Page 34 of The Press Secretary's Passion
I still had hope by the time the meeting is called that this would be a good day. I was wrong. I hadn’t been paying attention when everyone filed out of the briefing room. I was collecting my belongings and lost in my own thoughts about what responses to prep for what questions, so when the door clicked shut a final time, I didn’t look up. I thought I was alone, and I thought wrong then too.
“So are you going to talk to me?” Ryan asks. “Or are we back to the silent treatment?”
My head snaps up and I gasp as he moves into the room and closer to me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That’s a lie, I totally do know what he’s talking about; I just didn’t want to talk about it with him, ever. In fact, I was hoping to never need to talk to Ryan ever again, because every time I do he leaves me bleeding, and I’m not sure I’ll survive many more rounds with Captain Ryan Black.
“Sure you do,” he says as he presses closer. “You’re pissed.”
“I’m not,” I lie.
“You are,” he continues. “I laid it out, and you didn’t like it.”
“That, we can agree on,” I mutter.
“And I realized as soon as I left that you were in a shit mood and being way too harsh,” he added.
“Another point for the big man,” I mumble, and the skin around his eyes crinkles in the most handsome way.
“But you haven’t given me an opportunity to apologize,” he finishes.
“Well, consider your apology accepted,” I say as I hold my notebook to my chest like a shield. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“No.”
“No, what?”
“You’re not excused,” he says.
“And you’re not my teacher,” I snap.
“Baby, there’s a lot of things I’d love to teach you,” I hear him say.
“Well, forget about them. I don’t want to know,” I reply. “I think we’re done here.”
“We’re a long way from done, Jules.”
I don’t wait to hear anything else. I scurry around him and out the door. I’ll hide out for as long as I can and get a new phone number. But what I’m not going to do is entertain more opportunities for heartache from Captain Ryan Black.
I make my way to my office and meet with my staff on the press conference scheduled for the noon hour. Grace’s office called, but we end up playing telephone tag for a while and never get through before it’s time for me to hit the press room.
And I regret ever getting out of bed this morning when I do. But this shit ends now. I am done.
“Good morning,” I greet the associate press as I take the podium. “We’ll make it a quick one this morning, as there is much to do.”
Hands go up and voices clamor all around the room. One voice rings out above the rest. “Why is the president against a bill that could help our country?”
And then another voice shouts, “What are his ulterior motives?”
“Let me stop you all right there,” I say, holding up my hands, palms out. “Let me ask you a few questions. Please raise your hand if the answer is yes. Have any of you read the original House Bill 2250 that the president vetoed several weeks ago? No? Well I have in all of its four hundred and seventy-nine page glory. Have any of you read the updated version that was introduced to the house floor this morning by Congressman Grissom? No again? Well, I have, as my staff and I just spent the bulk of today combing through it, and I can tell you if House Bill 2250 was frightening before, it’s nowterrifying, as its sole purpose seems to be to give money, weapons, and power to a nation and its friends who have done nothing but perpetrate violence and acts of terror against the United States and her people. This is not the goodwill gesture you have been sold. I can also assure you the president takes this very seriously, and he and his staff are doing all they can to make sure the American people are safe and protected. So I suggest you all do your homework before you come to me with more asinine questions like these, and next time we meet, please be prepared. Thank you and good day.”
And then I walked out of the press room with the snaps and pops of cameras and the shouts of the associate press trying to get my attention, but they’ve had all they’re going to get from me today. There is a long weekend this weekend, and we are headed to Vegas for Cara and Rick’s wedding “part deux,” as Carter and Grace like to call it. I am ready to take on the weekend and have a little bit of fun.
What I don’t know now, but I would find out later, is that little bit of fun could cost me everything if I’m not careful.
But then again, some lessons have to be learned the hard way.
“Second Chance Romance? White House Chief of Staff Spotted with Estranged Ex-Wife.”
