He turns,motioning for Leo to lead the way and placing a hand in the small of my back to get me moving.
It’s one of the few PDAs he’s ever engaged in with me when there are witnesses, especially press.
That he’s doing it now truly drives home how bad this really is.
Once we return to the office and it’s just the three of us, I turn on him. “Why won’t he let me come home?”
“Because Secret Service hasassets deployed in LA and Washington State for your trip. If we change the plan this quickly, they won’t have time to recall and redeploy,that’swhy. It’s already a logistics nightmare. Chris wasn’t supposed to leave DC, and now they need to not only plan a motorcade, they need to send more assets to protect the kids.Youare the one variable wecancontrol in this shitty situation, and we needto not pile extra stress onto Secret Service right now. Besides, if we cut the trip short after Chris has already stated he wants you to give tonight’s speech, it’ll tip people off even sooner that it’s not just an accident. Investigators need this time right now to do their job. We also need to rewrite the intro to your speech before we land.”
He’s switched gears on me so fast I almost can’tprocess it. “What?”
“Your speech. Intro. Rewrite.Now. And I’ll send Elliot out to Seattle and Spokane instead of you. Everything’s already set up and waiting, so might as well.” Away from the press, Kev’s expression looks haggard, exhausted, despite us getting a good night’s sleep last night, all three of us going to bed early and actuallysleeping, for once.
I start to sit behind my desk whenthe tears hit.
I can’t be there for my husband.
My presence will actually make thingsworsefor him right now.
Kev grabs a handful of tissues and squats next to my chair. “Sweetheart,” he whispers, “I need you to hold it together for me, okay? I can’t do what I need to do for both of you if you fall apart, too.”
I blow my nose, thankful I opted not to put on makeup this morning. I had thoughtI might even grab a quick catnap with Kev on the flight out. “This is bad, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. This is bad for you and Chris personally, but I think we just got you reelected.” He reaches up and tucks my hair behind my ear. “Do you hate me for that?”
I shake my head. “No, Sir,” I whisper. “I love you. I can’t hate you. You’re my Prophet, after all. I trust you to be honest with me.”
His smilelooks sad, but I love him all the more for trying so hard. “I love you, too, girl. But I need you to trust me, and trust Sir. Don’t go POTUSing our plan. I’ll manage the optics for you.”
I nod, hating myself a little, except that’s all part of it, part of the price we’ve paid to get where we are right now.
We won’t know until after I’m eventually out of office whether or not it was a price worthpaying.
