Page 17 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

“You drive me to it. Be right back.” Nick was endlessly amused by the smart, sassy boy he’d met two years ago at a state home for kids in Richmond. Bringing Scott Dunlap Cappuano into his and Sam’s life was one of the best things he’d ever done. He found one of his favorite Harvard T-shirts and took it to Scotty. “This shirt is a precious relic, and I want it back—washed, dried and folded. You got me?”

“I got you. Thanks.” Scotty put on the shirt, which was huge on him. “There’s no way I’d ever get into Harvard, so stealing this shirt would make me look like a poser.”

“Don’t say that. You can still get into Harvard if you want it badly enough. When you walk into high school next fall, you start with a clean slate. The only thing that’ll matter to Harvard or any other college is what you do during those four years. If you work really hard, anything is possible.”

“Huh, well, it’s good to know that eighth-grade algebra won’t be held against me.”

“Nope, but ninth-grade algebra will be.”

“You had to go and kill my buzz. But,” he said, visibly brightening, “don’t schools like Harvard love to have presidents’ kids go there because they get all the publicity? They’ll probably let me in no matter how I do in ninth-grade algebra.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “I’ve only been president for an hour, and you’re already coattailing me.”

“What does that mean? Coattailing?”

“When you grab hold of my coattails,” Nick said, gesturing to the back of his suit coat, “and get ahead based on what I do.”

“There has to be something in this for me,” Scotty said with an impish grin. “If I gotta kiss girls in front of Secret Service agents, the least you can do is get me into Harvard.”

Nick cracked up and then gave him a gentle bop on the head. “Go to bed and shut the light off. It’s after midnight.”

“Night, Dad. I mean, Mr. President. Sir.”

“Shut it.” He left Scotty laughing and nodded to Debra, Scotty’s lead agent, who was positioned in the hallway.

“Congratulations, Mr. President.”

“Thank you, Debra. I think…”

As she laughed, he went upstairs to check in with Eli.

“Just wanted to let you know we’re back,” Nick said.

“It all went well?”

“As well as possible, I suppose.”

“I saw the video online. You guys looked great. Are you okay?”

“I’m still feeling shocked, but we’ll figure it out. Everything okay here?”

“Yeah, I checked on the twins an hour ago. They’re out cold.”

“Then I guess we’ll see you in the morning. Get some sleep.”

“You too, Mr. President.”

Nick smiled at the young man’s cheeky grin. “Not you too.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Amused by Eli, Nick went back downstairs and into his room, shut the door and leaned back against it.

“What’s up?” Sam asked from bed.

“Everyone calling me Mr. President. It’s very weird.”

“It’s only one word different from Mr. Vice President.”

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