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“We were in the Gunn Aviary!”

“I’m sorry,” Talia said. “The Gunn Aviary?”

“At the zoo,” Gabby said, and this cleared up nothing. “Anyway! Welcome to Team Gunn! Not that you’re on the team. God forbid. I don’t even know your politics. Don’t know my father’s either, to be honest.”

“Gabby!” Talia snapped. “Somebody might hear you!”

Raj chuckled. “I appreciate a person who’s open to new concepts.”

“I wouldn’t call our dad open-minded. But if you’re looking for a lack of conviction, you’ve come to the right place.” Gabby exhaled and repeatedly pushed back her bangs, like she was trying and failing to tuck them behind her ears. “Talia. We need some talking points about Dad’s policies. If he has them. It’d help when we’re cornered by batty old crones.” She cranked a finger in the blonde woman’s direction.

“You can’t talk about voters like that,” Talia hissed. Also, old crone? That woman was in her forties, early fifties at most. And a San Diego fifty, which was a whole other thing.

“You should’ve heard whatshewas saying,” Gabby huffed. “Don’t get her wrong, the exorbitant cost of living isfine, but sometimes she must see poor people in the wild, and,gross. She’s a round-up-the-unhoused type. Meanwhile, she’s definitely voted no on every ballot measure to build affordable housing in her zip code. It’s like, don’t complain about the unhoused when you actively don’t want them to have a place to live.”

“Wow. Okay,” Talia said, going a little cross-eyed.

Gabby let out a puff of air. “Sorry,” she said, mostly to Raj. “I hate that shit.”

“The housing pricesareout of control,” he said. “Even professionals with advanced degrees are being priced out of the market.” He gave Gabby a meaningful look, and now Talia wondered what the hell was going on. “Something needs to be done at a structural level.”

“Huh.” Talia crossed her arms. “It sounds like you might have some interesting thoughts. Anything concrete and easy to understand we could bring to our dad?”

“It must beveryeasy,” Gabby added. “He’s a real dope.”

“Gabby!”

“Er, at the risk of oversimplifying the problem,” Raj said, “a good start would be to get private equity out of the real estate market so regular people can win in competitive bidding situations. And we need to unravel the excessive single-family zoning in California. It’s obliterated the housing supply.”

“Totally,” Gabby said.

He rambled off a few more things—about Section 8, and housing vouchers, and waitlists that ran for years. He volunteered at Legal Aid San Diego, and a person tended to develop a lot of opinions after spending so much time helping people navigate a very fucked-up system.

“I think we’re onto something,” Talia said, hardly able to believe this guy was friends with Gabby. He seemed normal. Not “theatrical” at all. “If Dad took up the mantle on this, he might actually help people, which was his whole reason for running for office.” Goose bumps prickled her arms.

“That was not his whole reason,” Gabby said. “It wasn’t even reason two or three.”

“Let me be clear,” Raj added. “The problem is extremely complex. Nobody—not your dad or anyone else—could just step into office and solve it.”

“Period,” Gabby said, and Talia backhanded her shoulder.

“What is it we’re trying to solve?” said a voice.

The three flipped around to find a woman in cargo pants and old, scratched-up sunglasses. She was kind of lumpy in the middle, and Talia hated herself for noticing.

“I apologize for eavesdropping,” the woman said, “but you all seemed to be having a very rousing conversation.”

“Indeed! We were speaking about some of the issues that matter most to Marston Gunn.” Talia grinned, proud of herselffor snapping so quickly into sell-the-candidate mode. “Specifically, California’s housing crisis. Marston puts a priority on listening to voters, and Raj here was sharing his viewpoints. I’m Talia, by the way.” She squinted at her name tag.KYLE SPERBER. Why did that sound familiar?

“Oh my God!” Gabby said, rushing forward, hand outstretched. “Kyle Sperber! FromThe North County Intelligencer.I can’t believe you—” She stopped and cleared her throat. “Er. Um. Thank you for taking the time to come out. It’s wonderful to meet you in person!”

“You left enough messages,” Kyle Sperber said, smirking with great intensity. Talia briefly wanted to die. “I live nearby and thought I’d check out the event. I’ll admit, Marston Gunn is starting to intrigue me as a candidate. I’d love to do a quick interview. If you have the time.”

“Yes, of course!” Gabby said. “Should we sit over there?”

“Sounds perfect,” Kyle said, and Talia nodded approvingly. Ivan had given her such shit about beingthe sort of lunatic who brings folding chairs to the beach.Who was the lunatic now?

“Have a nice chat, you two,” Talia said, giving her sister a nudge. “Raj and I will continue our brainstorming.”