“You’ve met Sam,” Nick said, amused by the ridiculous conversation. “How do you think she’d take the idea of marriage for political expediency?”

“If I were to guess,” Christina said, “I’d say not well.”

“Precisely. So can we please drop this and move on to what we’re here for?”

Clearing her throat, Christina consulted her notes. “You’re set to meet with Senator Martin on the phone at ten to discuss getting O’Connor-Martin back on the floor after the recess. Also, Senator Cook’s office called, and he’d like to have lunch with you today if you’re free.”

“That’s fine,” Nick said, anxious to meet with the senior senator from Virginia, a fellow Democrat, as soon as possible.

“Finally, we have studio time booked this evening so you can record the welcome message they play in the Virginia airports.”

“I remember John doing that years ago,” Nick said, smiling at the memory of John fumbling through about fifty takes to get the one-minute message nailed. The pain of his loss resurfaced with surprising ferocity, reminding Nick of how he had gotten here. He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus. “Anything else?”

“You’ve had a slew of interview requests,” Trevor said, handing him a two-page list of reporters.

“I’ll take a look,” Nick said.

“Trevor, would you give us a minute, please?” Christina asked.

“Sure.” Trevor got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Nick eyed his aide warily. “If you’re going to start in on me about Sam again—”

“No,” she said, twisting her hands in a rare show of nerves. “I was going to ask you if you’d mind or if it would be weird at all or, um…”

Laughing, Nick said, “Spit it out, will you?”

“Sam’s friend, Tommy Gonzales, asked me out. I just wondered if you’d have any problem with that.”

As he tried to decide whether or not he was in the mood to mess with her, Nick sat back in his chair and studied her. “Why would I mind?”

“Two reasons—one, I’m not exactly Sam’s favorite person.”

“She has no beef with you, Chris. Yes, she hassled you during the investigation, but nothing about that was personal.”

“Felt kind of personal to me.”

Since he couldn’t argue with that, he didn’t try. “What’s the second reason?”

“John,” she said softly. “It’s only been a few weeks. It’s too soon for me to be thinking about going out with someone else.”

Nick stood up and came around the desk. “You were a loyal and faithful friend to him. I know you had strong feelings for him, but you weren’t a couple as much as you might’ve wished otherwise. I can’t see how going out on a date would be inappropriate.”