Page 181 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“True.”

They walked out together, ignoring the shouts from reporters, and hugged at the bottom of the steps.

“We’ll see you soon,” Sam said to Alice.

“Come by anytime. I’m always happy to see you.”

“I’ll do that.”

“And bring your handsome partner,” Alice said with a smile for Freddie.

“We try not to tell him he’s handsome,” Sam said. “He’s already too full of himself.”

As Freddie sputtered with outrage, the rest of them laughed.

“Be safe out there, you guys,” Alice said before she left them. “I pray for you every day.”

“Thank you, Alice,” Sam said, hugging her again. “Take care.”

“She’s so sweet,” Tracy said. “I remember how much Dad cared for her. Too much, as it turned out.”

“He felt responsible for her after Steven was killed right in front of him. That put a lot of pressure on his marriage with Mom.” That was another thing Sam had learned during the investigation, that the breakup of her parents’ marriage had been as much on her dad as it had been on the mother Sam had unfairly blamed.

Life was so fucking complicated.

“We’ve got to get to work,” Sam said. “I’ll see you next weekend, if not before?”

“We’ll be there. Mike is so excited to go to Camp David.”

“Hopefully, the weather will cooperate this time.”

“He’s already checking the forecast and reporting to me daily that it’s all clear.”

Sam laughed. “That’s funny. Have a good day, and keep me posted on what you hear from Brooke.”

“I will, and thanks for sharing the intel.”

“There was no way I could sit on that one.”

After they waved off Tracy, Freddie said, “Mind if I catch a ride with you?”

“Not at all.” She glanced at her partner. “Thanks again for being there this morning. Means a lot to me.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it.”

Sam got into the back seat of the SUV, realizing she’d done that without pain or difficulty of any kind, which was an improvement.

“What was that about intel?”

“I found out Brooke is seeing Nate, the Secret Service agent.”

“Wow, really? How’d you hear about that?”

Sam filled him in on the details.

“I like him for her,” Freddie said. “He seems like a good guy.”

“I agree. Tracy and I are trying to stay cool about it so we don’t spook her into keeping the details from us.”