Chapter 7

The next morning Priscilla was up before the alarm went off. She took her shower and went into the bedroom to dress. She started to think about what she was taking on, she began to get scared. She forced herself to think about other things and dressed, ran into the kitchen and threw a cup of coffee down and ran downstairs to her car. She arrived at the Senate Office Building a half hour earlier than her usual time and parked her car and hurried up to the office.

When she walked into the office, the first thing she saw was the flowers on her desk. Becky; one of the aids, had the card in her hand.

"Priscilla you got a new job? Where?" she squealed.

Priscilla took the card out of her hands and read it. It was from Bob Parsons congratulating her on her new job.

"The Senator is in his office. He was here before any of us this morning," Becky said in a whisper.

Priscilla walked to Bob's office and opened the door.

"Come on in Priscilla. And close the door."

She walked over to the desk and sat in the chair opposite him, "Thanks for the flowers. They think I'm quitting."

"We'll go out and talk to them in a minute. We have some work to do on the Amendment. It seems some of the news services are having college professors on the air talking about how bad this Amendment would be for the country. Already, a few Senators are thinking about breaking ranks. The President called me at home this morning and asked me to keep everybody in line. This will be a baptism of fire for you. By the time the Amendment is voted on, you'll hate me for promoting you."

He stood up and walked around the desk, "Let's go out and tell people who their new boss is."

The next week was a battlefield. Several times it looked like the Amendment might not pass one or the other house. When it finally came to a vote it passed handily, but not with the overwhelming support that the President wanted.

After the vote, Bob and Priscilla were sitting in his office when the phone rang. The staff had already gone home so Bob picked up the phone himself.

"Bob, President Harmon here. Good job getting the Amendment through. The vote was too close though. It's going to take some real salesmanship on your part to get it through the states. I'd like to talk about it over dinner some Friday night, how about in three weeks? I want it to be at Camp David. It'll just be you and me and the first lady, we can talk without the press clamoring to find out why you were meeting with me. Oh Yeh, bring your new chief of staff. I want to meet her. She seems like a real firebrand. I'll have a limo pick you two up. See you then."

Bob hung up the phone and looked at Priscilla, "Looks like we're invited to Camp David for dinner in about three weeks."

"Me too?"

"Yes, he won't let me come if I don't bring you."

"Why does he want us to come to dinner?"

"He's worried about the close vote on the amendment. That's going to make it much harder to sell to the states. We're going to have a job on our hands getting this ratified."

"I was surprised that the opposition was so strong just before the vote," she said.

"Yes, I'm afraid that several of the Senators and Congressmen committed political suicide today."

"What do you want me to do to get ready to meet the President?"

"We'll need a list of everybody that voted against the Amendment and whether it was because of opposition at home or if they were really against it. I need a list of everybody that spoke against it on TV. I don't want them showing up in the State Assembly when I'm trying to sell this. I need a list of every organization that came out against it. That should keep you busy until the dinner with the President. Now get to work Chief Of Staff."

They both dove into the work of getting the information that Bob would need to speak before the state assemblies. Priscilla often would be at the desk when he was locking up his office and he would have to force her to go home.

On the Friday before the dinner with the President he walked into her office. He saw that everyone else had gone for the day. She smiled at him as he stood in front of her desk.

"How about I take my Chief Of Staff to dinner?"

She smiled, "Only if it's a very nice, expensive place. I'm going to pay you back for making me work so hard. Honestly, I had no idea that this job could be so stressful."

"Usually it isn't. This Amendment has made it stressful. Now are you going to go to dinner with me or not?"

She stood up, "Pick me up at my apartment at eight. Should I dress up or just casual?"

"Real dressy. I want to show everyone that I have the sexiest, most beautiful Chief Of Staff in town."

She rushed home and took a shower and got ready to go out. She put on a black dress that fit her like a glove and came to about four inches above her knees. She had just finished putting on the last of her makeup when the phone rang.

"Are you ready yet?"

"I'll be right down. I hope I'm dressed right."

"Come on down and let me see."

She hung up and grabbed her coat and headed downstairs. As she walked out of her apartment building she looked for his car. A limousine pulled up in front of her and the door opened and Bob got out and took her hand.

What is this?" she asked.

"I figured that I'd make it special."

She got in the limousine and he slid next to her and took her hand. He instructed the driver to take them to a restaurant in Virginia and then closed the security panel. He took her face in his hand and kissed her softly. Her heart jumped and she put her hand on the back of his head and returned his kiss.

When they broke the kiss, she looked into his eyes, "What's this?"

"We have something to talk about. I've suddenly realized what a treasure that I've had working for me the past three years and I'm wondering if there's any chance that you could fall for a broken down Senator that's twelve years older than you?"

"Eleven and a half and I think that I just might let you court me. No promises though and I have to warn you, I'm high maintenance."

"Well, if anybody asks you, you're officially being courted. That doesn't sound right does it, "officially being courted."

"Shut up," she said as she pulled him to her and kissed him again.

She had her head on his shoulder when they pulled up to the restaurant and the driver opened the door for them. The restaurant was one of the finest in the area and the food was reputed to be the best on the East Coast. They were seated right away and when the waiter came to the table to introduce himself and take their order for drinks Bob told him the wine that he wanted. The waiter smiled and told him that that was an excellent choice.

"Are you trying to get me drunk and have your way with me?" she asked in a whisper.