Ellen Dawyot Smith

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

Six months into the cold war, I posted a story on Instagram. It was an ultrasound photo. The caption read: *No words for this kind of joy. Can't wait to meet you, our little miracle.* Friends flooded the comments, tagging Jett Gardner with congratulations. I was just about to clarify it was a misunderstanding when he burst into my apartment. "Wow, Sage. A pregnancy post? You're really hitting new lows to get my attention." "But since you went to all this trouble, I'll let it slide. Let's get back together." I touched my stomach. Smiled, soft and sweet. "Get back together with who? Did you run that by my husband?" *** Jett Gardner and I hadn't seen each other in over six months. After the pregnancy was confirmed, the first person I wanted to tell was my husband. He was mid-flight, phone off. I was just so damn happy. I threw the story up without thinking. Didn't expect my friends to get the wrong idea again. I was about to clear it up in the comments ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......

District attorney candidate Liam’s televised debate was a nationally broadcast disaster. He held up a teddy bear, his voice thick with emotion as he tried to speak for a victim, only for the moderator to point out, live on air, that the victim’s name on the bear was misspelled. The public reaction was instantaneous and brutal. Everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fake, a performative clown who couldn’t even get the details right. And I, the chief strategist of his campaign, watched it all unfold from the backstage monitor without saying a word. Because this was my second time living this day. In my last life, I did everything I could to stop this farce from ever happening, to save his political career. And what did I get for it? When a much larger campaign finance scandal broke later, he didn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves, letting me take the fall to protect himself and his lover, Chloe. “Ava, you owed her this,” he’d said, his voice flat ......