But he’s smiling.
“Brat.”
He shrugs. “Ma’am’s called me worse.”
“I’m sure she has, knowing her.”
* * * *
I opt to take a shower with him, making love to him there and reinforcing in my scattered soul that we’re on the ground and safe andeverything’s okay. Then we get dressed, business casual but both of us in ties, and head downstairs to check in for the conference.
Declan is back in professional mode as we go downstairs. Getting into and out of the elevator, I have to indicate for him to go first.
I know he misses why I do that because his attention is mostly on his work phone, where he’s paging through e-mails and discussingstuff with me that I should know.
I lead the way to the conference check-in desk though, and I haaate the way the staffers manning it recognize me and fawn all over me in a mix of admiration and star-struck wonderment.
Declan subtly interjects himself to keep them on track with a smile and the expert and professional shepherding skills he uses on our staff at home.
Jesus, I get hard just watchinghim handle them, transferring their attention from me to him and allowing me time to pull my own phone out to check it.
It’s my personal phone, and I text Case.
Thank you for sending him with me. I owe you—big time. Love you.
I get a smiley face emoticon in reply, followed by—
Best man for the job right now, G. Let him take care of you. Love you, too, asshole.
Another smiley faceemoticon follows that.
I smile and send her the blowing a kiss emoticon.
Once we finish navigating the check-in, Declan scans through the program and itinerary. “We’re good until tonight.”
I know there are sessions this weekend he won’t be allowed into, because they’re for the members only. I’m dreading those.
They wanted to elect me to a leadership role last year after the plane crash decimatedtheir ranks, but I declined. I couldn’t deal with anything else on my plate, and I was honest about that. If they try again this year, I’ll refuse again.
The only reason I accepted their request to present the keynote speech was because Casey accepted it for me before I could decline it. She wants my visibility raised ahead of campaign season getting hot and heavy. We don’t know who my Democraticchallenger will be yet. If they’re from the far-left end of the political spectrum, I’ll have a better than good chance of defeating them, because all I’ll have to do is slide to the left just a hair. My record speaks for itself.
If they run a very conservative Democrat, however, especially one who’s pro-life? Someone who’s a DINO?
Then I might find myself in a heated race. I’ve always managedto duck and weave around that question and frame it by saying the law of the land is that abortion is legal, and we should keep it safe and legal and not get between a patient and a doctor.
Personal rights.
I’ve always kept the focus off the religious aspect of it and had Ellen’s permission to use her as well. To say abortion was never an option for us as parents—it wasn’t, but not because ofreligion, because we just didn’t consider it an option—and that my spiritual views say it’s not my job to judge people. That it’s between them and their Creator. Also, that since I’m a man, I don’t feel I have a right to dictate what a woman can do with her body if I’m not married to her or the father of her.
Which is usually close enough for pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike to latch on to mywords as proof I support them.
Yes, both sides.
Because I didn’t have to run on that issue before, it’s never played a large role.
Casey and Declan—and the political consultants helping us with our campaign—have all warned me this time itwillbe an issue, and I can’t stumble or fumble the answer when I’m asked about it.
What I’d like to do is sign an executive order protecting abortion inour state, but that can be tossed out by the next governor. So everyone convinced me to sit on it for now, while Casey and Declan and others work behind the scene to get bills introduced that can make laws to protect abortion and twist them around to disguise them as patient medical rights laws, sandwiched into other bills that need to pass, like funding and infrastructure, so even the most stalwartconservative is pressured to vote for it or look like a real shithead.
