Chapter 18
1912 Words
Chapter 18
Daniel listened to the phone ring in his ear while ignoring the pile on his desk. It had actually lowered over the last week, just not as much as it needed to.
All week Daniel had fought against two conflicting agendas: the tide on his desk and finding a moment to actually see Alice. To discover what might lay past those kisses of hers that were so much richer than the best apple cider fresh off the press. Through the calendar’s nightly treats of a candy on an elastic bracelet to a tiny chocolate bar and a half dozen other variations, he’d only managed to spend time with Dr. Alice Thompson on the phone.
He’d seen Henderson twice and Beale three times as they continued testing the possible scenarios for infiltrating a heavily militarized, paranoid country not once but twice two days apart.
But not Alice.
It was really quite unsatisfying in so many ways. But she’d made it clear that no matter what time he called, she’d gladly answer the phone. It might take a few minutes before her words were actually comprehensible, but once she was awake, they talked easily and often long.
Still no answer. Usually she’d answer by now.
Yet it didn’t feel real or satisfying. Maybe the whole thing was in his head. Maybe she was merely being nice on the phone. He could feel a distance building. A couple of premature kisses and a pair of heart-stopping helicopter flights didn’t make up for a week apart.
And when they talked, he felt… They talked far more about him than her. She was the one he wanted to know about. Instead, they talked about the family farm in Tennessee.
How he’d come to Washington to promote the Slow Food movement in the southeast. She didn’t know about that and they’d spent whole conversations discussing seasonal and local rather than unsustainable farming and having to ship food immense distances. To eat the flour that was made from the wheat just down the road, Daniel’s research had shown that the nearest flour mill was five hundred miles away. His local wheat had to travel a thousand miles just to become flour, never mind be baked.
He reluctantly reached out to cut the connection. He hung onto the receiver, considering calling her cell phone. But it was nearly midnight. Maybe he should just leave her be. He didn’t want to speak to her on the phone anyway. He wanted to hold her close. He wanted his world to stop the way it did when she rested her head on his shoulder. He wanted to know about her.
When he did manage to turn the conversation to being about her, it was her professional life they explored. Her work was truly fascinating to him.
He’d always been a people person, almost as good a negotiator and peacemaker as the President. The President excelled on the larger issues: averting national strikes, international relations, and so on. Daniel’s specialty was becoming the fine art of convincing the swing vote on a key bill. They’d recently passed a very controversial education financing package and Daniel had stood at the center of it. It had been his victory.
And once again, Dr. Alice Thompson would somehow not be the topic of conversation. Maybe if he had the FBI pull a file on her he’d find out something. Surely the FBI would have a file on a senior CIA analyst. Wouldn’t they?
Daniel set the phone back in the cradle and stared out his office window. The ledge was the perfect height to prop his feet and stare past the tips of his polished shoes. Something he’d never done until Alice had propped her green and red sneakers on his desk almost two weeks ago. Beyond the heavy glass, the White House grounds spread before him, brightly lit as always. That was one thing that the movies got wrong, it was never dark inside the White House without closing heavy curtains.
He knew he shouldn’t turn around, his desk would just be there waiting for him. He had to get focused on the North Korea problem, but the ever-shifting files and crises kept it off the top of his list.
A clandestine visit could be anything from a defection to personal bribery in exchange for vague promises to stop their next space launch. That the latest launch had shredded itself shortly after liftoff and scattered debris over the Yellow Sea hadn’t mitigated the serious international furor.
Alice had said something in their conversation yesterday. She didn’t speak much during their phone calls and Daniel often lost the thread of their conversations when she did speak. Her voice was calm and soothing, and he had to admit sometimes he simply enjoyed listening to the lilt and flow.
He couldn’t pin down her accent at all. A D.C. resident who didn’t have that soft touch of the South. But neither did she have the New York rhythms, though she did admit to being raised there in addition to schooling there.
It was a voice he could listen to for hours... But she didn’t speak on the phone.
That was it. So much of Daniel’s life was done by phone. Calls to the Hill, overseas with the assistants of other world leaders, that was his comfort zone. Alice, so open and cheerful in person, was, at best, reticent on the phone.
He dropped his feet to the floor and stared out at the white oak tree beyond his window. Bare of leaves it spread its arms in reaching majesty. It had been too long since he’d been out in the country. Camp David a couple of times, but he hadn’t been down to visit his dad or sister on the farm in at least six months, maybe closer to a year. If they hadn’t come to D.C. every month or so for a visit he’d have gone crazy from missing them.
That’s what he had to do. He had to get out of the White House and go see Dr. Alice Thompson. See if there was more behind those few kisses that turned his well-ordered mind into a cloud of confetti. She didn’t mind whatever hour he called, maybe she’d be okay if he just showed up instead.
Without turning from the window, he reached back for his phone. He punched for the Secret Service office.
“Hi, I’d like a car.” He told the on-duty officer who answered. “Destination is Woodmont, the home of Dr. Thompson.”
He hung up the phone, nodded to himself in the window. Good decision. Do something for Daniel rather than the country. He liked the way that felt. It felt right.
A gift. He should bring her a gift. Especially since he’d be rousting her out of bed.
There was a thought to stop him. Daniel found it very easy to imagine how Dr. Thompson would look tousled with sleep, blinking up at him through a partially open front door.
He spun back to his desk seeking something better than a White House-logoed mug and there she was. Sitting in his chair as if she’d been there a while.
Daniel searched for words. Found none.
He blinked twice. Still there. A third time. No change.
Her smile grew, “You might want to raise your jaw. It looks funny all open like that.”
He managed to close it.
“You’re here?” It came out as little more than a croak.
She reached out with one of those beautiful, slim-fingered hands and poked a single finger against her thigh as if testing.
“Yes, I appear to actually be here.”
“That’s why you didn’t answer your phone.”
She nodded.
“You were here when I called you.”
“I could hear the ring. Something like fourteen times. How deaf do you think I am?”
Daniel didn’t know what to do with that one and decided the wisest course might be to just let it go.
“I did like that you’d memorized my number rather than just setting me up on speed dial.”
Then he’d avoid mentioning that he barely knew how to work the new phone system. And hers was the only number he’d called during his year in this office that wasn’t routed through Janet.
“You are going to say something substantive eventually, aren’t you?”
He nodded but still couldn’t find the clutch to engage his brain.
Her laugh rippled out and up, rising a quick octave.
That finally shook him loose. He rose and circled the desk, or started to.
His jacket caught the stack of files on the desk and only a quick dive saved a repeat performance of the earlier night. By the time he had the mess stabilized and dared once more turn his attention on Alice, she too had risen to her feet.
“I—”
She raised a hand, palm out. “Nothing mundane.”
That threw out the half dozen sentences that tumbled into his mind. “I’m so glad to see you. Why are you here? How…” Nope. Chuck them all.
Daniel could converse with world leaders, charm their children, placate their wives. Why couldn’t he be coherent around Dr. Alice Thompson.
He considered, then edged slightly away from the desk and its teetering paperwork.
Alice tilted her head sideways as if listening to the late night silence of the West Wing.
No sound. More importantly no light from the open door leading to the Oval Office. If Daniel could take time to do one thing, it would be what had been in the forefront of his thoughts since the last time he’d been with her.
He leaned in to kiss those smiling lips. Raised a hand to brush back her hair so that he’d be able to watch both of her eyes close on a sigh. And—his phone buzzed.
He cursed. “No!” He growled at Alice from a mere inch away. “Let the world run on its own for one blasted moment.”
“The car.” Alice told him as the phone buzzed again.
“What car?”
“The one you ordered.”
“I ordered a car?” All he could concentrate on at the moment was that Alice was here. So close he could feel the warmth of her skin on his cheeks. The phone’s shrill buzz was not helping the moment.
“To come see me. There was some reason you wanted to see me. What was that?”
The phone interrupted his response. He answered it with what he could only describe as a snarl.
“Your car is ready, sir.”
“Why would I want a car?”
The agent sputtered for a moment.
Alice rested a hand on the center of his chest, toying a little with his tie where it stuck up out of the vest. She tugged him down by it until her lips were by his open ear.
“So that we can neck like teenagers in the backseat.” Her breathy whisper tickled.
“Uh,” he managed. That was almost exactly why he’d wanted a car. He’d had some idea of talking with Dr. Alice Thompson face to face, perhaps over a glass of wine and getting to know her. But he’d also had a clear idea of that slumberous look he’d imagined.
“I,” he cleared his throat twice before he could continue, “uh, won’t be needing it after all. Thanks.” He did his best to get the phone back in the cradle but knew he fumbled it badly.
He turned back to kiss her. But it was too much, too fast. No matter how much he wanted her, it was a lousy way to run a relationship. An even worse way to start one.
“I,” was all he managed.
Her smile had shifted, subtley, from amused to soft. “It seems you missed me.”
He nodded. Not trusting to words yet.
She glanced up at him through those bangs.
This time, his hand rose more naturally to brush her curls aside. He cupped her cheek and leaned into a kiss.
They moaned in unison.
Daniel couldn’t pull her close enough.
He didn’t have the strength to take her home.
He didn’t have the patience to take Alice upstairs.
Daniel broke the kiss and walked away.
- Writer
