probably stay at the apartment with her tonight.
He drove across town and pulled into a parking garage around the corner from the Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington landmark that sat facing the east side of the Treasury building, which was located next to the White House. He snagged a space near the entrance.
Robie was here to keep his eight o’clock drink date with Annie Lambert. He entered the W Hotel and rode the elevator up to the rooftop outdoor bar, which was actually covered. Up here one could enjoy views from the White House all the way up to Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.
It was a weeknight so the tables weren’t full, but there were about twenty people cradling drinks, munching snacks, and ordering off the bar menu. Robie glanced around but did not see Lambert. He checked his watch. He was about two minutes early.
He took a seat at a table next to the railings and gazed out over the cityscape. The buildings here were impressive. Anyone would think so. Well, probably not the people who were doing their best to blow them up. The waiter came over and Robie ordered a ginger ale. He sipped on it and constantly checked the door into the bar. On his fifth rotation he glanced at his watch. Fifteen after. Lambert might turn out to be a no-show. She might have wanted to call him, but he hadn’t given her his number and he didn’t have hers. Maybe late duties at the White House had interrupted her plans.
He was about to get up when she walked in, spotted him, and rushed over.
“I am so sorry,” she said. She draped her coat over the back of the chair and sat down, setting her bag next to her. She had kept on her heels, he noted. Her sneakers were probably in the bag. Her hair was down around her shoulders and proved to be an attractive backdrop for her long neck.
“You fast walked over?”
“How’d you know?” she gasped.
“You wouldn’t ride your bike with heels on, and you’re pretty breathless for a short walk followed by an elevator ride.”
She laughed. “Good deductions. Yeah, I left my bike at work and ran over. I got caught up in something right at five to eight. Had to get it done. And I did.”
“Then that deserves a reward.”
Robie waved the waiter over and Lambert ordered a vodka tonic. The waiter brought it back, along with a bowl of nuts and pretzels, and set it down between them.
Robie bit into a nut and took a swallow of his drink. Lambert sipped her cocktail and snagged a handful of the snack mix and gobbled it down.
“Hungry?”
“No time for lunch today,” she explained. “Or breakfast either, actually.”
“You want to order off the menu?”
She ordered a cheeseburger and fries while he went with some spring rolls.
“My diet is not the healthiest in the world,” she said. “Sort of an occupational hazard.”
Robie settled farther back in his chair and prepared himself to engage in small talk. He had wanted to have a drink with Lambert. But now that he was here with her, it seemed crazy given all that he was confronting right now.
I can’t be normal, no matter how much I want to be.
“I can understand that. You do much traveling in your job?” he said, trying to sound excited to hear her answer.
“No. I’m not officially high enough in the pecking order to ever be considered for a ride on Air Force One or even in any of the secondary planes. But I’m working hard and making a name for myself, and maybe one day, who knows, right?”
“Right. So you enjoy politics?”
“I enjoy policy,” she replied. “I don’t really get into the campaigning or election stuff. Energy is my specialty and I do white papers and briefing documents and I help write speeches for the administration in those areas.”
“So energy is your background?”
“My undergraduate degree is in engineering. I have a Ph. D. in biochemistry with an emphasis on renewable energy resources. And we are running out of the fossil fuel stuff. Not to mention wreaking great harm through climate change.”
Robie grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“Now you sound like a politician.”
She laughed. “I guess the place rubs off on you.”
“I guess it does.”
Their food came and she bit eagerly into her burger and followed that up with several fries awash in ketchup.
Robie put duck sauce on one of his spring rolls and bit into it.
“So what about you?” asked Lambert. “You said investments and that you worked on your own.”
“Actually, right now I’m doing as little as possible.”
“You don’t strike me as that sort. You seem way too intense to just sit around.”
“I don’t just sit around. I’ve traveled quite a bit, done some interesting work, made enough to take some time off, and that’s what I’m doing now. As little as possible. But at some point that will end. You’re right, I am too intense.”
“Sounds nice, though. Just enjoying life.”
“It can be. Or it can be really boring.”
“I wouldn’t mind trying it at some point.”
“I hope you can.”
She said, “How’d you end up in D.C.? Or are you from here?”
“I haven’t met many people who are from D.C. I came from the Midwest. How about you?”
“Connecticut. My parents were from England. I’m actually adopted. Only child.”
“You don’t have an accent.”
“I only lived in England until I was five. Now the only accent I have is a New England one, and not much of that, actually. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No, just me. Wouldn’t have minded some siblings.”
“But kids don’t really have any say in the matter.”
“You sound like you wanted some brothers and sisters too,” said Robie. He glanced over her shoulder after he heard a siren.
She looked at him resignedly. “It feels like we’re just going through the motions, doesn’t it?”
Robie didn’t process this right away. When he finally did he looked at her. “What?” he said.
“Look, I know you said you wanted to get out more, and it was nice to have a drink together. But I’m not sure you’re really here. If you know what I mean.” She bit into a fry and looked down. She continued, “I mean, I’m just a policy geek. I’ll never make much money. I’ll spend my life at a desk writing well-researched papers that no one will ever read. And even if they do they’ll spin them in ways I never intended. You’ve made a lot of money, probably traveled the world. I must seem pretty boring to you.” She nervously picked up another fry but didn’t eat it. She just stared at it like she wasn’t sure what it was.
Robie hunched forward, coming out of his protective shell in more ways than one. He took the fry from her and bit it in half.
“I wanted to have a drink with you. If I didn’t want to I wouldn’t. And if I was going through the motions I apologize. I really do. I don’t find you boring.”
She smiled. “Did you like the fry?”
“Yeah. You want some of my spring roll?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
As they ate from each other’s plates she said, “You probably don’t usually eat fatty foods. I’ve seen you work out, of course. Do you run too?”
“Only when someone is chasing me.”
