Page 17 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“What’s so funny?” Terry O’Connor asked when he joined them.

“Saturday Night Live and the dry hump,” Harry said, losing it all over again.

“Have you told Sam?” Terry asked Nick as he clearly tried not to join Harry in the hysteria.

“She knows it’s coming, but the words ‘dry hump’ haven’t been brought to her attention. If they had, I certainly would’ve heard about it.”

“As your chief of staff, I recommend you mention it to her sooner rather than later,” Terry said.

“It’s on my list for when we get to Camp David, along with some uninterrupted time with her and the kids.”

“We’ll do what we can to make sure that happens,” Terry said, “but we’ve got a lot to do this week, beginning with the first draft of your State of the Union address. George is coming up the day after tomorrow to spend the day with us.”

“I want to write that myself,” Nick said.

Terry’s raised brows conveyed his opinion of that plan. “The whole thing?”

“Yes.”

“I still think you should sit with George and discuss your ideas.”

“I’ll give him a few hours, but not a whole day. I promised Sam a real break, and that’s what we’re going to do. And I hope you’re working on getting us to Bora Bora for our anniversary in March.”

“Being the director of the White House Medical Unit sure has its perks,” Harry said, grinning, “such as traveling with the president everywhere he goes, including Bora Bora.”

“We’re working on the logistics for that,” Terry said. “The Secret Service has sent an advance team—”

“Wait, what? An advance team to Bora Bora?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President. As you know, that’s a routine part of their planning for international trips.”

“But this one is unofficial.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Terry said. “They still go through the steps and will ship The Beast out there on a C-17 or C-5 ahead of your arrival.”

The Secret Service allowed Nick to ride only in the car it provided.

“That seems like a lot of work and expense for an anniversary trip,” Nick said, already anticipating what the press would make of it.

“The same effort went into it when you were VP,” Terry reminded him.

“I didn’t like it any better then, but I was under much less scrutiny than I am now.”

“Do you wish to change your plans, sir?” Terry asked.

Thinking of the many sacrifices Sam had made since he’d unexpectedly been launched into the Oval Office on Thanksgiving, he shook his head. “Sam is looking forward to it, and so am I.” They were going while Eli was on spring break, so he’d be home to help with Alden and Aubrey. Everything was planned, down to the Secret Service doing advance work, apparently.

He would take his lumps with the press to give his wife a memorable anniversary. In the two years they’d been married, their lives had changed dramatically due to his unprecedented rise through the political ranks to the top job. That same dizzying rise had led to claims of illegitimacy from political rivals, since he’d never been elected as vice president.

Rather, he’d been tapped to complete the term of ailing Vice President Gooding. Thankfully, there was precedent for his situation, dating back to when Gerald Ford replaced indicted Vice President Spiro Agnew and then ascended to the presidency when President Nixon resigned.

Nick’s communications team repeatedly referred to Ford when questions of illegitimacy surfaced almost daily in the press room.

“Back to the State of the Union,” Nick said. “We need to use this opportunity to reintroduce me to the American people and to state my intentions to work on behalf of everyone, not just the people who agree with me. I have some thoughts about how I’d like to do it that you might not like.”

“We look forward to your input, Mr. President,” Terry said. “I’ll let Will know to expect that you’ll be writing most of it yourself.”

“Please do.” Nick had been thinking a lot about what he wanted to say to the country in his first State of the Union and had declined to have it postponed when the Speaker of the House had inquired as to whether he’d like more time before the nationally televised address. He was ready to stand before a joint session of Congress and the American people and stake his claim to the job he’d told them he didn’t want shortly before it became his.

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