The President's Wife - Kathy Myme Page 0,57
long time.” Lacey looks more intense than I’ve ever seen her. “Other people give up. You don’t.” She sighs. “All throughout college, people messed around and flunked classes. You were never like that. Even when there were parties to go to and exciting things happening, you never gave up.”
“I worked hard,” I say glumly, shrugging my shoulders. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Veronica Waters always works to get what she wants,” Lacey says. ”So that’s what you need to figure out.”
“What is?”
“What you want, Veronica.” Lacey squeezes one of my hands. “Figure that out and I’m sure you’ll get your hands on the prize. You always do.”
The room is cold after she leaves. I pull the blankets more tightly around myself, trying to block out the world.
What I want.
What I want…
What do I want?
The answer feels obvious. And yet every shred of pride I have makes me want to put up a fight against the answer. Because it’s not what I want…
It’s who I want.
Whether I like it or not, I have to recognize that I have feelings for David. Feelings I can’t just sweep away.
The idea itself is so silly. How on earth would it ever work between us? Sure, we’re technically ‘engaged’. But the plan has always been for the short term. We’ll stage a break up eventually. Whenever the timing is politically convenient.
So why does it hurt my heart to think about not being with him?
Do I really see a relationship with David Shepard, the President of the United States?
But he’d said it best himself. ‘I don’t do girlfriends’, he’d told me. There’s no room in his life for me.
And what’s more is that he’s made his feelings abundantly clear by shunning me in the way that he has. Maybe I’m falling in love with the President, but it’s certainly not mutual.
Veronica
When my stomach starts to growl, I go downstairs for food. Raiding the fridge is almost a compulsion when I’m back at Dad’s. I think it’s that way for all adult children.
I flinch at a familiar voice when I reach the ground floor.
“-and we commit to building fifty thousand new homes by the end of the year-”
My head snaps to the television. It’s him. I recognize the footage right away. The news is just repeating footage from an old TV interview he did a few weeks ago. I’d watched this one a few times.
But being so close to him despite the distance… it sends a fresh wave of hurt through me. Damn David Shepard. Wherever I go, I can’t escape him.
The TV remote clicks. Dad is sitting in an armchair by the fire.
“Sorry, Veronica,” he says. “I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay,” I say, trying not to think about it. “What time is it?”
“Don’t you mean ‘what day is it’?” he laughs. “You slept for a good fourteen hours, love. It’s the morning.”
I rub my eyes. That means… it’s nearly been a whole day since I left the White House. I wonder what David’s doing. Is he angry?
Does he care at all? Or will he only be upset at the loss of control, at me throwing a wrench into his plans?
“What are your plans for today?” Dad asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, will you just be staying here? Or will you be going back to DC?”
My face falls. “I can’t go back to DC. Do you want me to leave?”
“No,” he says quickly, assuring me. “I was just hoping you hadn’t changed your mind. But my girl has always been strong-willed. Don’t let some man change what’s in your head, especially if he hurt you.”
I’m not sure how my life is going to look from now on. All my dreams for the future were centered around that White House internship. After everything that’s happened, where am I meant to go from here?
“I’m not sure, Dad,” I say softly.
“You’ll find your feet,” he replies. “However long it takes. How about you get some breakfast?”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
I busy myself with preparing blueberries pancakes. Enough for me and a little extra for my dad, who can’t resist a second breakfast.
When I’ve eaten so much that I think I’m going to burst, I lie down on the couch for an hour scrolling through my phone. There’s still a ton of unopened messages from when people found out about my engagement. And even now, every hour or so I get a message from some news outlet asking to talk to me.
There’s been nothing in the news about me leaving the