Unfortunately, someone covertly snapped a photo of them, leaking it to the Huffington Post and making national news instantly. The media onslaught had been brutal, blistering Ellie for being so friendly with the son of her mother’s political enemy.
And her mother had frosted her out. Betrayed, she gave Ellie the silent treatment for a week, barely acknowledging her with anything besides a withering glance. The two had managed to repair their relationship, but now Ellie was thinking of opening that can of worms all over again. The thought of reigniting a feud with her mother nauseated her, but so did the thought of staying away from Gabe.
As Ellie and Brinley ran along the iron fence of the student parking lot, Ellie spotted Gabe getting into his black Tahoe, his army green coat slung over his shoulders. He rubbed a hand through his dark shaggy hair, which fell perfectly out of place in its wake. Just as Ellie was about to look away, his dark eyes landed on hers, causing a bolt of excitement to tingle through her despite the fact that she was a good fifty feet away.
It was suddenly clear to her. She couldn’t live like this anymore, with him tearing at her insides every time she turned a corner. She wanted to be with Gabe. Out in the open. It was that simple. And she had waited long enough.
“I’m going to tell him yes,” she suddenly announced to Brinley, breaking her gaze from him as she headed off the pavement onto the dirt path that circled around the western part of campus.
“You are?” Brinley asked, in such an incredulous tone that it almost made Ellie rethink her decision. “But you would keep it a secret, right?”
“No. I’m going to tell my mom. Tonight,” Ellie replied, her voice now a little less sure. But maybe if she were up front about her feelings for Gabe this time, as opposed to her mother being blindsided by the news like she was before, her mom would be more understanding.
And if she weren’t, Ellie would deal with the consequences. If the media wanted to make a big story out of the spawn of two political nemeses being together, so be it. It would blow over. And if her mom wanted to be icy or tell her she was being a traitor, she could handle it. Because this time Gabe would be by her side.
Ellie picked up her pace, adrenaline fueling her as she sprinted forward, away from Brinley, already planning the exact words she’d use to tell her mother.
Ellie stepped inside her family’s colonial-style house, beelining for the kitchen. It was still several hours before her mother, Marilyn, was supposed to be home from her DNC fundraising cocktail reception, and Ellie figured she’d use the time to eat a quick dinner and mentally review the speech she’d come up with on the rest of her run. But as she pulled out a Tupperware vat full of butternut squash soup and began heating it in the microwave, she swore she heard her mother’s voice wafting down the hallway.
She ripped off a hunk of crusty French bread from the fresh loaf on the counter and grabbed her bowl, the distinct sound of her mother’s laughter now unmistakable. Should she wait until her mother came out to the kitchen to talk to her? But after two spoonfuls of soup, Ellie’s stomach was already tied in knots, and she couldn’t hold off any longer.
She padded down the hallway to her mother’s office, softly knocking on the door.
“Come in,” her mother called out. Ellie entered to find Marilyn sitting behind her desk, phone to her ear. And no one—not even Jasmine, her mother’s usually ever-present chief of staff—was in the room with her. This was the time to do it.
She settled into the softly worn brown leather chair she always perched in when visiting her mother in here, her palms sweating and a hot flush overtaking her face as she watched her mom smile into the phone. She wore a forest green silk blouse with a chunky gold chain necklace, her sleek, dark-brown hair blown out to perfection, her creamy skin glowing. As always, she looked more suited to be editor-in-chief of Elle or Vogue than the senior senator from Massachusetts.
“Okay, Ellie just walked in. I’ve got to go,” her mother gaily chirped into the phone. At least she seemed to be in a good mood. Better to give her the news while she was cheerful and more likely to give Ellie her full attention.
“And thanks again, Bill. I know your support had a lot to do with this.”
She must be speaking to Attorney General Bill McKnight, Ellie’s ex-boyfriend Hunter’s father and a huge political ally of Marilyn’s. “Yes, I’m going to tell her now.”
Marilyn winked at Ellie as she said this. Whatever was going on, her mother was pretty excited about it. As Marilyn hung up the phone, Ellie decided she’d let her mom get her news out of the way, and then drop the Gabe bomb on her afterward. She didn’t mind having a few extra moments of sanity and peace between them before it might all disappear again.
“Ellie, I’m glad you’re home,” her mother said, a smile playing on her lips.
“I thought you were going to that fundraiser tonight…”
“I canceled. Something much bigger came up I wanted to talk to you about.” Marilyn paused for a moment as if choosing her next words carefully. “I had an interesting meeting at the White House today.”
No matter how many times her mother had meetings with the president, it always jolted Ellie that her mom was in a position to have discussions with the leader of the free world.
“Apparently, Vice President Tellman is resigning.”
“What?” Ellie asked, stunned. He’d stepped into office less than two months ago.
“He’s ill. Prostate cancer, I believe. He got the diagnosis during the last months of the campaign, but he and the president had such momentum, he didn’t want to step down at that point and risk the loss for him. Apparently, it’s treatable, but it’s going to take a lot out of him and he wants to undergo treatment without the stress of Washington.”
“That makes sense,” Ellie replied. But even the sympathy pangs she felt for him couldn’t stop her heart from racing in anticipation of the next conversation they were about to have. When she told her mom about Gabe.
“So now the president needs to appoint a new vice president.” She looked Ellie in the eye. “And I’m one of the people he’s looking at.”
She suddenly had Ellie’s full attention.
“Wait, what?” Unless Ellie had heard incorrectly, it sounded like her mother had just said she might be the next vice president of the United States.
“I’m an official contender. Supposedly, they narrowed the list down to me and one other person. I’m not sure who it is yet.”
“Mom, this is…” Ellie couldn’t even find a way to finish the sentence. Words like insane and unbelievable didn’t seem to cut it.
“I know,” Marilyn replied, her eyes glimmering. That’s when Ellie fully realized just how elated her mother was over this news. It was everything her mom had worked toward her entire life.
“Wow,” Ellie replied, allowing Marilyn’s excitement to wash over her, as well. “My own mother could be the first female vice president—”
“Could be being the operative words,” her mom interjected hastily. “Nothing is guaranteed, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself. And everything is hush-hush anyway until the V.P. formally resigns tomorrow night.”
“And then what? When is the president going to decide?” Ellie asked. “What’s the process?”
“Whomever the president nominates will then get confirmed by both Houses of Congress. With Vice President Tellman stepping down because he’s ill, it would be in bad form for Congress not to push through the nominee quickly. Not to mention the president’s approval ratings are through the roof right now and the GOP isn’t going to want to get on the voters’ bad side.”
“So whomever he nominates is a lock?”
Her mother nodded, unable to fight off an excited smile. “Now they begin the process of vetting me and the other candidate. Questionnaires, background checks, interviewing people I’ve worked with, went to school with. From everything I’ve heard, it gets extremely intense. After Evan Bayh got vetted, he said it was like going through a colonoscop
y with the Hubble telescope.”
Ellie wrinkled her nose at the analogy.
“They won’t interview you, but they’ll definitely have a conversation with your father.” Ellie wondered how her dad, now living in Palo Alto and extremely removed from the political process, would take to the personal probe.
“And I know I don’t need to tell you this,” her mother went on, “but we both have to be very careful right now. About our public images.” Her mother was clearly referring to the photo scandal of Ellie and Gabe. The picture had unfortunately leaked at precisely the time Marilyn was trying to win the chairman position on the judiciary committee (and as a result, lost out on).
Ellie nodded as her mother said this, though her heart immediately sank. As she looked at her mother, more energized and thrilled than she’d ever seen her, Ellie suddenly understood this news also meant she couldn’t be with Gabe. It was horrible enough to cost her mother a Senate chairman’s seat. But costing her the chance to be vice president was too unforgivable. Her mother couldn’t afford any negative press right now. Nothing that made her appear weak or out of control. Yet again, Ellie would have to put her own life on hold for her mother’s.
A heavy sigh inadvertently slipped out. Marilyn looked up at her sharply.
“Are you okay, Elle? I know this is a lot to handle…and if you don’t want me to move forward with this, just tell me. If I get appointed, it will be a huge change for both of us.” If her mother won, it would mean Secret Service, moving out of the cozy house she’d lived in since childhood, and, of course, more press scrutiny, Ellie’s least favorite thing.
Marilyn reached out to squeeze Ellie’s hand, looking her in the eye as she did. “Listen to me. I would understand if you didn’t want me to do this. Say the word and I will respectfully decline.”
Ellie knew she would, too, as much as it would kill Marilyn to opt out of this opportunity. When she was little, her mom scheduled meetings with lobbyists around Ellie’s ballet recital schedule, always reiterating that she was a mother first and a senator second.
But that wasn’t a card Ellie was willing to play. Her mother deserved this and she wasn’t going to step in the way, no matter what personal sacrifice it meant on her end.
“I’m fine with it, Mom.” Her voice wavered, belying her heartbreak over her lost chance with Gabe, but she gave her mother an extra-wide smile to compensate for it. And either her mother didn’t notice her hesitation, or she didn’t want to notice it, because she immediately wrapped Ellie into a hug, murmuring, “This could end up being a big adventure for us, Elle.”
Later that night, Ellie made her way up the staircase to shower while Marilyn remained firmly ensconced in her office with her multi-tasking dynamo chief of staff, Jasmine, reviewing the initial vetting questions the White House had emailed over. Ellie had stayed in the office for a while, listening quietly as they discussed answers to the first preliminary questions (while Jasmine simultaneously researched past candidates’ vetting mistakes on her laptop and created an Excel spreadsheet of possible answers), but their debate over the best way to respond to each one began giving Ellie anxiety, so she excused herself.
As she entered her soothing blue and white room, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. A call from Gabe. Probably wondering if Ellie had come to any decision. She debated ignoring it, but the pull of speaking with him was too great.
“Hey,” Ellie answered softly, though she knew even if she yelled her greeting, her mother was way too far away, both physically and mentally, to hear the conversation.
“Hey,” he responded, his deep voice pouring through the phone line.
“What’s going on?” Ellie said casually, avoiding the topic at hand for a moment.
“Elle, you know what I’m calling you about.” Or not.
She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I thought about it, but I can’t be with you right now.” She could almost hear his disappointment over the phone, though he said nothing.
“It’s not because I don’t want to,” she continued. “It’s the…timing.”
“It’s never going to be the right time.”
“Yeah, but right now is definitely not.” She paused for a beat, debating whether to continue. Despite their parents’ acrimonious relationship (and that she’d once thought Gabe had betrayed her after she’d confided in him), at her core she knew they’d come far enough that she could trust him. Plus, she wanted him to fully understand her reasoning for turning him down. “Listen, no one is supposed to know until it’s formally announced, but the vice president is stepping down. And my mom is one of the two choices to replace him.”
Gabe let out a low whistle. “Wow.”
“I can’t cost her this, Gabe.”
“She’s not going to get the president’s approval one way or another based on who you’re dating.”
“I know. But if we get the same kind of press we got last time—”
“Last time, you had a boyfriend. It was scandalous. This time, it’ll be old news. No one would care.”
“Maybe. But I can’t risk it. I can’t be in the middle of a media firestorm right now. She might be seen as having too much baggage. An out-of-control daughter. I can’t do it.”
Gabe thought about this for a moment before replying, “I get it.”
Ellie wished they were having this conversation in person, so she could reach out to him, show him this wasn’t what she wanted.
“Look, this doesn’t have to be a final answer,” she found herself saying. “Who knows what’s going to happen with my mom. Once everything dies down with this V.P. thing, maybe we can talk about it again…”
“That’s true,” Gabe mused. “In the meanwhile, should I prepare for the Ellie Ice Treatment when I see you at school?”
A laugh escaped from Ellie. To say she had been cold toward him recently was an understatement. But it was only because seeing him with Taryn Reyes, who he’d been dating until last weekend, was impossible to watch. It had been easier to avoid him all together when possible. Now that he (hopefully) wouldn’t be making out with hot girls all over the hallways, it might be a little easier.
“There’s no reason we can’t be friendly at school,” she said, her heartbeat quickening at the thought. Maybe she couldn’t be with Gabe, but it would be nice not to have to give him the silent treatment either. She couldn’t think of any media repercussions from her and Gabe being merely civil toward one another.
“Friendly,” he said as if trying the word on for size, and Ellie could tell he was smiling. “I like it.”
CHAPTER TWO
Tuesday, 4:02 p.m.
Taryn Reyes parked her car in the driveway of her family’s sleek, contemporary home in Great Falls. The house stood out among all the generic-looking, stuffy McMansions on the block, but she was happy her parents had managed to find the one place in the neighborhood with a little character. She gingerly walked up the three front steps to the house, careful not to put too much pressure on her left foot. She had sprained it skiing on G.A.’s annual ski retreat last week and had just been allowed to ditch the crutches as long as she wore an ankle brace and took it easy. But she had cringed a little when the doctor handed her the ugly black Velcro contraption she now had to wear over her foot for the next few days. Luckily, though, when she got home from her appointment, she realized it fit perfectly under her favorite tall, black faux furry boots. Mini crisis averted.
She threw her book bag down in the starkly modern foyer as she entered, tossing her black-and-white plaid coat on top of it. She freed her long, dark waves from her rainbow-colored beanie and hung it on a super-weird, five-foot, abstract white sculpture her mother had bought at an art fair in Ojai a few years ago while on a yoga retreat. Suddenly, the familiar bellowing sound of the Vitamix blender accosted her, bouncing off every wall in the house like a pinball. Ever since her mom had bought that thing a few months ago, Taryn could hear the blending sound in her sleep.
She braced herself for yet an
other variation of a kale smoothie as she walked into the large, bright-white and stainless steel kitchen, the jet engine sound of the Vitamix whirring to an end as her mother switched it off at the counter. Taryn was happily surprised to see her father was also in the room, sitting at the round, gray quartz table, a stack of papers and a highlighter in front of him.
“Tare-bear, I didn’t hear you come in,” her father said, looking up with a big smile.
He was still in the slick navy suit pants he had been wearing when he left that morning, but the sleeves of his light blue, collared shirt were casually rolled up and his blue ombre Zegna tie was loosened around his neck. His thick black hair was askew, which meant he had been absently running his hands through it all day, something he did whenever he was deep in thought. Taryn’s mother, a staunch supporter of Botox, half-joked how unfair it was her father got more handsome with age. The crinkles that had formed around his eyes and on his forehead somehow made him appear more distinguished than weary. Not that her mother had anything to complain about. They had both been featured in People’s Fifty Most Beautiful People issue last year.
“You’re home early,” Taryn answered, throwing her arms around his neck. He tried to make it a point to be home for dinner every night, but as a popular freshman congressman, dinner was being pushed back later and later each day. To be home at four o’clock was a first since they’d moved to town.
“You’re just in time for a kale and peach smoothie, Tare,” her mother chirped in a singsong voice, placing a glass in front of her as Taryn eased herself into the seat across from her father. She and her dad exchanged an amused look her mother didn’t catch since she was already skipping back to the Vitamix to make another concoction, her polished ponytail of bouncy, dark waves swinging behind her.
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