Page 65 of State of Bliss

He closed the door, got into the driver’s seat and pulled onto the highway.

“How much longer to Dewey?” Sam asked.

“Thirty minutes.”

After this hellish day, Sam couldn’t wait to get home to Nick.

Nick checked his watch,wondering what time Sam would be back. He was in his second-to-last meeting of the day, with his chief of staff, Terry O’Connor, who’d been transported to Dewey by helicopter.

“While you’re away,” Terry said, “I’m sitting down with every cabinet member, one on one, to discuss the concept of loyalty to you and the Constitution. So far, I’ve had productive conversations with secretaries of the Interior, Veterans Affairs and Education. I’ve got Agriculture, Commerce and Energy coming in tomorrow.”

“Thank you for taking that on.”

“It needed to be done. I’m asking each of them what they think of the situation with the Joint Chiefs as a way to gauge their true feelings. If I get the slightest indication they’re not on board with you and your administration, I’ll ask for their resignation.”

“Go get ’em, tiger.”

“I’m fed up with the bullshit. People are either with us, or they’re not. If they’re not, we’ll show them the door. We need to get past this illegitimacy nonsense and get busy doing the job. I’m all done fighting these petty battles. We’ve got shit to do.”

“Yes, we do, and I appreciate you taking care of those conversations. I wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with that.”

“I’ve got you covered.”

“That means everything to me. You know that, don’t you?”

“I do, and it’s my pleasure to serve as your chief of staff. When I think about where I was a couple of years ago and where I am now…”

Nick had encouraged Terry to confront his drinking problem in rehab, while holding a job for him as deputy chief of staff in his Senate office after Nick took the place of Terry’s late brother, John O’Connor. Since then, they’d taken a wild ride all the way to the White House together, and there was no one Nick would rather have by his side than his late best friend’s brother.

“I owe you everything,” Terry added.

“No, you don’t.”

“I really do, Nick. You gave me a reason to get sober and to stay sober. I’ll never forget that.”

Smiling, Nick said, “What do you think John would say if he could see us now?”

“He’d love it. I have no doubt about that.”

“Yeah, he would.”

“I’ll let you get back to your vacation, such as it is.”

“Sam reminds me frequently that this is temporary. What’s a few messed-up vacations in the grand scheme of things?”

“I’ll try to keep the mess to a minimum this week.”

“That’d be good. Are you and Lindsey still planning to come out this weekend?”

“Hoping for the day on Saturday, unless work interferes.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, if not before.”

Nick laughed at the way Terry put that. There was a very good chance they’d talk several times before the morning. “Sounds good.”

After Terry left, he sent a message to his close friend and White House social secretary, Shelby Faircloth Hill, that said,I’m free. Call whenever you can.She’d asked for a minute with him whenever he had time.

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