She took a deep breath and forced herself to her pokerface. The question about how they met had been an easy one. She had told how he had joined her group of friends late in their college years and there had been an instant sizzle between them. Andrew had smiled at her from the side and followed it up by saying that even then she was as stunning as she is now. And that he had known from the first moment that he would marry her. That had earned him a funny looking but still serious side elbow from her side. He didn't have to provoke it...
The question about whether their job had changed their marriage, they could answer just as skillfully that no inquiries came. He gave his lecture about how a marriage has its ups and downs, but everything was fine between them and they had emerged stronger from each time. She put her hand on his thigh as she nodded in agreement. On the one hand, she could well do without his yet very detailed answers, on the other hand, she was grateful to him, as he thus shortened the time of open questions and chat questions.
"Thank you very much for this detailed and very private insight into their marriage. We'll get back to you after the commercials. Then with their questions from the chat. So hit the keys and ask what you've always been burning to know about them." Andrew lightly pinched her forearm where he had placed his hand, reminding her to give the camera a friendly smile. Once the reporters had turned to their tablets to seek out the chat questions, Andrew leaned over to her. "See, it's not that bad." "Yeah, not yet." She glanced quickly at her wristwatch. "But it's actually almost fifteen minutes until we make it. And now here come the questions from the chat..." She pulled her head back slightly and looked him in the eye. "Promise me, no matter what, we'll get through this without incident." She sensed he was about to ask if he had anything to worry about when one of the reporters began counting down loudly from five. They both sat back down next to each other on the sofa and fixed their eyes on the reporter in front of them.
This part of the questions also rushed past them without further incident until the reporter lifted sin tablet from his lap and turned the display to them. When she saw what was on the screen, she almost went black. Calm down Elizabeth, everything will be fine. You were visiting a friend. "This picture just reached our newsroom asking why you came out of this house this morning and not out of your house with your husband." Elizabeth felt Andrew tense up beside her. Shit, that's what she was afraid of. What was she going to do now? After all, her hair was fine and there was no other sign that she had done anything moments before this picture was snapped that could cost her her job. She swallowed. And suddenly an idea came to her.
"I've actually already been out of town on official business this morning. I had some calls to make, for example, to discuss the upcoming budget cut." She thanked herself for her good idea with which she should succeed in getting her head out of the noose. "I was actually hoping I could still make it home to start this special day with Andrew, but I got stuck with my old friend Mike." She knew even without looking at him that he wasn't buying her excuse, but was grateful that the reporter seemed satisfied with her answer. She would deal with him later.
Pretty close after that, their interview came to an end and the reporter gave them a chance to say goodbye to the audience once again themselves. Then, after he had moderated off, the extinguishing of the red camera light was a relief. Finally, Elizabeth could take a deep breath. While she thanked the reporters for the nice interview and said goodbye, she relaxed again. When she and Andrew closed the door behind them and looked at him, she saw his anger. Before she could say anything, he had grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her into the nearest available meeting room. "What were you really doing with him?"
Briefly, she considered telling the truth, but then decided it wouldn't make her life any easier. "I have already worked. I spent the night at the hotel and then went to the senators in the morning. I also stopped by Mike's to discuss strategy and he invited me in for coffee." "Only you would think that!" He pushed her head down on the table with one hand and held her there. "Andrew!" Her voice trembled slightly and she hated herself for not even having that under control. "Let go of me!" But he didn't let go of her, his grip only tightening now. She struggled for breath and could only form her words with difficulty. "Stop! I..."
She couldn't breathe and only when she was sure she was already blue in the face did she feel his grip loosen. She wrenched herself free and coughed. "God's sake!" He looked at her with flashing eyes. "Go ahead and say the words. Say it!" She stuck to her strategy and played dumb. "What do you mean?" He looked at her incredulously and she had to swallow again and lower her gaze. It didn't make sense anymore. Nothing made sense anymore. There was no sense in it anymore. She knew it - he knew it. She just wasn't sure if this was the right place and time to talk about it. But fuck if the time and place was right, that had always been her excuse to herself. 'Time and place are not right. Later..., later fits better.' She looked up again and met his gaze. The tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes threatened to flow. 'This poo emotional chaos'.
She had to avert her gaze, she couldn't manage to meet his gaze. "I..., I..." she just couldn't find the words. Didn't know what to say. "I can't do this anymore, Andrew." She took a deep breath, gathered all her courage and looked him in the eye. "I don't want this anymore." As she spoke, she pointed at herself and at him. "I..., I just can't do it anymore." It took all his strength to stay calm, she saw that. Still, she was startled when his thunderous voice echoed through the room. "GO!" Elizabeth winced. "Go and never tread on me again!" It was not going to end so easily. Her inner voice protested loudly and before she had thought about the words, they were out of her mouth. "What?" there was disbelief and contempt in her voice. "You heard me. I never want to see you again!"
As he slowly walked toward her, she backed away toward the door. Carefully, she felt for the door handle with her hand and pushed it down. But before she opened the door, she looked him in the eye once more. "So that's it?" She could have slapped herself for the fact that her voice was so whiny and her disappointment sounded so obvious in it. He didn't answer, but just took another step toward her. "You'll have the papers on the table tomorrow. I'm keeping the farm and the house." She didn't know where her sudden confidence came from, let alone where she got the idea that she was entitled to the things, but she was glad that her voice sounded reasonably firm and authoritative. Without waiting for a response, she turned and left the room. Within seconds she managed to put her poker face back on and push away thoughts about the previous conversation. She knew that the next time she would be alone, they would come back stronger and more violent than she could even imagine now.
Later in the day, as she sat back in her office, reading through Russell's mail with consistently positive feedback on the interview, she felt a bitter laugh rise inside her. Little did they know. Nor had she told Russell Jackson, the president, or her team what had happened afterward. Nor did she feel any urgency to do so. After all, she had to reckon with the fact that she was out of a job. After all, the government couldn't afford any negative attention at all right now. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Secretly, she hoped that she would get another message from him, that it wasn't meant to be, that everything would be fine, and that he would be happy if he didn't have to spend the night alone... Even though she knew that it was probably good if her cell phone didn't ring this evening.
At that moment, her door flew open and Daisy rushed into the room with the tablet of horror. "Ma'am, here are the official news responses to this morning's interview." Elizabeth reached out and waited until Daisy reached her desk and pressed the tablet into her hand. After a quick glance at the display, she sighed and handed the tablet back across the desk. "I was afraid of this." "Afraid of what? This is phenomenal, people love you and Director Munsey." Daisy's puzzled look was too much for her. She stood up and walked past Daisy without a word. As she brushed past Blake's table, she didn't take her eyes off the floor in front of her. Already almost at the elevator, she called out to Blake. "BLAKE? Motorcade!" Her assistant poked her head out a door and answered immediately. "Already done. They have the first phone call tomorrow at 9. The morning meeting is at 10." "Scratch that. I have another appointment tomorrow morning. I'll get back to you as soon as I'm available." That was a hard-core lie.
With a bing, the doors opened in front of her and she made her way into the elevator. As the doors closed behind her, she took a deep breath. She really needed to get out of here. She wanted to forget the world and crawl away somewhere...