Even though I wasn’t sure Sean would welcome me at his condo, I was willing to take the chance he would. If he’d missed me half as much as I’d missed him, then we’d probably explode when we got to touch each other.
We went to our respective vehicles and I followed Austin to DC. We swung by Potomac Place. Austin let me into the garage, and I parked in Sean’s designated spot.
I grabbed Sean’s messenger bag and my duffel, and Austin led us to the elevator and up to Sean’s apartment. I hadn’t been to Sean’s apartment in the short time we were in the area, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was certain it was nothing like my parents’ place.
Austin let us inside. Based on the smirk on his face, he could tell it was my first time there. I reached up and removed my Stetson, unsure what to do with it once we were inside the condo.
“Relax, man. It’s a nice place, but it’s not the White House. I’ll take that,” he said, taking Sean’s messenger bag from me and putting it on the couch. I put my hat on the table in the entry and my duffel under it.
I glanced around. There was an entryway with black-and-white tile that led down a hallway. On the left was a dining room, and on the right was the living room. The walls were soft white with pops of color in each room.
The tile turned to the left, and I imagined there were bedrooms that way. To the right, there was a kitchen and a nice sitting room with a huge television. Nothing looked too crazy, which was a relief. If I hadn’t thought Sean had money before, I knew he did now.
What the hell would he want with a beat-up cowboy missing a foot? I brought nothing to the table, and it was a harsh reality to see firsthand.
“Oh, uh, Dom says they’re finishing up their meetings, so let’s go get them. He says Sean has an appointment to have cocktails with a senator and her director of communications. We can sit at another table and let them do their thing, and then maybe after, the four of us can go somewhere for dinner. I know this great farm-to-table place from when I stayed in DC to guard Ben Hoffman,” Austin explained.
“Ben Hoffman… The former congressman? Yeah, I met the two of them and their little girl, Rachel. Did you go to the christening?”
The nerves were building like a beaver with a dam. I was completely out of my element. What the hell did I think I was doing? Sean’s dining room table probably cost as much as my truck, and even though I wore my dress boots, they weren’t worthy of stepping on Sean’s expensive rug under that table.
We truly were a city mouse and a country mouse. How would that ever work?
Eileen Rowe, one of the US senators from Texas, was an enigma. She had that thick Texas accent I knew from my time in SpecialForces. One of my fellow soldiers was from Killeen, Texas, and we used to give him ten kinds of shit for the slow way he spoke. That was the way Eileen Rowe spoke, but I could tell her mind was going a hundred miles an hour.
Sean sat at a table with the senator and her communications director, while Dominic, Austin, and I sat in a nearby booth of our own, them having drinks while I sipped a club soda.
“The communications guy seems tense, don’t you think?” Dom asked Austin.
Austin put his arm around Dom’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “You gotta quit listening to those true-crime podcasts, Willow. I’m sure the man is just being attentive to his boss. You know how it is. When you’re with Gabby, you gotta listen to everything he says because he’ll promise things and not explicitly tell us.”
I laughed. “That’s pervasive in the military. The generals’ promise shit we were expected to somehow know without them saying anything. But I agree with Dominic. The guy seems pretty on edge, don’t you think?”
Austin glanced over his shoulder as the senator excused herself from the table and walked outside with her phone. It was then that I noticed things got tense between Sean and Marvin Thompson.
“Excuse me,” I said to Austin and Dom as I stood and carried my empty glass over to the bar, which was right next to their table. The private room Sean thought he’d reserved ended up being given to someone else by mistake, so Sean and his guests were seated in the quiet bar area. We had a table near the wall several feet away.
The bartender walked over to me. “May I help you? Your server should be right back.”
“I just wanted some water instead of club soda, please.” He took my glass and grabbed a fresh glass.
“You swore to me nobody would find out what happened between us. I have a wife and kids, Sean,” Marvin Thompson said.
“Nobody knows, Marv.” Sean’s tone was angry and cold. The tone he reserved for dealing with politicians, or so it seemed.
“Bullshit! I got a call from a rag in Austin asking for a comment on a story they were going to run about you doing sexual favors in exchange for me talking up your pro-LGBTQIA+ agenda. They said they were approached by someone in your camp with the story.” Marvin sucked down his drink and slammed the glass on the tabletop.
At the same time, the bartender scooted a glass of water in front of me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a couple of dollars as a tip and stepped closer to the table to hear what Sean said about Marvin’s accusation.
Just as Sean was about to respond, Senator Rowe returned to the table. “We’ve gotta get back for a committee meeting, Marv. Sean, I appreciate your insights on the trans healthcare bill. I’ll take it into consideration. You know as well as I do that I’ll be making some enemies if I vote against the bill. You had better reach out to Leslie Collins from Alabama. She and I have similar views on the overzealous Christian conservatives and the overreach they seem set on making. You’ll need her to vote with me.”
Sean stood from his chair as Senator Rowe gathered her purse and stared at Marvin Thompson, who was texting on his phone. Sean glanced in my direction and smiled, motioning for me to step over, so I did.
“Senator, this is my good friend, Jericho Hess. Jeri, this is Senator Eileen Rowe from Texas. Are you and your friends ready to go?” Sean glanced toward the booth where Dominic and Austin were sitting, the two of them wore telling smiles reflecting the massive love they had for each other.
“Of course, you’d surround yourself withthosepeople, Fitzpatrick.” I glanced at Marvin to see his disgusted sneer backed up his words.
Sean’s face morphed into a caustic scowl. “Thosepeople? I didn’t recall you being so damn judgmental, Marvin.”
