“Caleb’s fiancé?” I stutter. “Wow.”
Wow? I think I should say that again to compliment my proficient use of the English language.
“Yes, Donna,” Caleb boasts. He’s almost smug, in fact. “This is Rebecca, my fiancé.”
“Nice to meet you” was all I could muster at the moment. At least, it’s better than wow.
“Becky, honey,” he emphasizes. Will he stop that? It’s not making me jealous; it’s just
annoying. “This is Donna. You know my friend from college that I helped support?”
What?! This just went from annoying to insulting. Unfortunately, judging from the way ‘Becky’ is
looking at him, I just don’t have the heart to break hers. I’m not the recruiting kind of love
recluse.
“Oh, really,” she replies. She has one of those high-pitched voices. The kind that sounds like
fingernails on a blackboard. The kind that’s making me cringe right now. “Caleb’s told me a lot
about you. It’s unfortunate that you couldn’t pay your way through college. Things like that
happen, you know.”
Yeah, to other people.
I keep on smiling, wishing this time that some other form of miracle happens. I know I failed the
first two times, but I am hoping for the third-time’s-a-charm bit to work here.
“Well, it’s a good thing that Caleb came along. Made me realize a few things about life..and men.”
I glare at the liar. His uncomfortable shift closer to his fiancé indicates that he is aware that he
is nothing but a big, fat..
“Donna! There you are!”
Josh. He actually remembered that I existed despite Joey Lucas’ presence here?
He comes up from behind me and slips his arm around my waist. I’m sure my eyes automatically
grow to the size of saucers. The shocker, however, is his rather non-friendly kiss to my neck.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he softly yet audibly whispers.
Is he on crack?
“Uh, Josh..” I am so confused. My eyes shifts from him to Caleb to Rebecca then back to him.
Did I just die and go to hell?
Then again, Josh wouldn’t be kissing my neck in hell. Maybe unless there’s a punchline to all this..
He gives me that Josh Lyman reassuring smile before he turns to Caleb and Rebecca, feigning
surprise. “Oh, you were talking to somebody.”
The liar.
He extends his hand to Rebecca, who stares in awe of him. What warm-blooded woman wouldn’t?
“Josh Lyman..”
“White House Deputy Chief of Staff,” she finishes for him as she finally grabs his hand gingerly.
Is she flirting with him?
Josh’s smile grows from her recognition. “Yes, and you are?”
“Rebecca Kirkpatrick,” she blushes. Oh, she is flirting with him.
A glare escapes my face, and it almost grows exponentially as I turn to Josh and expect to see a
Lyman in flirting mode. But somehow, I don’t see it. It almost resembled a nice politician Josh.
“Kirkpatrick?”
I could be wrong.
“As in Senator Joseph Kirkpatrick?”
She giggles. I glare again. “Yes, the one and only.”
“Tell your father that I said hello and that I look forward to being with him at The Forum next
Sunday. Can’t wait to hear his jokes,” he laughs. God, either I am that delusional from Josh’s grip
around my waist, or he is flirting.
I pray for delusion any day.
Then one of the aides interrupts us by handing Rebecca a note. “Speaking of the devil,” she
informs us that she has an important call from her dad.
“Tell your father I said hello,” Josh adds in before she leaves. She flashes him an obviously fake
smile, and he returns with one of his own. And I am left with rolling my eyes.
Surprisingly, he must have noticed my frustration, because he gently draws me closer to him and
gently kisses me on the cheek. “Donnatella,” he says before loosening his grip around me. “You
remember Senator Kirkpatrick?”
I am drawing a blank here, Josh. “I don’t think so, Joshua.”
“You remember the Democrat from New York who wouldn’t budge on his stand for the death
penalty,” he smiles at me. Josh smiling for the death penalty? That’s a first.
“Which is something I know he wouldn’t hesitate using on his son-in-law,” he continues as the
smile dissipates into a dark scowl when he turns to Caleb. “Once he finds out what a lying,
manipulative bastard you really are.”
Oh, my.
I turn to Caleb, who returns his scowl with another. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr.
Lyman.”
Josh quickly switches to his evil politician mode. And I, on the other hand, holds on to him tighter,
not only to restrain him, but also to brace myself.
“I think you do, Dr. Freeride, and trust me when I say that this won’t be a “your word against mine”
battle. After all, a simple call from me, and I can have the FBI all over you. And I can guarantee
you that that won’t put you on Daddy Kirkpatrick’s good side.”
Caleb’s scowl disappears, leaving a horrified expression on his face. With a victorious smirk, Josh
reaches out.
I pray that Josh doesn’t hit him, and I’m sure that Caleb does as well from the way he flinches.
Josh laughs as he ends up patting him on the shoulder. “I should thank you, however. Without your
free-riding, money-robbing idiocy, I wouldn’t have Donnatella with me.” He looks at me with a
look I would almost consider longing and he kisses me on the cheek again.
Would he think less of me if I say wow again?
“So Caleb..” Apparently, the man’s not done yet. “Leave us alone, would you? Donna will always
be better off than you and without you.”
Caleb only nods in agreement. I think Josh has reduced him to nodding, because he did the same
thing in bidding us farewell when another aide came to tell him that his wife had to attend some
important matters with Senator Kirkpatrick.
“That was rude,” Josh says as if reading my mind. I turn to him, and I realize once again that we
are still linked by arm around my waist and by his face only a very short distance close to mine.
I owe this man, I also realize, for fulfilling my third wish.