Madame President - Tara Sue Me Page 0,47
shocked earlier today when Nicole sent the text to inform me he’d walked back with her and was waiting outside my office.
I know I shouldn’t think of him as anything other than another member of the press. But I’ve been telling myself that for the last few months and it hasn’t done any good yet.
I sigh and think about the upcoming benefit. I’m truly a bad person for thinking up an event like that for the sole purpose of being around Navin. Especially since half the time, I’m not sure I even liked him all that much.
But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I like looking at him. I also know since I’m the President and he’s a reporter, looking is all I’ll ever do.
The next morning, I’m in David’s office, waiting for him to arrive. I glance at my watch for the fifth time, and I’m more than a little irritated. It’s after eight thirty and he’s not here yet. He typically arrives much earlier. I’ve never known him not to be here by five after eight.
Outside in the hallway, two men and a woman pass by and stop after a few steps. I can’t make out what they’re talking about, but I recognize Navin’s voice. Someone must have said something funny, because he laughs. His laugh is low and gravely. It’s a laugh that leaves you wanting to hear him speak to you with that exact tone as he whispers all the dirty things he wants to do to you. A tiny shiver of acknowledgement runs down my spine.
“Madame President,” David says, interrupting me before I can venture further down that path, and tossing his briefcase on his desk. “I apologize. I didn’t know you wanted to speak with me this morning.”
“Is everything okay?” I ask, wanting to make sure there wasn’t anything going on I didn’t know about.
His shoulders fall a touch, but his expression doesn’t waver. “Just a difference of opinion with Oliver this morning. Nothing to worry about.”
David and Oliver aren’t the type of couple who argue much. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard about the two of them disagreeing on anything.
“Are you sure everything is okay?” I’m suddenly worried one of them is sick or something and I’ve been too busy to notice.
David looks at me and for the first time in a long time, he’s not my political adviser or my Chief of Staff. He’s David Herdsman. My friend. “Yes, Anna,” he says, dropping his voice so no one can hear his horrible faux pas of calling the President by her given name. “I promise, it’s nothing major. Just a little tiff. But it meant I left later than I should have and traffic was a lot heavier than I expected.” His face breaks out into a smile. “Not that you know what a commute is anymore. All you have to do is walk down the hall.”
When David jokes like this, I know everything is fine. Feeling better, I cross my arms and lift an eyebrow. “Whatever. How about you and Oliver have your differences of opinion at night next time so it doesn’t impact my day?”
He doesn’t say anything, probably because he knows I’m not joking. The truth is, we have too much to do and for at least the next four years, his primary focus has to be his job. I know it’s easy for me to say that because it’s only me, and if Oliver was dangerously ill, it’d be different. But hell, I’ve given up a lot of things to get to where I am today. I’ve worked damn hard for too long, and you better believe my focus will be exactly where it needs to be.
I take a deep breath to restore my calm and it returns. “I came by this morning to bring those files back to you,” I nod toward where they are on his desk, right beside the briefcase, “and to let you know it appears as if one of the files that was inside originally isn’t.”
I watch him as he answers, wanting to see if he gives anything away with his body language. He turns so I can’t see his face and picks up the file. “I took it with me.”
“I thought you said you only needed a glance at it.”
“It’s one file, Madame President,” he says. “One. A file I thought would be better to take with me than for it to appear as if I were