Chapter 7
“I can’t now; I’ve got 15 minutes before we need to get the First Lady over to the west
wing for the photo op with the Bakers.” Donna shouted down the hall.
“I don’t have a copy of the statement for Annabeth’s gaggle.” Deb shouted back.
“Get it from one of her assistants…Carrie; get it from Carrie.” Donna felt like her head
was going to explode. They were leaving for California in a day and a half and of
course, they had to interrupt all their plans and scheduled events for the photo op and
press conference with the Bakers. It was throwing everything out of wack! It wasn’t like
she didn’t think this was a big deal; it was. It was a huge deal and would certainly help
the Santos administration get rolling on other important business. But once again,
Helen and her team were being asked to just clear their schedule like they were doing
nothing of import themselves.
She and Josh had simply not discussed the California trip much at all. It was like an
unspoken rule not to bring up the source of what had become a headache to both of
them.
“Donna. I got a message that our meeting was cancelled.” Senator Lee caught up with
her and walked along the hall in step with her.
“Yes, I’m sorry. We’ve been drafted into a photo op with the President and the Bakers.
We’re in the process of rescheduling. I can have someone call you when we’re done in
the East room.”
“Would that someone be you?” Lee persisted.
“I guess it would be.” Donna chuckled.
“I’d recommend that you work on your delegating skills but this time it works in my
favor.” Lee took her arm as they walked down the stairs. “Josh has got to be feeling
good about the confirmation.”
“I’m sure he is.” Donna smiled thinly. “We just haven’t a chance to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry?” Lee asked baffled. “It’s like the biggest thing going on in the west wing right
now.”
“Believe me, I know.” Donna replied. “I’m sorry about the last minute cancellation.”
“It happens; it’s the White House.” Donna noted Senator Lee’s eyes sweeping over the
place.
“Is this someplace you aspire to be someday?” She asked.
“Someday is a long way off. Right now, I want to concentrate on making some changes
in the Senate.” Lee focused on Donna again. “We’re going to do some of that together,
Donna.”
“I certainly hope so, Michael.” Donna smiled back.
“Donna, where’s Mrs. Santos?” Josh called from the bottom of the stairs, eyeing
Senator Lee suspiciously.
“She’s on her way, Josh.” Donna replied stiffly. “She had to cut her speech short to
make it back in time at all. I’m meeting her at the ellipse.”
“We’ve got hard deadlines for the print media here.” Josh reminded her and it took
everything Donna had not to roll her eyes at his repetition. Senator Lee didn’t need to
be a party to any of that.
“I’m aware.” Donna gave him a pointed look before turning to the Senator. “Michael, I’ll
call you as soon as we’re done here. Sorry again about the last minute notice.”
“I understand. Good luck with the photo. Josh.” Lee nodded in Josh’s direction before
striding quickly away.
Donna began walking towards the ellipse and was slightly surprised when Josh fell into
step beside her. “Michael?” Josh repeated. “I thought I’d taught you better than to call a
Senator by his first name in the White House.”
Donna bristled at the ‘I’d taught you’ line. “We’ve been working together a lot. It just
slipped out. How did things go at the swearing in?”
“Great; picture perfect.”Josh told her. “Now that he’s been confirmed, everyone and
their brother is piling on to curry favor.”
“You must be glad this whole thing is over.”
“You have no idea.” Josh sighed and took Donna’s hand in hers as they walked
together toward the ellipse.
“I think I do.” Donna pointed out and Josh looked over at her quickly. “You haven’t been
sleeping well lately and your blood pressure is up.”
“That’s all about to change, Donnatella.” Josh promised.
“I certainly hope so, Joshua.” Donna replied. “Because if your lunch today was any
indication, you’re going to be in the hospital before the summer recess.”
“How do you- You’re on the other side of the building now, Donna, with a very important
job of your own. Why are you keeping track of what I eat for lunch?”
Donna shook her head. “Oh, Josh. Watching what you ate for lunch never had anything
to do with my job. I keep track of your blood pressure for very personal reasons.”
Josh smiled smugly. “I was thinking that with the confirmation behind us, I’d get out of
here early and see if I could raise your blood pressure a bit.”
“I wish I could, but we had to reschedule 3 different meetings to get here for the
reception. I’m going to be here late trying to make up for the time.” Donna pouted.
“Donna…” Josh whined. “Between Baker and California we’ve been ships that pass in
the night…literally!”
“I know!” Donna agreed. “When we get back-“
“When you get back?” Josh repeated. “That’s days from now.”
“Believe me when I tell you I’m intimately aware of the timeline.” Donne muttered. “This
is an important trip.”
“It’s a glorified photo op. Annabeth can handle it. You don’t even have to go.” Josh pled
his case but it fell on deaf ears.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” Donna turned to the car that the First Lady
was alighting from. “Good afternoon, Ma’am. I heard the speech went well.”
“I felt like I was moving away from the podium before the last line was spoken. Annabeth
rushed me out of there pretty quick.” Mrs. Santos replied.
“We really appreciate you and your team re-arranging your schedule to accommodate
us on this, Mrs. Santos.” Josh cut in smoothly.
“It’s a big moment; I know how long and hard you and Matt have worked to get this
done. Congratulations.” Helen smiled at Josh.
“Thank you Ma’am. I’m very relieved to have this behind us.” Josh replied.
“I wish I had time to change into something a little more formal.” Helen sighed.
“You look lovely, Mrs. Santos. This will be just fine.” Donna assured her. “President
Santos and the Bakers are waiting for you in the Oval before all four of you proceed to
the east room for a photo op and a few questions.”
“Got it.” Mrs. Santos continued to the Oval with the joint chiefs behind her.
“There she is!” President Santos effused. “How did the speech go?” Matt met her
halfway across the room and leaned down for a kiss. Things had been a little chilly
between the President and First Lady over this California trip as well.
“I didn’t get anything thrown at me, so I assume it went over well enough.” Helen
quipped. “Eric, Kathleen, it’s so good to see you both. We’re delighted that this is finally
done.”
“No more than we are, I promise you.” Kathleen said as she received a hug from Helen
Santos. “It’s kind of you to reschedule your day to make room for this. You must be very
busy preparing for your trip to California.”
“A bit, but we’ll get it all done. I understand they’re waiting for us in the east room?”
Helen confirmed.
“The press is assembled and waiting.” Lester agreed. “We should get over there.”
“After you, Mr. President.” Eric Baker smiled and motioned for President Santos and
both their wives to go ahead of him. They made quite the picture in the east room; both
couples were beaming with pride as they answered a few brief questions for the press
which Lester orchestrated very carefully.
Josh was able to relax enough that he could back off from the event. He stood next to
Donna and at one point put his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear.
“Look at that, Donnatella. Just look what we did.”
Donna nodded in agreement but part of her felt a sharp pang because there had been
no ‘we’ in this accomplishment. It was the first time Donna could remember that there
was a White House victory that she and Josh hadn’t shared. It felt awful.
Josh threw Lester a ‘cut the questions off’ look and Lester immediately complied.
“Thank you everyone. The President and Vice President have important issues to
discuss, as I’m sure you all understand.” More pictures were snapped and the majority
of the press followed the President and Vice President, leaving Helen and Kathleen to
follow behind at a more leisurely pace. Donna followed the two women, so she was in a
perfect position for Amy to catch her.
“That went well.” Amy commented and Donna grunted an answer.
“Hey, I wanted to pass something along to you. While you’re in California there are a
couple elementary schools that have students from the First Steps program enrolled
there. You should make sure the First Lady stops there.”
“I’ve already got it in the schedule.” Donna noted.
Amy smirked and shook her head. “I told her you would have it on there already, but
she wanted to make sure.”
“Who’s she?” Donna asked.
“Congresswoman Gloria Santiago.” Amy told her. “Her district was one of the first to
house the First Steps program.”
“Oh, sure. I met her on our California campaign swing.”
“She’s very bright and talented; an up and comer in the party. Early childhood issues
are her hot button.”
“Do you think she’d make an appearance at the elementary school with the First Lady?”
“I have no idea what her schedule is, but if you could make that happen it would be big
boost for putting First Steps on the national stage. She has a lot of respect and clout in
Congress.”
“Maybe I’ll give her a call and see what I can do about that.” Donna muttered.
“Have a good trip.” Amy said to Donna sincerely. “This is going to be important
legislation, Donna. You should be proud of the work you’re doing for Mrs. Santos.”
“Ummm…thanks, Amy.” Donna said a bit puzzled by her kind words.
“I know how hard that job is.” Amy shrugged. “And I also know that even when you do
well, not many people notice or acknowledge it…Have a good trip.” Amy repeated and
veered off in another direction.
By the time Donna caught up with the First Lady and Kathleen Baker, they were well on
their way to the east wing and in the middle of conversation about California.
“I really admire the way you’re jumping right into things, Helen.” Kathleen was saying.
“Sometimes I feel like we, as spouses of well known politicians, get relegated to the
background and only pulled out for these photo ops.”
“I know just what you mean.” Helen commiserated. “That’s why I’m so excited about the
possibilities from this California trip.”
“I think it’s great. I only wish we’d been on board sooner so I could have been part of it.”
Kathleen shrugged.
“Why can’t you?” Helen asked.
“Why can’t I what?”
“Go on the California trip with me. Donna? Why can’t Kathleen go on the trip with us?
We’re taking military transport after all, it’s not like we have to buy and extra ticket.”
“I…don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, Ma’am.” Donna hedged. She
was thinking that the two of them going together was going to bring even more of a
political charge to the situation.
“Why not?” The First Lady pressed.
“Let me look into it, Ma’am.” Donna sidestepped the issue and the promise seemed to
appease both women…for the moment.
**********************************************
“Donna, it’s Michael. I just heard the damndest rumor from my staff that Mrs. Baker was
being added to the travel group.”
“Word certainly spreads fast.” Donna muttered. “It’s not set in stone yet. We’re still
ironing out some details; it may not happen.” Donna explained thinking that one of
those little ‘details’ was broaching the subject with Josh. Even as she spoke to the
Senator on the phone, her television was playing snippets of the photo op/press
conference in the background. President Santos and Vice President Baker were
enthusiastically describing the next step on the path to law that Collective Learning was
about to take. If this California thing got to big, it would knock the President off message
and cause Joshua to have several farm animals.
“I can just imagine what those details are.” Michael Lee chuckled, easily following
Donna’s train of thought. “Listen, there’s no reason we can’t include Mrs. Baker and still
keep this defined as a fact finding trip.”
“It’s a little iffy, Michael.”
“It’s a tightrope, to be sure.” Michael agreed. “Maybe this whole thing is happening too
soon. If we postponed it awhile, give the west wing a chance to push their bill through,
then we wouldn’t have to worry about how it looked or who came with.”
“Are you advocating for the west wing, now?” Donna asked pointedly.
“Not at all. They wouldn’t touch this thing because they wanted to focus on their bill. I’m
just…concerned… that so early in this administration, you might not have the political
muscle to make this work right now. And I don’t want to damage your reputation or
cause a setback for the First Lady in the first 100 days.”
“I can handle this and as for political muscle, I’ve only just begun to stretch it.” Donna
stated.
“You’ll let me know when the arrangements are finalized?”
“Certainly.”
“Good enough.” Michael replied. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”
Donna hung up the phone more determined than ever to include Kathleen Baker and
make this trip one for the history books.
*************************************
“Donna, can you come over here for a few minutes?” Carol asked. “Josh wanted to
speak with you.”
“And his fingers were broken so he couldn’t dial the phone himself?”
“He got called to the sit room and asked if I would call you to see when you were free.”
Carol hedged.
Donna paused. “Call me when he gets back and I’ll come over.”
“Thanks, Donna.” Carol’s relief at Donna’s response was palpable. This did not bode
well.
When Donna arrived for her meeting with Josh she had to physically steel herself
outside his office. Carol gave her the nod to walk in.
“You summoned me, my Lord?” Donna tried for some level of humor.
“Does that make you my servant, because I have some fantasies along the line of-“
“What is it, Joshua?”
“Kathleen Baker?”
“What about her?”
“Are we going to play this game….really?” Josh’s eyebrows went up.
“The First Lady invited her along. It wasn't my idea..” Donna leveled.
“I wish you had discussed this with me last night.” Josh noted. “And I’d like to return to
that subject later.”
“I went to the Deputy COS with it this morning since you told me that that office was the
liaison with the east wing.” Donna shot back.
Josh ignored that for the moment. “We’ve got some momentum built now that Baker has
been sworn in and we’d like to keep that rolling.”
“That’s a good idea.” Donna agreed.
“Thanks.” Josh said sarcastically. “If you’re determined to make this trip-“
“We are.”
“I need you to tone it down.”
“You do.”
“I do.” Josh maintained eye contact. “It isn’t a sign of weakness to compromise.”
“I thought we already had. We’re billing this as a fact finding trip.” Donna stated.
“Yeah, and the White House is SO grateful for that huge concession.” Josh’s sarcasm
rang through again. “Just tone it down will you?”
“The President could talk to the Vice President about Mrs. Baker staying behind.”
Donna suggested.
“That’s…not a pool any of us are anxious to wade into.” Josh waved his arms in a
negative motion.
The door burst open. “Josh, Lester is getting bombarded in there.” Lou announced and
moved over to turn on Josh’s closed circuit television. “We got 5 minutes on Baker and
now it’s questions about the First Lady’s trip.”
“Hello, Lou. I have a door and an assistant who…CAROL!” Josh bellowed and Donna
had a twinge that Carol’s name flew out of his mouth so quickly and naturally.
“She busted in!” Carol protested when she entered the office. Donna didn’t blame her;
she wouldn’t be anxious to step between Lou and her intended target either.
“Lou, there is a procedure in place-“ Josh began.
“Yeah, yeah, look at this!” Lou waved him off and pointed to the television.
“So the First Lady’s trip is NOT in conjunction with the President’s education reform
package?”
“Again, the First Lady is deeply concerned about the welfare of our youngest citizens
and is being joined by Mrs. Baker on a fact finding trip on which she will undoubtedly
report back to the President. This is a completely separate venture from the Collective
Learning Bill.” Lester replied.
“How will the trip affect the current debate about the Collective Learning Bill?”
“Not at all. It’s entirely separate.” Lester maintained.
“Will you be providing a schedule for the California trip?”
Lester shook his head. “That is not being run out of this office. You’ll have to address
that with the First Lady’s press office. Thank you all for a very repetitious morning.”
Lester closed his book with a snap and left the podium.
“Donna…” Josh moaned.
Donna flipped open her cell phone. “Annabeth, prepare for a monsoon. You need to
down play the trip as much as possible and re-focus the press on the Baker
confirmation and the budding friendship between Mrs. Santos and Mrs. Baker….right….
I’m on my way over…” Donna continued her conversation with Annabeth as she walked
back to the east wing.
“Donna and Annabeth will handle it.” Josh told Lou and Carol. “Carol, will you excuse us
please.”
Carol nodded and shut the door behind her.
Josh stood up and walked around his desk to stand toe to toe with Lou. “If you ever-“
“It was a time sensitive matter!” Lou didn’t even let him finish.
“EVER barge into my office again, uninvited and without permission the dressing down
you get will not be done in private.” Josh threatened. “If my senior staff doesn’t respect
me and this office it’s all downhill from there. I would have never, in my wildest dreams,
caused the scene you just did when Leo sat in this chair. You need to adopt that
mindset…NOW!”
“Yes, sir.” Lou grumbled and opened the door. “It was important though…” she
muttered and Josh pretended not to hear it.
********************************************
“God, what time is it?” Josh moaned.
“4:30. We’re wheels up at 6:15.” Donna reminded him.
“That’s insane.”
“I agree completely, and we don’t even get the luxury of Air Force One.” Donna kissed
his face. “Bye Josh, I love you.”
Josh grabbed her arms in a lightning fast move that belied his exhaustion.
“Prove it.” He shot back as be pulled her on top of him in bed.
“I don’t have that kind of time.” Donna chuckled but gave him another kiss. “I have to
go.”
“You really don’t.” Josh argued while he moved his lips down her neck. “I’ll write you a
note.”
“You’re just high on life, aren’t you?”
“It’s great to have a Vice-President.” Josh acknowledged. “It’s even better to have you
in my bed.”
“Which I’ll be back in before you know it. I have to go, Josh. This is a very important trip.”
“Hey, this is just the first of many. It’s going to go fine.” He assured her and ran his
hands up and down her arms. “With your political savvy, and your attention to details,
everything will go very smoothly.” Donna was touched by his words and leaned into him
one last time.
“That means a lot, Josh, thanks.” Donna whispered.
“It’s the truth. Just make sure there’s no tanning time out there.” Josh urged her. “I don’t
want you exposing any alabaster skin without me around.”
Donna laughed and stood up. “Promise.”