Page 28 of Enemy of My Enemy

Brandt spun in his office chair, wide-eyed and chewing on the end of an unfolded paperclip. “Mr. First Gentleman.” He jumped to his feet.

“I saw your interview this morning.”

Brandt waited. He held Ethan’s stare and didn’t fidget.

“I thought I told you to stay in step with the West Wing.”

Nodding, Brandt picked up a printout from his printer. “I did.” He passed the papers over, smothering a yawn.

Statements from Pete peppered the papers, similar in sentiment to Brandt’s words from that morning but scattered over six different news agencies. Quotes for the media to pick up and play, over and over, defending Jack’s character, his morality, and his record of public service. Ethan’s gaze flicked back to Brandt.

“You guys don’t want to comment on your personal lives. Okay. We—Pete and I—don’t like it, but we respect your decision. But that doesn’t meanwecan’t say something, as us. The statements weren’t from you, and they weren’t from the president. They were from me and Pete.” Brandt’s eyebrows rose, a kind of silent shrug, and he flicked the end of a pen against his palm. “We’re looking at a fifty-five to forty-five split of positive reaction to negative, and that’s growing larger by the hour. More people are saying the article is garbage and are defending you and the president.”

“Your statement is getting a lot of airplay. Pete’s too.”

Brandt nodded.

Ethan passed back the papers as a smile unfurled over his face. “Thank you. What you said meant a lot. And it was a good strategy. Thanks.”

Brandt nodded again, his shoulders straightening as he stood tall. “Mr. First Gentleman, it was a pleasure.”

Ethan held out his hand for Brandt. “Get out of here. Take an early day. You were working all night with Pete, right?”

Brandt shook Ethan’s hand before grabbing his suit jacket off the back of his desk chair. “We were texting all night. He was so frustrated with the president.” He blushed as he swiped his cell phone off the desk. “Sorry. That wasn’t appropriate.”

“It’s all right. We are frustrating.” Ethan helped Brandt shut down his TVs and then waved the younger man out of the office. He went down the line, checking in with each of his staffers. Barbara appeared, showing him another ten bins of cards she’d lined up in his office along the wall.

“Is there a way we can display these?” They were up to eighteen bins. “I don’t want to just throw them away.”

“Leave that to me, Mr. First Gentleman.” Barbara’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll take care of it. Do you need anything for your trip this afternoon?”

“Should be good. I’ll be back late this evening.”

Ethan grabbed his padfolio and laptop and collected Daniels, who was challenging Agent Beech to a peanut catching contest. Daniels was up by two, and Ethan plucked the next peanut he was about to catch from the air and popped it into his own mouth.

“Rude, man. Rude.” Daniels feigned indignation as he and Ethan headed down to the parking garage, where Daniels made a show of opening the rear door of one of the presidential SUVs for him.

Ethan rolled his eyes at Daniels and pulled out his cell phone. He texted Jack as he and Daniels drove away from the White House.

[Heading to Andrews AFB now.]

Travel safe. I’ll wait up for you tonight. Now that you’re living here, I don’t want to go to sleep without you.

[:) I’ll be back as soon as I’m done. Should be flying home by evening.]

Your first trip as first gentleman. You’re getting an upgrade on your travels. No more commercial flights for you.

[LOL]

Firstest class. First gentleman class. ;)

[I don’t care about the plane. It’s the guy who comes with the job I’m excited about. :) ]

I’m pretty excited about you too.

I’ve got to get back to the Cabinet, though. I’m getting weird looks from the sec interior. Should I shout “High score!”

[Or I could send you something to make the meeting a lot more interesting…]