Compromising Positions (12 page)

“We’ll just need to run this through the leadership,” Trish said with some caution. “It should be fine though.”

“Now that we have this bipartisanship out of the way, can we get back to basketball?” Larry said in earnest. “It’s only a two possession game now.”

I turned to Jessie again. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. Let’s talk this week about it.”

“Absolutely,” she said with a shy smile.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching hoops with only casual conversation, and Larry made sure it was all about basketball or the upcoming baseball season. Trish continued being incredibly hospitable to me, even inviting me to stay for dinner. At first, I objected, but Larry wouldn’t hear of it. “Dude, you have to eat. You might as well do it with us.”

Claiming we would only be underfoot, Trish refused any help in the kitchen until close to dinner time. She walked into the living room and said, “Jessie, is it okay if I go down to your kitchen? I need to make the garlic bread, and another oven would save me some time.”

“I’ll go down,” Jessie said and stood up. “You’ve been cooking too much. Just give me the bread. I’ve got garlic downstairs.”

My ears perked up. Jessie was going to be alone in her apartment? That was too good to pass up. I watched as she was leaving the room and saw my chance for some time alone with her. I stood up and said, “Let me help earn my meal. I can chop garlic.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jessie with a wave of her hand. “Enjoy the game.”

Larry grumbled, “This game is a blowout anyway.”

“I promise I know how to chop,” I said.

“Okay.” She smiled. “I’ll show you my place.”

“I’ll come down and check on things,” Trish said, as I started to follow Jessie into the kitchen.

“They’ve got things under control,” Larry said, as he grabbed Trish’s hand. He pulled her down onto his lap. “And now I’d like to enjoy my wife.”

Jessie motioned for me to follow her, but as I glanced behind me Larry was nuzzling his face in Trish’s ample cleavage. She had a prickly personality, but she was stacked. I was still a little jealous of Larry. They seemed like a perfect match. He really was a lucky man.

“Follow me.” Jessie led me through the kitchen.

“Sure.” I smiled as I got a little excited to see how she lived. When we walked down the back stairs, I looked around the yard, which was big for a townhouse. “It’s nice back here.”

“I know. I think it’ll be great in the summer.”

At her back door, she turned and apologized. “It’s a little small.”

“It’s probably perfect for one person. My place is too big.”

“How come?” Jessie said as she opened the door.

“I live alone in a three bedroom house.”

“Why?”

“My family’s owned the place for years. It’s a row house on Maryland, near the Supreme Court.”

“Sounds nice.”

“This is a lot nicer,” I said, as we entered her cheery, but modern kitchen.

“Ikea,” she said with a smirk as she turned on her oven. “I didn’t put a lot of thought into it.”

“But do you like living here?”

“It’s nice to be so close to the office, and it is great being near Trish and Larry. If I get lonely or bored, I just go upstairs. During football season, she’ll be able to do the same and come and see me.”

“Yeah, I get a little lonely at my place. It’s just Daisy and me.”

“Daisy is your pet, I presume.” She smiled.

“No, she’s an eighteen-year-old girl I adopted from Thailand.” It was an old joke, and I couldn’t help but grin.

Her face contorted into a guffaw. “What?”

“I’m just joking. I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“Well, I didn’t really, but…” She laughed.

“Daisy is my dog. She’s great.”

“That’s what I thought.” She pointed to her living room where a fat cat was walking straight toward us. “That’s my cat, Severus. He doesn’t like anyone but humans who feed and pet him. He’d try to fight with your dog.”

I looked down at the cat who stared up at me with a demanding look and meowed. God, cats were so different from dogs. Daisy was eternally happy and grateful for whatever you gave her. “Severus? Like the evil guy from Harry Potter?”

“Severus Snape was not evil. He’s my favorite character. Did you read the books?” she asked, as she let the cat outside.

“No. I saw a couple of the movies.”

“Well, he’s the quintessential tragic anti-hero. There are glimpses of it throughout the books, but it’s revealed at the end of the series.”

I smiled at her literary analysis. “But isn’t Harry the hero? Shouldn’t he be your favorite character?”

“Harry’s great, but Severus is interesting. He’s devoted to Harry’s mom, a woman he can’t have. Severus’s nemesis is Harry’s dad, who I always thought was a cocky jerk who had it all.” She chuckled, as she grabbed the garlic and a cutting board. “I’m a Democrat. We love underdogs remember.”

As she found the knife, I wondered if she thought Alan was an underdog while I was a cocky jerk, if she only knew. “Right. How about you give me that garlic and a knife?” I said.

“Here you go,” she said, setting me up at the tiny kitchen table. “Just mince it.”

“That’s really small, right?”

“Yes,” she said with a chuckle. “Do you need help peeling it?”

“I think I can handle it.” I smirked and set about slicing off the ends of the garlic.

“Good. Then I’ll slice and butter the bread.”

There was some silence between us, and I sat debating whether or not to ask the question. I was dying to know the answer, but was afraid to ask. Sadly, ignorance wasn’t bliss, and if she actually liked Alan, I should know before I began working with her closely on an amendment. While keeping my eyes directly on the knife, I cut the garlic and asked, “So are you going to tell me about your date?”

“Nosy, aren’t we?” She snickered and focused on her own slicing.

“Well, was it a date or not?” I looked up at her with a wry smile. “Was I right?”

“You were right,” she said, without meeting my eye. “I suppose it was a date.”

There was my answer. It felt like a knife in my heart, so I thought I might as well twist it and be done with my little infatuation. “So you kissed him?”

“Huh?” Jessie turned to look at me with a gaping smile. “You
are
nosy.”

“Maybe. I’m curious.” I knew by the blush on her cheeks the answer was yes, and I regretted asking the question. I’d committed enough emotional suicide in my life. I didn’t need any more. I’d already done that with my marriage.

She shook her head, and looked again at the bread, she let out a breath. “A little. On my porch. No big deal, but I stopped it.”

That was surprising, and too much, but not enough information. “If it was no big deal, why did you stop it?”

“I guess I’m not ready for anything like that right now.” Her eyes shifted to me and then quickly back to her work.

“Not ready for anyone or not ready for him?” The question came out as dead serious as I meant it.

“Um… I don’t know about that. I told him I wanted to keep it light.”

“Light?” I stopped chopping and placed the knife down. “You said you wanted to keep it light?”

“Yeah.” She also put her knife down. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No.” I smiled because it was a good thing to me, but not to Dr. Alan-I-Want-to-Do-House-Calls-On-You. I shrugged. “If you’re trying to tell him you’re not really interested, then there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Is that what it means? I heard the term once, and I thought it was appropriate. He’s a colleague.”

“Well, that’s what it would mean to me. If I was kissing a woman and she stopped it to say she wanted to keep things light, that’s not a good sign.” A wicked grin shone on my face while thinking of Alan getting shut down. “Until then, he probably thought you were going to invite him in.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want that.” She shook her head.

“Then you did the right thing.”

Jessie stared at me for a few seconds, but was quick to look away. My smile grew, realizing Alan was, for all purposes, out of the picture, at least temporarily, while I was inside Jessie’s home. I handed her the cutting board with chopped garlic. “Here you go.”

“Great. Thanks,” she said, and took it from me. “This is perfect.”

“Yes, it is.” I grinned. As she fixed the garlic bread and readied it for the oven, I asked, “So how long does it need to cook?”

“About fifteen minutes or so.” She looked up at the kitchen clock. “You can go back upstairs. I’ll wait for it.”

“No. I’ll stay with you… if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine.” She smiled and put the bread in the oven. “Let’s go in the other room and watch the game.”

“Great.” As she led me past her dining area and onto the sofa, I looked around the rooms at the simple décor. A few modern prints hung from the walls, and collections of photographs were clustered on bookshelves and tabletops. I wanted to look through them all, to know more about Jessica Clark.

After we took our seats, and she turned on the game, things were quiet for a while. Then out of nowhere, I heard her say, “So you know all about me. What about you? Are you dating anyone?”

“Um…” My throat closed in shock. Did she not know?

“Oh. Is it the divorce?” she asked.

“Well, yes. It’s… difficult.”

Jessie watched for my reaction.

“I understand it’s hard. If you ever need to talk to someone, you should talk to Larry.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, tilting as I thought back. “I think I remember hearing about that on ESPN. It was pretty ugly.”

“It was before he met Trish, but he speaks openly about it. He says it made him a better husband for her.”

“That’s a positive way of looking at it.” At this point, I couldn’t imagine being that positive. I exhaled and put my hand to my forehead. “It’s just been hard. I’m rectifying a big mistake, but it’s public and messy and at least in my Catholic family, there’s an added dose of shame and guilt on top of it all.”

“I’m sorry. Is there an end in sight? It can’t go on forever.” There was a hopeful sounding lilt at the end of her statement.

I gazed at her and slowly shook my head. “It’s dragging out. The settlement negotiations… I feel like such a slimebag talking with you about this because I can’t imagine you would ever be in this position.”

“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes—just ask Trish.”

“I doubt they’re big mistakes.” She seemed like she’d never done anything wrong in her life. I smiled. “So to answer your question, no, I’m not dating anyone, but when it’s all over, I’ll be ready.”

“That’s good.” She held my gaze as if I’d just said something important, but then she smiled and joked, “The women of America are waiting for you.”

“Come on.” I tossed a throw pillow at her. “Here I am bearing my soul to you, and you taunt me.”

“You’ve been teasing me, Mr. Nosy. I think you can handle a little of your own medicine.”

“Is this what it’s going to be like working with you on this amendment?”

“Probably,” she giggled and held the pillow against her chest.

“Good,” I said, showing what had to be a goofy grin. “I’m looking forward to it.”

~~~

A few days later, I absentmindedly adjusted my tie as I waited for my dad to arrive for lunch. I looked around The Monocle’s tweedy room, full of well-heeled lobbyists and members of Congress. When my grandfather was a senator, he’d come here often. I knew my father picked the place for that reason.

After a brief glance at the menu, which consisted of beef in all forms, I looked up to see my dad working the room. As the former governor of Illinois, Gerald Grath was well-known. He couldn’t walk through a place like this without slapping the backs of old friends and shaking the hands of his many acquaintances. I knew it was the other reason Dad had chosen it for lunch.

When our eyes met, he simply waved to his other well-wishers and headed straight to me at the far back table. As usual, we shared a genuine father-son hug before he sat down. He looked about the room one more time and announced, “I miss my trips to Washington.”

“I can see that.” I chuckled. “How are you?”

“Good. Good,” he said, as he placed his napkin on his lap. “And how are you doing?”

“Fine. Busy. But that’s a good thing.”

“Yes, it is a good thing. It means you’re working hard. You’re contributing.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the waiter taking our orders. When he left, Dad lowered his voice and said, “And an extra benefit of your working hard is that it keeps your mind off the divorce.”

“It does help.” I frowned and looked around to reassure myself that we were far from prying ears. “Though it’s hard to ignore the constant back and forth with these negotiations.”

“I can’t believe she’s acting this way.” Dad shook his head. “Lord knows, Stacy has never been my favorite person, but she’s acting like a completely different human being. The things she’s saying about you…”

There wasn’t a great comeback to that. I’d occasionally seen glimpses of this side of Stacy.

Before I could answer, Dad continued, “Money. It makes people greedy.”

“She would say we’re stingy,” I pointed out.

“We’ve offered her more than enough, given the length of your marriage. The confidentiality agreement shouldn’t be her opportunity for extortion.”

“Well, I’m tired of it all.” I took a sip of water, wishing it would all go away. “I’d like to make a deal and get on with things. I don’t care how much it costs.”

“Easy for you to say. She’s already got your money. It’s the family’s money she’s after now.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound cavalier, but it’s just that it’s better for everyone if this ends sooner rather than later.” I stared at his grim face and saw that he wasn’t impressed. Maybe if I threw out the religion card, I could motivate him. I tried to sound positive. “Because the sooner I’m divorced, the sooner the marriage can be annulled like it never happened.”

“Well, I have to admit your mother would appreciate that,” Dad replied as his face softened. “She wants you to get on with your life—we both do.”

“I do, too.”

Dad reached over and gave me a strong pat on the arm. “Don’t worry. I think we’re getting close to a number we can all live with. I don’t like it, but I know it’s the only way to get you out of this mess. That’s the most important thing.” He briefly looked around the room, again, and smiled in wonder. “Look where you are. You’re a newly elected congressman. You should be enjoying yourself.”