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Everything in the restaurant came to a stop as Sam and Nick walked through with the owners.
At least fifty cell phones were pointed at them.
They nodded to the other diners and shook hands with the waitstaff as they made their way to a private room in the back. He was thankful for that arrangement so they wouldn’t have people staring at them while they ate. In his old life, he might’ve found the private room a bit pretentious. Now it was necessary if they were to have any prayer of privacy.
Nick held the chair for his wife and bent to place a kiss on her neck that she didn’t see coming. He loved the way she startled and then laughed. He enjoyed catching her off guard, and more than anything, he was delighted by her laughter, especially since she’d been so low earlier.
When he sat across from her, she gave him a sly grin.
“That was a dirty trick, my friend.”
Nick returned her grin and thanked Andrea for the cloth napkin she handed him.
“It’s such a delight to see you’re every bit as real in person as you are on TV,” Andrea said. “We’re huge fans.”
“Thank you so much,” Nick said. “That’s nice to hear.”
“You keep doing what you’re doing, Mr. President,” Jim said. “We’re rooting for you.”
“We appreciate it.”
She handed them each a printed card that had the presidential seal at the top. “We took the liberty of preparing a special five-course meal for you, based on the information we were provided by the culinary team at the White House. We hope it sounds good to you.”
“This looks wonderful,” Sam said after she’d glanced at the special menu. “I can’t think of anything I would add.”
“Same,” Nick said. “Thank you.”
“We’ve also chosen wine pairings for each course.”
“I love this place,” Sam said.
“We were hoping you would,” Andrea said, beaming. “We’ll be right back with your wine and your first course.”
“Lobster-stuffed mushrooms,” Nick said. “That doesn’t sound good at all.”
“I’m drooling.”
“Don’t do that, love. It’s unseemly for the first lady to drool in public.”
“Ha! I’ll try not to let anyone see it.” She took a sip of her ice water. “I like to hear people say they support you. We need to get out more often so you can hear right from the people you work for that they approve of the job you’re doing.”
“We’ll hear from those who don’t approve, too.”
Sam waved a hand to dismiss them. “That’s fine. They have a right to their opinion, but you need to interact with real people outside the gilded cage so you get the kind of positive reinforcement that Jim and Andrea provided.”
“You’re right. I’d like to get back to school visits, too. I really liked doing that when I was VP.”
“Then do it. You’re the boss of the whole world, babe.”
“Not quite, but your point is well taken.”
“There were a lot of phones pointed at us on the way in. Do you think there’ll be a mob on the way out?”
He was certain Brant and the other agents would take care of any crowd control. “Nah. I doubt it. Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy the evening.”
She raised her wineglass to him. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Andrea returned with the lobster-stuffed mushrooms, which were delicious.
