The Hopefuls(17)

When we stumbled back to our hotel room sometime in the early morning, I was too drunk and tired to be offended when I heard Matt say as he fell into bed, “This is the best night of my life.”

—

So, yeah, Matt told me about his aspirations right after we met. But my high school boyfriend wanted to be a rapper, and turned out to be an accountant, so I don’t think I can be blamed for not taking it all too seriously.





Chapter 5


When Matt asked if I wanted to go to Alan Chu’s birthday party, my first instinct was to say no. After a month or so of constant socializing with White House people, I felt like I needed a break. Could I really spend another night at a bar listening as Alan told me how many almonds the President had eaten that day?

“I don’t know,” I said. “I might not be up for it.”

“Are you sure?” Matt asked. “It’s just at that bar, Bobby Lew’s on Eighteenth. It’s really close to us. It’ll be fun, I think.”

It was Friday night, and Matt was still in his suit and I was wearing the yoga pants I’d had on all day. (No yoga had been done.) I may as well have been in pajamas. I didn’t especially feel like celebrating Alan, but I could see that Matt wanted me to go and thought it would be good to put on real clothes for at least a little while. So I agreed, telling myself that if the party was really awful I could just have one drink and be home within the hour.

—

Bobby Lew’s was about as divey as you can get and already fairly crowded. Matt and I made our way to the bar to get a couple of beers and then Matt turned around and surveyed the crowd, which was a new habit of his that sort of disturbed me. It looked like he was searching for the most appealing person to talk to, like he was rating everyone.

“I’m glad you came,” Matt said, leaning down to kiss me.

“Me too,” I said.

Alan came over to us then, and I said happy birthday to him, and he gave me a look like I was familiar but he couldn’t quite place me.

“Is Brett here?” I asked.

Alan blinked several times and then said stiffly, “Brett and I are no longer together.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, but really I was happy for Brett. He was free. He’d never again have to listen to Alan talk about the President before they fell asleep at night.

“Let’s get you a birthday drink,” Matt said to Alan, turning to signal the bartender. I squeezed his arm, thankful for the change of subject, and he winked at me, quickly.

—

I heard Ashleigh Dillon before I met her. She was standing in the middle of a group of guys, and her voice carried across the bar as she laughed and said, “Y’all are so bad.” Even if she hadn’t been so loud, I would’ve noticed her because of how she was dressed—in a belted red and white polka-dot dress with a full skirt. Her blond hair was curled and pinned back on the sides and she was wearing bright red lipstick and heels so high it made my feet ache just to look at them. Her whole look was a little old-fashioned, like she was trying to mimic an old-time movie star.

The guy standing next to her was tall with shaggy brown hair that curled at the ends, like he was in need of a haircut. He was wearing a suit like most of the other guys there (they’d all come right from work), but he’d taken off his tie and shoved it in one of his pockets, and it was hanging out in a careless way like it was going to be on the floor pretty soon. I noticed then that although Ashleigh was standing in the middle of the group, everyone was turned toward the guy with the shaggy hair, like they were orbiting around him. Matt saw me looking over at them, and leaned down to whisper to me, “That’s Jimmy Dillon, he works in the White House travel office. He’s from Texas. I’ll introduce you.”

I blushed because I’d been caught staring at Jimmy, who was unquestionably handsome, but Matt didn’t seem to think anything of it. He started over toward them and I followed, and when we got close, I saw Jimmy reach down and lightly pat Ashleigh’s butt with his hand and then squeeze it. It surprised me so much that I said, “Oh!” and the two of them turned to look at us. I blushed again, like I was the one caught groping in public.

“Jimmy, this is my wife, Beth,” Matt said. I had my hand out ready to shake his, when he leaned down to hug me.

“Hey,” he said. He smiled like he’d been waiting to meet me all night, and instead of releasing me from the hug, he shifted me to his side and kept his arm around my shoulder. “Kelly,” he said to Matt. “This pretty young thing can’t really be your wife.” He turned to me. “What are you doing with this guy?”

“Jimmy, good Lord, stop molesting the poor girl.” Ashleigh hit his arm and shook her head. “You’re going to scare her away.”

“I’m Ashleigh, Jimmy’s wife,” she said. And then she leaned forward to hug me too, pushing Jimmy’s arm off my shoulder as she did. When she released me, she stood in front of me and squeezed my forearms. “I’m so happy to finally meet you. I just moved here too. Your hubby told me you were finally here, and I said to myself, She sounds like my kind of girl. I need to meet her now.”

I glanced over at Matt wondering when this conversation had taken place, but he was leaning over and giving Ashleigh a kiss on her cheek. She puckered her lips and gave him an air kiss in return, then smiled at me.