Page 37 of State of Alert

Sam fell asleep on the ride home, coming to when the SUV glided to a stop outside the door at the White House. Home sweet home.Hahaha, right.

Every so often, she yearned for the simplicity of their lives on Ninth Street. Even after Nick had become vice president, not much had changed for them except for the presence of Secret Service. Even that had been an easy adjustment compared to the move to the White House.

Who was she kidding? Their lives had never been simple. It’d been one crazy thing after another in the two and a half years they’d been together. And just when they thought they’d seen everything, life threw something else at them, such as a dead guy who wasn’t dead after all.

“There was something you were going to tell me when we got back in the car,” she said to Vernon when he held the door for her.

“I wanted to remind you that life is short, and no one wishes they’d spent more time at work in their final moments. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself in the midst of the craziness.”

“That’s good advice. Thank you.”

“Have the spa day, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What time tomorrow?”

“Let’s leave at seven forty-five.”

“We’re sleeping in.”

Sam laughed. “Thanks for everything today.”

“Always a pleasure.”

Sam trudged through the door to home, her knees and elbows aching from the tackle earlier in the day.

“Evening, Mrs. Cappuano,” George said as he held the door and took her coat.

“Hi there, George. Is the president in the residence?”

“No, ma’am. He’s in the Situation Room.”

“For how long?”

“About an hour now.”

“Thank you.” Sam hoped that whatever had taken Nick there wouldn’t keep him all night, because she desperately needed to see him. She trudged up the red-carpeted stairs to home and was greeted by an excited puppy who wanted her undivided attention. Laughing, she scooped Skippy into her arms and gave her a good snuggle as she walked toward Scotty’s open bedroom door.

“Found something that belongs to you.”

“She’s decided she has to approve anyone who comes up those stairs. It’s easier to just let her than try to keep her contained.”

“A woman needs to run free, doesn’t she?” Sam asked the dog, who replied with a swift lick across her face that Sam never saw coming until it was already over. She put Skippy on Scotty’s bed and wiped the dog slobber off her cheek. “You aren’t, by any chance, doing homework at almost ten o’clock on a Sunday night, are you?”

“Of course not. I’m just getting a jump on the week.”

The statement was so preposterous that she busted out laughing. “You’re so full of it.”

His shit-eating grin made her whole day. “Can’t get nothing by you, Mama.”

Her heart soared when he called her that. “That’s my job. Sorry I was gone all day.”

“You made adopearrest.”

She sat at the foot of the bed and was attacked by Skippy’s tongue again. “You heard about that, huh?”

“Duh, it’s all over the interwebs.”

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