31

COLGATE APARTMENTS
APARTMENT 12-B
GEORGETOWN

Ben tiptoed quietly into his apartment, flowers tickling his nose. It was dark inside and quiet—good. He must’ve beaten Christina home.

He flipped on the lights, then gently laid down the bouquet of roses, then the box of chocolates, then the Hallmark “Heartfelt” card (“Sometimes you have to stop thinking and follow your heart”), then the Hershey’s Kisses. He had briefly considered getting her a puppy, but wasn’t sure how it would fare in a small apartment with three cats.

He had practiced his speech about a thousand times, but he hadn’t thought about where he wanted to be standing when he delivered it. So many questions! Perhaps leaning against the mantel of the fireplace, a pipe in one hand, the light of the fire illuminating his face in a mysterious yet attractive manner…

But the fireplace was a fake—you couldn’t really burn wood in it, and he didn’t smoke a pipe. Christina had thrown out his button-down sweaters.

Perhaps reclining on the sofa, supine, several shirt buttons unbuttoned. Or just in an undershirt. Or perhaps even—

Who was he kidding? He couldn’t pull any of that off, even if he did think it would work, which he didn’t.

And that was before he received the anonymously delivered manila envelope bearing the photos of him and—that woman. In the teddy. Whoever she was. Thank goodness Jones hadn’t been around to receive the mail. Didn’t matter who the envelope was addressed to. He would’ve opened it just because it was marked PRIVATE and underlined twice. The pictures looked so…incriminating. What would happen if Christina saw them? How could he prevent her from seeing them? If she did, it would all be over, that much was certain. He would never be able to talk his way out of that one.

He hadn’t seen her in so long and missed her so much. Jones told him she was planning to go home tonight, so he had hoped that maybe, if he did everything right, there was still some small possibility…

He picked up the picture of her he kept on the coffee table so he could see it wherever he was in the room. It was taken on their wedding day, on the steps of the Supreme Court building, just after the disastrous “you may kiss the bride” incident. He cringed just thinking about it. What on earth had she ever seen in him? How could he think there was anything he could do to change her mind? Him, the loser who couldn’t even manage to get her away for a honeymoon.

It was hopeless. Christina had every right to be ticked off at him and she wasn’t going to stop being ticked off at him until—

“That you, handsome?”

Ben started. He rose to his feet. “Hello?” He paused another moment. “Christina? Is that you?”

She stepped slowly out of the bedroom wearing a shimmering blue full-length nightgown. “Who’d you think it might be? Your girlfriend in the black teddy?”

Jeez Louise. “Christina, you have to believe me. I don’t know who she was. She just—appeared. I did not have…anything with that woman. I promise you that—”

“I know, Ben.”

“Seriously, I never even—” He stopped short. “You know?”

“Of course I know.”

“How could you possibly know?”

“Because I know you.” She came closer. Standing before the window, he could drink in the entire lovely picture. The blue was perfectly matched to her eyes, just barely revealing the shoulders he loved so well….

She saw the roses on the counter and picked them up. “These for anyone in particular?”

“Huh? Oh!” Ben snapped to attention. “Those are for you. I mean, obviously they’re for you. Who else would they be for?”

“And the chocolates?”

“And the card. And the, um, Kisses.”

“Mmm,” she said, licking her lips. “No puppy?”

“Well, I didn’t—” He halted himself again. “You really do know me, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh. Like my nightie?”

Ben suddenly felt very hot under the collar. “Um, uh, yeahhhh…”

“I bought it for our honeymoon, but—”

“I am so sorry. I’ve told you—”

“Shhh.” She placed a finger against his lips. “No need. It’ll work tonight just as well.”

“It will?”

She drew him very close to her. “It will.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the neck.

“Uh, Christina,” he said, trying very hard to think about…something other than the obvious.

“Mmm,” she said, still kissing.

“All this stuff. The flowers and candy and…”

“Mmm.” Her left hand was unbuttoning his shirt.

“I—I need your help.”

“I know.”

“There—there are three senators who have put a—a legislative hold on—”

“Dawkins, Stringer, and Reneau.”

“You already know?”

“Yup.”

“How?”

She lifted her face from his chest only for a moment. “Ben, darling. Haven’t you noticed? I’m the best.” She resumed kissing.

Ben tried to keep his mind on the current political crisis, but it was becoming increasingly impossible. “Do you—d-do you think there’s any way we can get those names out? Like, um…”

“A front page article in The Washington Post?”

“Uhh…that would work.”

He could feel her smile against his chest. “Be sure to read the paper tomorrow morning then.”

“Christina.” He stopped her, taking her head between his hands, and gazed into her lovely face. “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind about the amendment?”

“No, you dodo. It means I love you. Now are you going to take me to bed or am I going to have to get out the handcuffs?”

As it turned out, the cuffs were not required.