Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
“It’s because I care about him that I’ll endure anything to make sure he is loved openly by the person he wants most,” I’d said as calmly as I could.
I hadn’t come to this conclusion easily. Honestly, I’d spent a few hours in consultation with one of the Navy psychologists I’d befriended several years earlier. With her help, I’d come to terms—or started to anyway—with some of my remaining fears. I’d told her about my fear of causing a stain on his legacy, and she’d reminded me that standing proudly next to him as the first out gay president lived his truth in the public eye could be seen as contributing to his legacy.
“And think of the LGBTQ+ people around the world who are looking to him as their example,” she’d continued. “Should they see him keep his love in the dark? Should they learn later, in the safety of his retirement, he or his partner had been too afraid to—”
I’d stopped her right there with a grunt of acknowledgment.
It wasn’t going to be easy or pretty.
But it would be worth it.
And it would be true.
As I entered the Oval Office at six o’clock in the evening on that Friday night in early August, I was shaking with nerves. Garner’s team had strategized it to death, and now, here we were. Tonight, we would go public with our relationship via a televised interview, and Garner’s sister had come to give us support.
Catherine looked up at me from where she sat on the sofa, scrolling on her phone. “There you are. He was getting worried.” She nodded toward the closed door to Garner’s private washroom. “Not that he wasn’t worried enough already.”
I strode over to the door and knocked once before turning the knob. “Baby?” I asked softly. “Can I come in?”
As soon as he made a sound of approval, I slipped through the door and closed it behind me. He was sitting on the back of the closed toilet seat, dressed sharply in a killer suit.
After three weeks of spending every possible night together naked and touching, I felt even closer to Garner. I could tell right away he was trying to get into the right headspace for our sit-down interview.
I could also tell he was having zero doubts about our chosen path.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
GARNER
I’d hidden in the executive washroom not because I needed to use the facilities but because I knew Kenan would come for me, and I’d wanted a moment alone with him before our interview.
I stood up and stepped into his large body, sliding my hands inside his suit jacket and around to his back. His aftershave was fresh and familiar.
My voice was muffled by his shirt front. “Theodore Roosevelt once said some bullshit about nothing worth having or doing comes without pain and difficulty. I would really like for that to not be true.”
His rumble of laughter moved through his chest and into mine. “I once asked you to spare me the Trumanesque bullshit, but I’m going to Truman you right now. Do your best. History will do the rest.”
I let out a melodramatic sigh. “One day, I’m going to one-up you with the Trumanesque bullshit, Commander.”
He leaned in and kissed me before pulling away and cupping my face. “Beloved. I am so incredibly proud of you. And I’m even prouder to be the person you’ve chosen to share this life with. Today, our life of freedom begins.”
I smiled at him and followed him out of the bathroom. Cat teased us and accused us of sneaking in a stress-relieving quickie.
“I wish,” Kenan muttered. Cat was still laughing when Rosa and the press secretary came in to retrieve us. The interview was set up on a wooden bench in the Rose Garden. The sun was fat and golden in the western sky, laying warm stripes across the cooling green grass. I greeted the well-respected news personality who’d been selected for the sit-down interview.
“Thank you for coming, Sam,” I said, holding out my hand for a shake. “I don’t believe you’ve met Commander Kenan Harper. Kenan, Sam Tetlow.”
Kenan nodded, and it occurred to me that he was so used to being unseen and unheard, always half a step behind me, that it might take him a while to be comfortable taking up space at my side.
More than likely, he still wouldn’t. At least, not unless we were in private and he was technically off the clock.
Sam’s greeting was warm and inclusive. “Nice to finally meet you, Commander Harper. I’ve seen you around the Hill, but we’ve never been formally introduced.”
As Kenan and I were seated together on the bench and miked up, Sam took the nearby chair that had been brought in for the purpose. He went over a few notes about what he would and wouldn’t ask us about and then inquired whether we had anything we wanted to discuss before the interview began.