Chapter 10

For three weeks I wallowed in my grief, slept poorly – if at all – took a holiday from showering, and shaving. I ignored my appearance and my physical condition. On the twenty-second morning, I made the deliberate decision to man up and start to live again. The dreams left me in peace during those nights, allowing me to dream of Karen, Maeve, Zachary, and better days.

My first obligation was to deal with Zachary’s stock.

It was a no-brainer to leave the management of the company stock in Jonathan Ortegas’ hands. Jonathan was Zachary’s go-to man for all things related to business development. He often spoke of his brilliance when discussing business in my presence. It was easy to sign over continued proxy for the vast stock holdings of the trust.

As things stood, the stock was earning millions and millions per month. I was under pressure from the lawyers to designate inheritors. The only problem with that was, I had no one to leave anything to. My original will left everything in trust for Karen until her twenty-first birthday.

With her gone the well was empty.

To cover any danger to the company should I die unexpectedly, I appointed Jonathan to manage the trust in the event of my death, or should I become unable to function. We drew up a very specific agreement of responsibilities should he have to take control. Without any change, the trust would continue into perpetuity, with the income going to a long list of charitable organizations.

With nothing to do, no one to come to, and nothing going on, I had to get out of town. I spent all those months getting over having Karen taken away by Maeve. The scabs were ripped off when she died. Staying meant living as a broken, empty shell.

I had to go.

There was one small problem with that plan.

I had nowhere to go.

The dream took care of that.

It was the first night after my self-imposed mourning period that a huge chunk of my other lives came to me in a dream. As events, people, and places cascaded across my unconscious mind, a catalog of sorts began to take shape. My brain organized people into categories. Love, work, and play.

On the third night after shaking off my grief, I discovered that I used to be the President of the United States.