The President's Wife - Kathy Myme Page 0,75
in a deep breath. “I hope you can fix this. I hope you can save your presidency.”
The panic that sweeps over his face makes my heart ache. “Veronica, no. We… we need to think things through.” He pauses. “At least discuss this rationally with me before you go.”
“You want to ‘think things through’?” I ask him gently. “So you can decide on the most tactical way for us to separate? So you can scrape your way to a few more approval points?”
He winces. “That’s not the way I meant it.”
I take his hand again and squeeze it. “No, David. I think that’s exactly how you meant it.”
I can’t stay here any longer. Being in the Oval Office with him is too much for me, especially knowing what’s about to happen. Knowing that this might be the last time I see his face in person.
With that in mind, I look at David Shepard. My one-time boss, my President… and my lover. I try to memorize every line on his face. The tiny imperfections that the TV cameras don’t catch. The heat that radiates from his body. The way he fills a room with sheer charisma and good looks.
Taking a deep breath, I pull myself apart from him and turn away.
“Goodbye, David,” I say, staring at the door. “I hope you get what you want.”
My feet are mercifully still functioning and not frozen up like the rest of me, so I take a few mindless steps forwards.
When he speaks, his voice is more raw than I’ve ever heard it before. “Veronica…”
I stop, waiting.
“Veronica,” he says, with all the intensity of someone praying at an altar. “Veronica, I love you.”
Everything hurts. But I have to keep going.
“I know you do, David,” I whisper, as I leave him forever. “But I’m not sure it’s enough.”
David
I haven’t left my office in forty-eight hours.
Part of me thinks I can still turn this around, that I can save my presidency. The other part of me thinks that if I leave this room, I’ll never be coming back.
I’ve gone over everything again and again, but I can’t find a way out. No matter what, I’m fucked.
I look at my phone again. Should I call her? Our last messages to each other seemed so happy.
No. It’s best I leave her alone, out of the spotlight. If she wants to talk, she will call me. I need to find a solution.
Then my phone buzzes. Someone’s calling. My heart jumps, excitement running through my veins. I turn it over.
It’s the Vice President. As I see his name, everything comes crashing back down.
“Hey George,” I say, accepting the call. “You’ve seen the news.”
“It’s hard not to have, even out here.” He sounds quiet, almost disappointed. “You’ve got yourself in a right mess David.”
“Uhuh.”
There’s silence for a moment. “So Andrews, huh? I didn’t see that once coming. Never liked the bastard.”
“Thanks George,” I reply. “But I was too late in the end. He won.”
“You’re giving up?” George asks, almost surprised. “Now that wasn’t what I expected.”
“What other choice do I have? My polls have crashed, and they were the only thing holding off an impeachment. I’ve lost the presidency, and I’ve lost…” I stand and walk over to the window. It’s cloudy today, a dull grey sky reflecting my feelings.
“You lost her, huh?” George says. “I thought I warned you.”
“Yeah, you told me,” I say with a sigh. “I never listen to you enough.”
“Mhmm, and don’t you forget it. Now what are you going to do about all this?”
I shake my head. “Honestly, I don’t know what I can.”
“You and I both know that’s not true,” George says. “Our people will have come up with something by now. You just don’t like it.”
I stare at the clouds for a moment before responding. “They say that if I can convince people that Veronica and Andrews were working together on this, I might be able to save myself. I’d come out looking like someone who’d been conned, but looking foolish would be better than looking like a liar.”
George hums for a bit. “I’m assuming Andrews won’t, but would she go along with it?”
“I… don’t know.”
“You haven’t asked her?”
“I haven’t spoken to her since it went public.”
“Oh.” George doesn’t sound surprised.
“Frankly I don’t want to drag her back into this, not after all she’s done for me.” Veronica has done more than I could have ever asked, and I owe her more than I can ever repay. Dragging her back in doesn’t seem fair.
“Frankly, you might