“Close the door, will you?” The minute she was alone, Sam popped a couple of pills, hoping to put a stop to her headache before it blew up into a migraine. She washed the pills down with an old bottle of water that sat on her desk and then reached for her cell phone to call Nick.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?”

“Are you getting ready for your big meeting?”

“All showered and shaved and about to suit up.”

“Wear the dark gray suit with the cranberry tie. I like that one. You’ll look very vice presidential in it.”

“I like how you can joke about this when I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

“I don’t want to add to your stress or anything, but because I’m far more evolved in the marital sharing department than you are, I need to tell you I got shot at earlier. She missed by a mile, but I was the intended target.”

His deep exhale was the only sound Sam heard on the other end of the line for a long, long moment. “Who shot at you?”

“Brooke’s BFF, Hoda.”

“What the hell is a teenage girl doing shooting at a cop?”

“That’s a very good question and one I fully intend to ask her as soon as we’ve broken her spirit a bit with processing, fingerprinting, strip-searching and other fun cop stuff.”

“Here I am just going about my day, and you could’ve been killed.”

“I was nowhere even close to being killed. She’s a bad shot.”

“Good thing she isn’t a lucky shot.”

“I didn’t want you to hear it through the grapevine the way I heard about the VP thing.”

“Your not-so-subtle digs are not so subtle.”

That made her laugh. “I’m just pointing out how much better I am at the sharing stuff than you are lately.”

“I gotcha, babe. Your point has been made over and over and over again.”

“I’m just getting started. Call me the second you leave the White House.”

“I will. Scotty is with Abby and Ethan at Angela’s for dinner. When Spencer gets home, she’s going to run to Tracy’s to get more clothes for Abby and Ethan so they can stay there tonight. I’ll pick up Scotty after my meeting.”

“Thank you so much for helping out with the kids today. I know Tracy and Mike appreciate it, and so do I. In fact, when I get home, I’ll show you how much I appreciate it.”

“I think we need some loft time tonight.”

“It’s a date, Senator. Or should I call you Mr. Vice President?”

“Stop it,” he said with a groan.

“I love you, and I’m so proud of you. To be wanted by the president to be his vice president is pretty damned cool no matter how it turns out.”

“If you say so.”