Madame President - Tara Sue Me Page 0,76
things. If it’s easy, one of you is either dead or doesn’t care. That’s when I’d get worried.”
It makes sense when she explains it like that. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to take her words and make them applicable to me. I try to explain. “She’s like this brilliant light,” I say. “And I keep trying to look away, but I can’t.”
“Then maybe you should stop fighting and simply bask in her light.”
My throat tightens, and I take a deep breath. I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here in the China Room and cry. “I offered. She turned me down.”
“I said she was incredible, not infallible,” she says. “In that case, you have to be patient until she realizes she made a mistake.”
Right. Sure. Because it was that easy. “I’m not a very patient man.”
“Then you have to decide how much you want her, and how long you’re prepared to wait.”
“What if she never realizes it and doesn’t come back?”
“She’s smart,” Mom says. “Let’s focus on that instead of the what ifs.”
Which in my mind translates to: That’s a possibility, but let’s try to be positive. Which isn’t much different than what I’ve been doing.
“Why don’t you want her to know about Harvard?” she asks, obviously picking up on my desire to change the subject.
I tell her about the flight back from London, and she laughs at the way Anna took down Rachelle. When I get to the part where Anna shared my dream to be a judge with those in the Press Pool, Mom’s eyes fill with tears.
“I’ve always understood why you didn’t go back to Harvard, and I know you made a name for yourself in the news media. But I never felt you belonged there, and I’m so very proud of you for following your dreams and returning to Harvard.” She turns and gives me a hug. “And if Anna Fitzpatrick is half as smart as people claim she is, the next time I see the two of you together, it’ll be very different from this weekend.”
I want to believe her, but I also know better than most, the type of world we live in, and that world is not known for its happy endings.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Her
The White House
Washington DC
Navin’s family is going to be the end of me. I can feel it coming. Since I turned him down in the Oval Office, I’ve been barely hanging on. An excellent support staff and years of projecting the best me forward are the only things getting me through. I’d thought I’d been doing a damn good job until I met his parents and sister.
Their love and support of each other is evident in everything they say and do. I’m an only child, and I’m completely jealous of Navin for having a little sister. Especially one like Sunshine. She’s exactly the way he described her and matches her nickname to the letter: funny, kind, and never without a smile.
I get the impression CeCe knows there’s something going on between me and Navin. She’s as nice and as sweet as she can be, but she’s a mom, and like all moms, she’s got a third eye or super psychic powers. I can’t picture Navin sharing the details of our relationship with her, but she clearly suspects something.
I’m in my bedroom, dressing for the evening. I try not to dwell on the fact that I don’t know when I’ll see Navin again after tonight. I know he isn’t planning on being at the White House on Monday, and that he’s renting his apartment out, but isn’t selling it yet. A bit of discreet checking, aka calling Gabe, tells me he’s not going back to New York City. Gabe shocked me again by saying Navin actually resigned. And no, Gabe said when I asked, he didn’t know what Navin’s plans were after the benefit. I know he’s lying, but I’ll give him a pass since he’s doing it to protect his friend.
That he feels the need to protect Navin from me makes me feel worse.
I’ll see Navin for myself tonight. I can ask him to tell me, but I don’t think he wants me to know. If he did, he’d have told me, right?
I’ve got to pull it together. I’ll be better tomorrow when he won’t be basically working in my house every day. But then it hits me, I may never see him again, and I want to cry.
But I can’t cry. At least not yet. Not until the benefit