Chapter Four #3
“Nonexistent,” Terry said. “The Post has it.”
“Fuck!”
“My thoughts exactly,” Nick said in response to Halliwell.
“What the hell was he thinking?” Graham asked.
“If I’m guessing,” Nick said, “there wasn’t a lot of thinking involved.”
“He’s president of the United States,” Halliwell said. “And it started in the midst of a hotly contested reelection campaign. How could he take a chance like that, especially when his wife was battling cancer?”
“Maybe it was because his wife was sick.” Graham held up a hand to stop the others from pouncing.
“I can’t imagine anything would be more stressful than my Laine being sick with cancer and me being separated from her for weeks at a time during a presidential campaign.
I’m not excusing him in any way, but it could’ve been the stress. ”
“All the stress in the world wouldn’t have me jumping into bed with another woman, especially if my wife was sick.” Nick didn’t want to even think about Sam being anything but perfectly healthy.
“You and I agree on that,” Graham said, “but not all marriages are built like ours.”
Halliwell stood and began to pace. He was known for his passion for the job, but days like this would test even the most dedicated of party loyalists. “How does he survive this after what went down with his son?”
“He’d be better off resigning to care for his ailing wife,” Graham said with barely restrained glee.
“Easy, cowboy,” Nick said, equal parts amused and horrified. “No one in this room is going to suggest that Nelson resign. Do you hear me?”
“The suggestion won’t come from us,” Halliwell said grimly. “But it will be coming. I heard Stenhouse on the radio on the way in suggesting that the only ethical thing for Nelson to do would be to resign the presidency so he can tend to his chaotic personal life.”
“Goddamned Stenhouse.” Graham’s disdain for the minority leader—and vice versa—was well known in Washington. “Already running his mouth. Why am I not surprised?”
“We’d be doing the same thing if a Republican president got caught with his pants down,” Halliwell said.
Nick liked that about Halliwell—he understood how the game was played, played it fairly and kept his head about him even when engulfed in a political calamity. “Why’re you meeting with me rather than Nelson’s team?”
Halliwell gave him a withering look. “You have to ask?”
“He’s not going to resign.” He couldn’t resign.
“He may have no choice, and if he does, we need to be ready.”
Nick held up his hand. “Like I said when the mess with Christopher exploded, I’m not talking about that until I have to.”
Halliwell stared him down, his expression grave. “With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, you have to talk about it. This could go down very quickly after word gets out that Gloria was undergoing cancer treatment while he was banging a staffer.”
“I think you should meet with his team to see what can be done to preserve his presidency rather than planning mine.” Nick hoped to leave no room for negotiation. “Your time is better spent over there.”
Halliwell didn’t like that, but to his credit, he chose not to argue the point. “I’ll be in touch, Mr. Vice President.”
“I’ll look forward to that, Mr. Halliwell.”
“Sure you will,” Halliwell said on the way out.
Terry followed Halliwell to the door, probably knowing his father wanted a minute alone with Nick.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Graham asked after the door closed behind Terry. “He’s handing you the presidency on a silver platter, and you’re declining?”
“I don’t want it this way. Who would?”
“Um, everyone?”
Elbows on his desk, Nick leaned forward, addressing his mentor directly. “I know you want this for me, Graham, and I love you for that and so many other things. But I don’t want it. Not now and not like this. Maybe not ever, but definitely not like this.”
“You may not have a choice if this blows up into a bigger scandal than the last one. People are scandal weary with this administration. This could go very bad for him quickly, and you need to be ready.”
Nick sat back in his chair, amused as always by Graham’s unrelenting agenda for his career. “What would you suggest I do to ‘get ready’ as you put it?”
“You need a vice president on standby and a statement ready to go, if he resigns, to reassure the American people that the Republic is strong and that Democracy is working the way the framers intended.”
“If he decides to resign, I feel fairly confident he’d at least notify me before it happens.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“I know my approach to these things drives you crazy—”
“That’s one word for what it does to me,” Graham said dryly. “It also sends my blood pressure into the danger zone.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I’m not doing anything until I have to. If he resigns, I’ll react then. If I do anything now, it’ll be misinterpreted as me trying to push him out, when that is the last thing I want to do.”
“Do you honestly believe this guy deserves to be president after all this?”
“I’m not going to be his judge and jury. That’s up to the voters and Congress to decide, and with the Democrats owning the Senate, there’s no chance of him being impeached.”
“The House Republicans can vote to impeach.”
“Why? Because he cheated on his wife? Is he the first president to do that? Nope, and he won’t be the last. Do I condone what he did?
Not at all. It’s disgusting, especially since his wife was ill when it happened.
If my wife were ill like that, you can bet I wouldn’t be out campaigning for reelection. I’d be wherever she was.”
“This country needs you in the Oval Office, Nick.”
Nick’s bark of laughter obviously annoyed Graham.
“It’s not funny.”
“No, it isn’t, but if I don’t laugh, I might cry, and that wouldn’t be good for the American people.”
“I don’t understand you. Anyone else in this town would be dancing a jig today, but you’re Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected, as always.”
“Believe me, I’m not unaffected by this—at all. Quite to the contrary. I need to take it one step at a time and not get ahead of myself.”
“I want you to be president so freaking badly.”
“No, really? I had no idea!”
Graham grunted out a laugh. “You’d be legendary.”
“Your faith in me never fails to amaze and humble me. I hope you know that.”
“I do.” Graham eyed Nick with the shrewd blue eyes that’d seen something in him as a college freshman. Only thanks to him had Nick made a career of politics. On days like this, he wasn’t sure if he should thank or curse the man who’d made him. “You know what I respect most about you?”
“What’s that?”
“You march to the beat of your own drummer and don’t let blowhards like me or Halliwell or anyone else dictate your path.”
“Thank you,” Nick said, touched by Graham’s observation. “That means everything coming from you, and PS, you’re not a blowhard. You want big things for me, and I would’ve been disappointed if you hadn’t come in hot today after this news broke.”
“I did come in rather hot, didn’t I?”
“Yeah,” Nick said, smiling, “but I wouldn’t expect anything less. And I’ll promise you this—if and when the time comes for me to be president, you’ll be the second one to know and the first one I’ll want by my side telling me what to do.”
Graham returned his smile. “Thank you for that, but you, my friend, won’t need anyone telling you what to do.”