says firmly, motioning with his hands. “You don’t- uh, the dress is fine. You’re just... very well dressed for a quick discussion.”
“A quick discussion with the President of the United States.”
His expression is unreadable. “I’m just a man, Veronica.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. No other man makes the world stop turning whenever he walks into a room. No other man makes me feel like I’m playing with fire with every word I speak.
My phone feels as if it’s burning a hole in my pocket. Should I tell the President about Stephanie? About what she might know?
Probably. Except… I’m pretty sure I’m not meant to be texting journalists. I’m sure he’d freak out big time if he knew. With how controlling the man is over my daily schedule, I don’t trust him to not take my phone away or even tap it.
And it’s not like I have proof that Stephanie knows anything at all. All she has is my boyfriend’s name. Trevor could be an ex, for all she knows.
No, I’ll take care of this situation myself. Somehow.
David gestures to the desk in the middle of my room. There are two chairs. “Shall we?”
“Here?” I ask. “You want to talk here?”
“You’d rather go elsewhere?”
“I’ve been stuck in here for hours,” I say. Then I bite my lip, a little bit on purpose. A bit of charm can’t hurt. “If I could get some fresh air, that would really help to clear my head.”
The President looks at me carefully. And then the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. “Trying to get on my good side, are you?”
“Is it working?” I ask hopefully.
David looks me up and down. “You… are stubborn. Well, so be it. We’ll go elsewhere.” He holds out a hand. “Come with me.”
I stare at his outstretched hand. I’m reminded of the press conference. How impossibly warm he’d felt. How a traitorous part of me hadn’t wanted to let it go.
But with him waiting on me, I have no choice but to slip my hand into his and let him lead us away.
Jackson attempts to follow from behind.
“There’s no need to worry,” the President tells him. “We won’t be leaving the White House grounds. I’ve already told Peters to take a break and leave his men stationed where he believes it’s necessary.”
My perpetual shadow looks unsure. “Sir…”
“That’s an order.”
I have to admit that leaving Jackson behind feels good. He’s not unpleasant to be around… in fact, he’s not really anything to be around. The man barely says a word unless prompted, so mostly he just fades into the background. But getting to walk without his eyes watching me is the closest I’m getting at the moment to freedom.
The President leads us down flights of stairs, out into the grounds. It’s late, but there are still enough people working that I see several heads raise themselves up in awe as we come out together.
“You want us to talk here?” I ask incredulously.
“Not here.” He shushes me. “Be patient.”
We don’t go back inside, but we walk along further than I’ve walked. The President takes me around a few hidden corners. By the time he brings us to a stop, the only people I can see around are Secret Service agents positioned at strategic corners.
What I see makes me gasp. We’re standing in front of a garden. And not just any garden… the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. It’s only March, but it’s clear that we’re standing on the edge of a wonderful spring. Flowers are beginning to bloom, shooting up in a hundred vivid shades of green and red and blue.
It’s like I’ve never seen color before this very moment.
“What is this?” I ask. “I’ve never seen…”
Of course the White House has other gardens. The vegetable gardens are particularly famous, I think, and I remember hearing something about Eleanor Roosevelt starting them up way back in the olden days.
But for a garden this magnificent to exist? And for me to never have even heard of it?
“Do you like it?” the President asks. His voice is very casual. Very controlled.
“Of course I like it,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s wonderful.”
He smiles then, fully. I blink at it. It’s not like the smiles that the TV cameras pick up. Those smiles are perfect and deliberate, engineered so exactly to see a glimpse of David’s perfectly white teeth. They’re infamously alluring. The Times lists it as one of the top reasons why David was able to get elected in the first