It was a busy week. Kamala traversed the country, giving speech after speech while Doug was in Israel calling out anti-semitism, raising the issue to the international status the situation deserved.
Jill was tapping her pen mindlessly on her desk. It was Wednesday, mid-morning, and she was wondering how Joe was getting on. He'd been away since early yesterday, first making a stop and delivering a speech in Utah then, today he was moving on to Colorado. They'd spoken already this morning. He'd rung her early to say good morning, to check in.
He was excited.
She could hear it in his voice as he ran through the programme for the day. She looked at her watch. He'd be opening the National Park soon, the first of his presidency. He told her he'd heard he might get some swag, a ball cap and jacket with the logo. She grinned now, he was so easily pleased.
Tomorrow he'd be visiting one of the locations of the forgotten properties on the DOJ list. He was convening a working group to kick start the whole rejuvenation project. It had come together quickly and it made sense that he'd go while he was nearby but she'd come to think of the houses as their project, one that they'd progress together and as she sat in her office now she felt a little disappointed that she couldn't be there with him.
She looked at the pile of work on her desk, a combination of school and first lady tasks.
She sighed. She'd better just get on with it and stop daydreaming, she figured. She reached for her phone, wrote a quick text to Joe congratulating him on the National Park and told him she wanted a picture of the gear he'd get. She smiled and put the phone aside. It was time to focus on her work.
Except, try as she might, she couldn't. Couldn't get her mind to focus on the pile that seemed to never decrease.
She realized Anthony was talking to her. 'Huh?' she said, looking up, his voice starting her out of her daydream.
'Are you ok, boss? Is there anything I can do for you?' he asked again, for the second time in as many minutes. 'You're miles away today'.
Jill looked at him, her chin propped on the palm of her hand. 'Is it that obvious?' she asked with a small laugh.
'Well, I'm not sure what 'it' is but I know you well enough to know that you're distracted', he told her.
She studied him for a moment. Mulled something over in her head. Something that she had been thinking about for a couple of days now. 'Do me a favor?' she asked.
He carried over a chair and sat on the opposite side of her desk, pulled a notebook from his pocket. 'Shoot', he said.
He listened carefully and wrote down every detail of her rather strange request. Checked back to make sure he got everything right. Closed his notebook when she agreed he had everything correct.
She looked expectantly at him.
He looked back, a little confused, glanced left and right to see if he could get a clue as to what he was missing because there was obviously something.
Across the desk Jill opened her eyes wide; her expression spoke for her.
Suddenly he realized he was to make this a priority. 'Oh! You want this done now?' he asked.
She nodded, a huge grin spread across her face. 'Yes please', she said.
He stood, 'right, well, um, then I'll get right on this', he said. 'I'll let you know when I'm back'.
She grinned. 'Thanks. Take whatever you need, get whatever help you need but it has to be done as soon as humanly possible, ok?'
He shook his head, wondering how fast it was actually possible to do this. His boss sure knew her own mind and this task was obviously her top priority right now. Another question popped into his head. 'Ah, what about the planning meeting for the Africa trip?' he asked.
