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CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

THE ROOSEVELTS

Cynthia steps out of the SUV, which has pulled to the front of the restaurant. She smiles at the DS agent holding her door. She thought they were up her ass before, but now that she’s secretary of state, she can’t escape her team of shadows.

The crowd outside the establishment—a Mexican restaurant Blane picked called Puesto—gawks. In D.C., no one bats an eye at a security detail. Any self-respecting hostess is fully versed on the protocol. But here, the masses, mostly tech geeks by the looks of tonight’s diners, act like the pope has arrived.

She’s led to a table in the back. She has a six-person detail just for this dinner, which is ridiculous. The threat has diminished since she was confirmed as secretary—they wouldn’t dare take out such a high-level target. It would be an act of war. In these partisan times, her typical threats are people who disagree with the administration’s policies. She doesn’t fear a physical assault so much as a drink being thrown in her face or being spat upon.

She sees Blane and his buddy Mark screwing around at the table. Blane didn’t get the haircut for tomorrow morning’s ceremony as promised, but she won’t mention it. Or she’ll try not to. Who’s she kidding?

The boys stand when she arrives. Blane says “Mom” so cheerfully it’s almost as if he’s really happy to see her.

Sitting at the side of the table is his father. Hank offers a small smile and Cynthia returns it.

Hank stopped drinking after the kids were taken. And he started to resemble that confident young writer she’d met in college. He even finished the Great American Blank Page. His new book was released last year, and Cynthia made a surprise appearance at his Politics & Prose signing. After all, she loved him once. And she realized after what happened that if she wanted to have a good relationship with her son, she needed to mend things with her ex.

Seated, Blane pours her a margarita. He and Mark have had a few already, she thinks. It hasn’t crossed his mind to go alcohol-free out of respect for his father. Kids.

“We considered skipping out on the dinner,” Blane says with a grin. He still uses humor to cope with what happened after they missed the Parents Weekend dinner—and to deal with everything else, for that matter.

Cynthia gives him a withering gaze. The one she reserves for the yes-men surrounding the president.

“Got it. Still too soon…” he says sheepishly.

Over tacos and chips and guac, they talk about Hank’s new book, his life. Reviews have been good. He just finished his next novel. He’s in a serious relationship.

“I think you’d like her.” He examines Cynthia, who is trying to pretend she agrees. “Okay, maybe that’s going too far.”

“So, Mark,” she says, addressing Blane’s friend, who’s been quiet. She doesn’t know if it’s just awkwardness around parents or melancholy about graduating and having no family to celebrate the achievement. “Blane says you have a job lined up after graduation?”

Blane cuts in, says, “Yeah, swim coach…” As he’s prone to do, her son laughs hard at his own joke. She and Hank pretend not to understand the reference to Mark’s awful father.

To Cynthia’s surprise, Mark laughs too. He and Blane are best friends for a reason.

“I’ll be working in Silicon Valley. It’s an AI startup—next-gen stuff.”

“Those machines are gonna put me and other novelists out of business one day,” Hank says. “Are you going to miss your partner in crime?” Hank adds, pointing his chin at Blane.

“We have the trip for the summer before I start my job and he starts grad school.” The two are off to Europe. Cynthia may need to smooth over U.S. relations after that trip. She allows herself a smile at the thought. An unexpected feeling of nostalgia sweeps through her as she thinks about the trip she and Hank took after college—when life was full of hope and few responsibilities. Before becoming parents.

Blane is attending Georgetown to get his degree in IPOL. Cynthia is an occasional guest lecturer there, and she likes that he’ll be back in D.C. She never imagined he’d leave California. Maybe being held captive in a van called the Mystery Machine or nearly drowning in a cave at Panther Beach changed that. Or maybe he just wants to be home.

When he got accepted at Georgetown, he told her he wanted to be like her. One of those rare times she got teary.

She looks out at the restaurant. Other than the business- people, it’s filled with families on the cusp of sending their children out into the world. She reaches over and clutches Blane’s hand, then reaches out for Hank’s. And dammit if she doesn’t feel a tear roll down her cheek.