Page 91 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

“Thankfully, I only have to use it when I talk to him.” She patted her coat pocket where the direct line to her beloved resided. “It’s fine.”

He dropped the visor and opened the mirror. “You’re being very mature about all of this.”

“I expect you to be on my side at all times.”

Laughing, he said, “I am on your side, but I’m still allowed to find all of this funny. I bet the BlackBerry also has high-tech GPS locators so you can’t go missing.”

Sam wasn’t sure how she felt about being tracked by Big Brother. “I’m so torn between being crazy proud of him and incredibly annoyed by all the ways this is going to fuck up my life.” The minute she shared that thought, she felt guilty for saying it out loud. “Never mind. Forget I said that.”

“It’s okay, Sam. You know you can share your true feelings with me, and it’ll never go any further.”

“It can’t. Not even to Elin.”

“It won’t. I promise. No matter what happens over these next few years, I want you to know you can talk to me about it, and I’ll always be happy to listen and talk you down from the cliff.”

“Thanks. That means a lot. I don’t want you to think I’m complaining. I’m not. Well, not really…”

He laughed. “I don’t blame you. Most first ladies have a year and a half to prepare for the possibility that their spouse might win the presidency and force them into the brightest spotlight on earth. You had like an hour to prepare for that. I don’t blame you at all for being totally wigged out by it.”

“I’m trying not to be, but I do feel like I’ve been tipped upside down and flung into something so much bigger than I can wrap my head around. My husband is the freaking president of the United States. Like, what the actual fuck?”

“I can only imagine what that’s like. I can barely wrap my head around the fact that my good friend is the president and you’re the first lady. Everyone I’ve ever known in my entire life has reached out to me in the last few days to say ‘holy crap.’ They all want to know about you guys and whether you’re going to keep working and a million other things.”

“Ugh, I hate that people want the dirt on us. That makes me feel like I’m going to break out in hives or something.”

“Don’t do that. You have that network interview tomorrow night, right?”

“Jesus H. Christ. I forgot about that.”

“What’ve I asked you about taking the Lord’s name in vain?”

“It’s a network interview, Frederico! When the hell else should I take the Lord’s name in vain?”

“How about never? That would work for me. And don’t call me Frederico. You know I hate that too. Only my mother gets away with calling me that—and she’s busy losing it about Nick being president. She said she can’t believe people we know are going to live in the White House.”

“We’ll have your folks over as soon as we can.”

“She’d lose her mind. Seriously.”

“We’ll make that happen. We may as well take full advantage of the coolness of living there while it lasts, right?”

“We can have some epic parties—and from what I’ve read, there’re enough bedrooms for everyone to sleep over. I call the Lincoln Bedroom.”

“We’ll make that happen too.”

“That’d be so freaking cool. I’d live off that for the rest of my life.”

“Maybe it won’t totally suck.”

“No, it will, but there’ll be good times too. Just keep the people you care about most close by to help you keep things real. Speaking of that, I actually had an idea for you.”

“What’s that?”

“In the past, there have been cases of grandparents moving into the White House with the families so they can be there for the children when the first couple has to travel and stuff.”

“Okay…”

“You ought to ask Celia to move in with you guys so she can do that for your kids. It’d be good for her to have something new to do now that your dad has passed away, and it would give you guys peace of mind when you can’t be with the kids.”