Page 13 of An Impossible Love
Chapter Five
Emmy and Marge saw him at the same time. The white fur, the big brown eyes, the one ear cocked, the other bent over. “Oh, yeah,” Emmy breathed as she knelt down by the cage. “This is him.”
“He’s so beautiful,” Marge looked like she might cry, and the shelter assistant looked vaguely bemused. The dog, a mix-breed, was not what anyone else would call ‘beautiful,’ but he had a raggedy charm. The assistant opened the cage, and the dog slid out, wary, but sniffed Emmy’s hand and allowed her to stroke him.
“Hey, boy…” Emmy felt a surge of affection as the little dog jumped up and put his paws on her knees, sniffing at her face. “What’s his name?”
“We actually don’t know. He was a stray, but we’ve been calling him Major. Despite his appearance he does have something about him, something a little—"
“Regal,” Emmy nodded. “Hey, Major.”
Major licked her face, and she giggled. She picked him up and cuddled him.
Marge scratched his ears, and he panted happily, almost looking as if he were smiling. “Yes, this is your boy,” she said to Emmy, and Emmy nodded, her mood lifted just being in the presence of this adorable little mutt. The adoption process would take a couple of weeks, but she knew she was making the right decision.
As she drove Marge and herself home, Emmy thought about the chat with the president. She liked his sense of humor; when she’d walked in on him posing ridiculously to make Moxie laugh, she’d had to bite back a hysterical laugh.Goofy.The President was a goofball.
At home, she sat with Marge for an hour before the other women fell asleep. Emmy covered her with a blanket before letting herself out. Looking around her apartment, she imagined Major curled up on her couch or eating from a bowl on the kitchen floor. She’d let him sleep on the bed with her; that was a no brainer for Emmy. She could see it now, curled up together on her couch while she read or watched movies. She couldn’t wait for him to come home.
In the kitchen, she grabbed some cold pizza from the fridge, then noticed the phone number she had been ignoring for days now.Tim. 555-6354.
Tim.Tim, who looked so much like Zach that Marge had been beside herself.
Zach had never talked about his family except to say he wasn’t close to them. It was another thing he and Emmy had in common—they were each other’s family, along with Marge and their friends in the Service, and that was good enough for them.
She pulled the piece of paper off of the fridge, then jumped as someone knocked on her door. Would Tim have decided to come try again, seeing as no one had called him back? Emmy steeled herself for that and went to answer the door.
She relaxed when she saw Moxie Chatelaine outside. “Hey, Mox.” The chief of staff had sometimes been to Emmy’s house; the two women had become friends when they were off-duty. Moxie was still flanked by two of Emmy’s colleagues, however, who still performed the appropriate ‘apartment sweep’ before Moxie and Emmy were allowed to be alone.
Emmy made them both coffee. “This is a nice surprise. I thought you’d be on your way to Camp David.”
Moxie grinned at her, thanking her for the hot drink. “Oh, I am, but I just wanted to come see you and get your read on a situation.”
“That you couldn’t run past Lucas?” Emmy was surprised, and Moxie shook her head.
“It’s, um, a little sensitive. It’s…” Moxie sighed. “Oh, I’m just going to say it. It’s about the President… and you.”
Emmy felt her face burn, and she looked away from Moxie’s searching glance. “I don’t understand.”
“The blush says you do. He likes you, Emmy.”
Emmy took a sip of too-hot coffee, feeling it burn her throat. “Mox… I swear, I haven’t done anything to encourage anything, I haven’t broken any protocols—”
“Girl, chill. This isn’t a conversation about POTUS, me being CoS, or you being an Agent. It’s about me, Moxie, being friends with two people who are obviously attracted to one another.”
Emmy shook her head. “We should not be having this conversation, Moxie, please.”
Moxie reached out and took her hand. “Orin isn’t someone who sleeps around; he doesn’t get involved with many people. He’s charming and funny, but rarely if ever have I seen the way his face lights up when you’re near. And, girl, don’t lie. You like him, too. This is just me, Em, your friend, in your apartment. Nothing leaves this room, I swear.”
“You know what it would cost me if this ever got out… and hell, there’s nothingtoget out. But even a whiff of partiality on my or the president’s part, and my career is toast. I’ll be shipped off to somewhere, and I’ll never see him again.”
“I know. I know the cost. I also know the hell you’ve been through.” Moxie was silent for a long time. “But, Em, when two people like each other, it’s a damn tragedy if they can’t at least give it a go.”
Emmy gave a humorless laugh. “Now I know you’re insane. It can never happen, Mox. I’m the President’s protective detail. I can’t sneak into the Lincoln bedroom while I’m trying to protect him.”
“There are ways we could make it work.”
“Lucas wouldactuallykill me dead. With extra deadness.”
