gaze to Matthew, staring icily into his wide eyes, "With me being the governor's daughter, and all." She let the words slice through the air between them, tilting her chin up slightly in a sort of challenge to a bewildered Matthew, then turned crisply and stalked out the room, anger and bitterness still burning in her chest.
She was still fuming as she exited the lobby, impatiently pulling her sunglasses out of her bag and sliding them on to block out the obnoxiously bright sun. She pulled open the door to her Lexus, shoved her bag into the passenger seat, and was about to climb in herself when she heard the tapping of hurried footsteps behind her.
"Mary." She turned, one hand still on the car door, to face him. He was slightly out of breath, and she realized smugly that he must have raced down the stairs while she had taken the elevator.
"Look, I hope you didn't take anything I said the wrong way. I was only joking, you know, trying to make friends with the staffers and all. I really am looking forward to working with you." The arrogance and charm was gone from his tone now, and all that was left was a genuine earnestness. For some reason, this only annoyed Mary more.
"Oh, of course," she said lightly, "It's hard for me to imagine, having been here my whole life, but you're from Lowell, aren't you? It must be quite terrifying for you, coming to Boston like this - little fish in a big sea and all that. I can certainly understand your wanting to make a few allies, I suppose you never know when you might need them." She smiled coldly as she said the last bit, but her tone suggested that it was more of a threat than anything.
"Welcome to Boston, Matthew," Mary said coldly, Matthew's startled, wide eyes following her as she flipped her hair over one shoulder and got in her car. Mary hardly glanced at Matthew's still unmoving figure growing smaller in her review mirror as she sped out of the parking lot.