“Yes,” she said, flipping her red hair as she turned and walked into the open area overlooking the entry hallway downstairs.
Taylor groaned and took another step.
“Girls?” a voice called from downstairs.
“They’re upstairs Senator,” Taylor called down as he finally got close enough to the top floor to set the box down and slide it forward.
Turning around, he sat on the steps and put a hand to his aching back, as he watched Senator Caldwell walk upstairs towards him. When she lowered herself onto the steps next to him, Taylor had a moment of cultural whiplash. He still had trouble believing that the Republican nominee for President and the front runner, according to the networks, was his friend.
Yet he had no doubt that she was. Not only had she helped him several times since they got to know each other the previous winter, but she had also once again swooped in when he needed her.
“I don’t have much time. I have a fundraiser in an hour, but I wanted to make sure the girls got moved in alright.”
“They’re already plotting everything they’re going to do together. Kara is absolutely ecstatic. I know I’ve said it already, but I really appreciate you putting this together.”
“Nonsense. You know we love Kara, and I wasn’t comfortable with Mary Jane living on her own yet. She seems over her wild-child phase, but I want to be sure. This seemed an obvious solution to both of our problems. Mary Jane gets someone to help her stay on the straight and narrow and Kara gets to go attend one of the best private high schools in D.C.”
“The arrangement does work out, but I meant beyond just paying for Kara to be able to live here. With Whitaker out of the country and jobs from the Bureau stacking up, I was at the end of my rope on how to manage everything. Kara’s worked so hard to get caught up on all the school she missed over the years, and we were still coming up short. I talked to the headmaster yesterday, and he said they’d brought on special tutors for the weekends and developed a personalized curriculum for her to graduate in three years and be ready for college. I was sure there was no way we were going to pull that off, and now I have some hope.”
“John, you can stop thanking me. When Mary Jane told me what was going on, I couldn’t stand idly by and let you three fall apart. You and Loretta need time and space to get your relationship back together and Kara needs special attention to get caught up on her missed education. Like I said, this is the perfect solution.”
“This is just, not how I like to deal with things. I took her in and took responsibility for her. Leaving her to be someone else's problem rubs me the wrong way.”
“You aren’t making her someone else's problem. If I thought you were, I wouldn’t have offered to help. Trust me, when I tell the one skill, anyone, from money, must learn is how to spot the users. You’re not that type. Plus, I know you. You’ll be checking on her all the time. Heck, you’ll probably check on Mary Jane more often than I could if I win this damn thing. Think about it like this, you’ll have to deal with the same thing when she goes to college, it’s just a little early, that’s all. You’re still going to be a great father to her, even if she isn’t under the same roof for part of the year.”
“I hope so.”
“Now, how are things with you and Loretta?”
“Still tense. I talked to her last week when she dropped Kara off and she hasn’t ruled out us getting back together, so, for now, I’m holding out hope. She’s had a tough time with me at the Bureau so much lately. When she got the offer to go to Europe to help out her relative, I think she was glad for the excuse to put some distance between us. We’d been running into each other too much.”
“You two will work it out.”
“I don’t know. I stepped over every line she ever put down when I shot Qasim. Worse, she covered for me. Instead of paying for what I did, which I was willing to do, I ended up slapped on newspapers for stopping a terrorist attack and had the Bureau bend over backward to get me to come work for them. I’d tried to put them off. I knew that the FBI bringing me, of all people, in house would really be rubbing salt into the wounds. The fact that they bent over backward to convince me to take the position, just made it worse. The last time we talked, she said she felt like everything, and everyone she thought was important had betrayed her. I offered to not take the job, but she made it clear that wouldn’t make things better, that the damage was already done. She’s mad at me, she’s mad at her boss, and she’s mad at the Bureau. I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me. I still think I did the right thing putting that monster down, but I think the price might have been too high.”
“She loves you, John, I can still see it. She’ll come around once the anger fades.”
“Well,” Taylor said, standing up and then offering the Senator a hand up. “I still appreciate everything you're doing for us.”
“Damn, look at the time. I have to run. Remember you promised to be at the event tonight. The press still can’t get enough of you.”
“I’ll be there.”
The Senator rushed out as Taylor went back to struggling with boxes.
Hoover Building, Washington D.C.
Taylor was running late when he left the girls' apartment. He made Kara run down every
