Although he shouldn’t have been surprised. Scotty had a way about him that drew people into his orbit. It was a trait he shared with Nick, who’d always made friends easily, despite the hardscrabble, austere upbringing with his grandmother as reluctant guardian. His friends and their families had saved his sanity, and he still kept in touch with most of the guys he’d grown up with in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Trailing behind Scotty at a close but respectable distance were the two agents assigned to his detail. They spotted Nick immediately and nodded to him. The area around the school was a madhouse of buses, minivans, crossing guards, pedestrians and bicycles.

Nick waved to Scotty and delighted in the way the boy’s eyes lit up at the sight of him. Was there anything better than the surprised but thrilled look on his son’s face when he realized Nick was there to get him? Other than Sam, no one had ever loved him as much as Scotty did.

Scotty said a quick goodbye to his friends and rushed over to hug Nick, who loved that Scotty didn’t care if his friends were watching. Nick supposed that would matter greatly in a year or two, but for now, Nick was a happy recipient of the spontaneous affection.

“This is a surprise,” Scotty said.

“I thought you might be up for an afternoon on the Hill.”

“That’ll be cool.” He’d been to work with Nick before so he could see his office and meet the staff. “What’s the occasion?”

“We’ll talk about it when we get to the office.” Before Scotty could question what they had to talk about, Nick said, “Did you have a good day?”

“Boring. As usual.” He said the same thing every day, and by now it had become a joke between them.

“Come on,” Nick said, giving him a nudge, as he helped Scotty into the back of the SUV. Scotty’s detail would follow behind them in a second SUV. Nick longed for the days of driving himself around the city and hoped the need for protection would end as soon as the election was over. “I’m sure something interesting happened.”

“I did hear a word I’d never heard before.”

“In which class?”

“Lunch,” Scotty said, grinning at him. “Best class of the day.”

Laughing, Nick followed him into the vehicle. Scotty’s backpack landed with a loud thunk on the floor.

“So what’s this word you learned?”

“Blow job. What does that mean?”

Nick nearly fell out of the car in shock. “Who the heck said that?”