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Susanna sees Leo first. I follow her gaze, holding the pile of papers she gave me when we first arrived. We hadn’t even got our drinks when she was already explaining, tearfully, that the building’s owners wanted to sell the building to developers. I offered to look through the paperwork for her. She seemed surprised that I had a law degree. But I didn’t want to upset her further, so I let it pass. Josh walks off, bored, as we talk about landlord and tenant stuff. Then I see Leo. And he sees Josh. Who waves vaguely behind him as he stands in the middle of a crowd of White House staffers. Susanna smiles at him, and I wait until he’s close enough to hear over the background noise of voices and music. ‘Leo. Drink?’ Susanna smiles. ‘It’s okay, Sammy. We’ll do this later. Go and have some fun.’ ‘Do what later?’ Leo looks at the papers I put on the bar. Susanna shakes her head slightly. ‘Later, Sammy.’ I leave them alone, taking my drink with me as I walk over to Josh. At least I don’t have to worry when he slides his arm around me. I know he likes people to know we’re together, and I know that part of the way he does that is to hold me when we’re standing beside each other. I never hold him. Not in public. I’m not comfortable with it. But when Josh holds me, it’s nice. I feel safe. Loved. Wanted. And I know it relaxes Josh. And now he can do it with Leo around, it’s nice. He did it when we were having lunch. After Susanna called, we didn’t talk about anything other than her lease. But Josh did risk holding my hand as we talked. And we managed almost twenty minutes before Donna interrupted us. And I had to pull my hand from Josh’s. Otherwise, I swear he would have left it there when Donna walked in. Age is making him weird. **************** ‘What’s this?’ I don’t want Leo thinking about my problems, so I put my hand on his, lifting it away. ‘Nothing. Just a problem with my lease.’ His eyes are instantly full of concern. ‘Want me to look?’ Somewhat flippantly, I say: ‘You have a Law degree too?’ He nods. ‘Yuh.’ ‘Maybe later. How was today?’ I look across the dance floor to where Sam and Joshua are holding court. And each other. Leo takes my meaning and says: ‘Okay. I watched them all day…’ I can’t help but scold him. ‘Leo! They’re not going to do it on the desk in the Oval Office, are they?’ He smiles. ‘Not while I’m around.’ I laugh. ‘If they hadn’t told you, you would not have known, would you?’ The sentence is so logical, Leo can do no more than shrug. ‘I guess not.’ ‘So, be sensible about this. They’re obviously comfortable with their relationship. Just work out a way of coping with it.’ Leo is nothing if not honest. ‘It makes me…’ ‘Uneasy?’ He feels mean, and says quickly: ‘No. Not exactly. But…’ ‘You would rather have continued in blissful ignorance.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Too late.’ He sighs. ‘I know.’ I can see Leo and Susanna. They are
sitting on a ‘JL?’ I turn suddenly. ‘Lit?’ ‘Drink?’ I smile. ‘Yeah. Why not.’ Sam’s gaze follows mine, and he sees Leo’s smile. ‘That is one relaxed Chief of Staff. It’s good that he’s happy. After today…It was Jen’s birthday.’ ‘Today?’ Sam hadn’t known. It was in my diary. Donna had written all the important dates in my diary for the whole year. And, without thinking, she had copied the dates of Leo and Jennifer’s birthdays and their wedding anniversary in. When I flicked the page this morning, there it was, in Donna’s neat handwriting. ‘Jen McGarry’s birthday. Call Jen.’ ‘Yeah. Today. Leo sent her flowers. She didn’t call to say thanks or anything. Just left a message.’
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