Page 3 of Diligence

It’s good will for me from the more conservative side of the aisle, though.

Yes, I will admit it played a role in my thinking.

I was thinking ahead, too. Had I lost the election, the empty unit would allow us a sound barrier between my unit and the others in the building of four units. Kevin is still officially living in my townhouse with us, and pays rent, on paper. The public’seither ignoring that altogether, or accepting our public version that Chris and Kev were roommates.

Doesn’t matter now. Once I’m moved into the White House, Kev’s official address will remain the townhouse. I prefer that. He’ll be spending a lot of nights at the White House in secret anyway, but when he does sleep here, it means he’ll have Secret Service protection by default, due to them maintainingat the very least a skeletal staff when I’m not in residence.

Do I chafe a little under the tighter security and constant supervision?

Yes, but Chris was a genius to bring Kevin in the way he did. We’ve maintained strict diligence in public, always aware of the optics. That is Kevin’s forte, keeping us on point in that regard.

As my chief of staff, however, he’s allowed full access to me, andto Chris. That gives us private time together no one will interrupt if I tell them not to.

We just have to be damned careful around Lauren, Kevin’s ex-wife.

Who he hired to be my press secretary, and who is also in charge of our communications department.

She knows about Christopher and Kevin, and has agreed to keep that secret. But Kev misled Lauren during the campaign to make her think I’mnot part of that equation. That Chris and I are beards to each other for private reasons.

I’m fine with that.

As Momma once said, don’t apologize for your dreams.

I only wish Florida State Senator Marlene Samuels could have lived long enough to see this day.

I also hope that maybe, one day, I’ll finally feel like I’ve successfully emerged from under her shadow and truly be worthy of the lifeI’ve built for myself.