Pamela smiled, waved Mia’s words away. “No, I think you’re courageous, actually. You take on some topics most people avoid, topics that reflect how polarized the country’s become, and you offer compromises you obviously know won’t please either side. That’s brave.”

“Believe it or not,” Mia said, sipping her sinfully rich coffee, “there are many more people in the center than you might think. It’s only they never say much, and that’s a pity. I try to give them a forum where they can be comfortable saying what they think. It’s a pity more centrists don’t take part; it’s usually those to the far left or the far right to chime in with their opinions they believe are solid gold.”

“Alex agrees with you about that,” Pam said smoothly, an excellent segue. Again, Mia was impressed.

“He wants to remind New Yorkers they have common goals—the city’s welfare, its education and job opportunities, and finding the golden compromise between public safety and personal freedom.”

Mia nodded, pretended to type silently on her iPad.

Canned, but Pam spoke fluently. “Tell me, Ms. Barrett, how did you and Alex meet?”

“Please, call me Pamela, and I’ll call you Mia, is that all right?”

“Certainly.”

“How we met—now there’s a story. I was six years old, Alex was eight, I think, and we both wanted to play quarterback on the same team in a neighborhood pickup football game. I recall he picked me up and threw me like a football at his friend Kent, who dropped me. I sprained my wrist. Things didn’t improve between us for a very long time.” She laughed.

“That’s a good one. Readers will like that story. It shows, too, that Kent and Alex have been friends since childhood. They’re still close. I assume you forgave his throwing you when you were six?”

“Yes, I did, but not until we were teenagers. I even forgave Kent for dropping me. He’s smart, fun, and a better gamer than Alex, although Alex hates to admit it, claims before he got out of practice because he has to work so hard, he could beat Kent with only one good eye.” She grinned, shook her head. “As you know, they went to school together from Bennington Prep through Harvard. I respect what Kent’s doing, expanding his family’s legacy. He’s as committed as Alex to what he does. As I’m sure you’ve seen for yourself, Alex is an outstanding leader, always thoughtful in his decisions, always praises his staff for a job well done, freely gives credit when it’s due. His people are loyal to him for that, they respect him.”

“I suppose your families vacationed together? Perhaps at the Harrington cottage on Nantucket?”