December 2010
Toby already saw her through the thick glass walls of the roomy restaurant, across the snow-filled road, waiting for a signal to legally cross. Her commanding tall frame hid her frazzled mien well from ordinary onlookers. She scanned the grove of grumbling and guffawing yuppies, the soft thud of a paper cup laid on a round oak table, and the noiseless puff of a cigarette, until she found him and both exchanged brief pleasant smiles.
Despite a slight hint of exhaustion, she was still a sight to behold, well, always had been - in the midst of an engrossed crowd in the lecture circuit, sloshed at a hotel rooftop serenading and prancing around a makeshift platform to Estelle's American Boy, hell he'd bet all the money in his pockets even in the situation room among chauvinist sharks with three hours of sleep.
As if the waiter knew his companion was about to arrive, the warm and crusty complimentary bread was served. He uttered his thanks and stood to meet her as she came in, grinning like a little boy finally able to catch his favorite baseball player's attention.
"Hey, you're a sight for sore eyes," CJ greeted kissing him on the cheek.
"And you, look exhausted," Toby gleamed. She sighed as he ushered her to her seat.
"It's the jetlag," she replied flatly.
"Just the jetlag?" he teased. She sardonically rolled her eyes and started looking at the menu in front of her.
"Exhausted mind you, but lovely all the same," he drawls.
"Alright enough with the pleasantries Brzezinski, I'm famished. Which pasta should I pick?"
"I don't know much about the pasta here Clemenza but you should try their beet & goat cheese salad. It's…"
"You're really heavy on the salad now? For real?"
He scoffed and called on the waiter. The young man animatedly cited the gnocchi and linguine as the patrons' go-to's and the recommended wine pairing for both just in case. CJ opted for the former and the salad. Toby added soup, a roasted butternut squash salad, a side of rosemary roasted potatoes he insisted CJ will thank him for later, and they both agreed to share a striped sea bass.
"Just sparkling water for both of us," Toby finished.
"Great. Your order will be ready within twenty minutes," and both thanked the sprightly fellow.
"What?" Toby acerbically asked when CJ kept looking at him funny.
"You didn't want steak?"
"Honestly CJ, for the last four years I undertook the noble endeavor of tasting the entire spectrum of New York Steak cooking imaginable on the known planets".
"Okay."
"Okay."
"So, any tips for my foray into your grandiose turf tomorrow Professor Ziegler?"
His tremendous, hearty laugh, that rare sort which seemed to shave decades of weariness off of his face, startled him a little too. CJ's disarming mirth only ratcheted it up.
They caught up on his holiday plans with Andi and the twins, that Charlie called and told him he and Deana will be at the Moxy on the 29th until the New Year, and of his flight to Sao Paulo on February for a conference to present a paper he co-authored on the effects of domestic political leadership turnover on the early termination of foreign bilateral military alliances.
"I assume Jed Bartlet approved?"
"Exactly like Andi after reading the final draft - marginally enraptured at the beginning, then apoplectic, and after some bickering, liquor, and peaceful slumber, sanity prevailed."
Their food arrived as CJ's phone chimed an unfamiliar hymn. She gracefully snickered at the message she received.
"Danny will meet us in your home turf because apparently, a meeting with the Times's chief editor meant two hours of just ordering lunch."
"Okay, now I can sneak you in an underground poker club I know four blocks from here so you could play to pay for my debts."
They devoured their lunch like the voracious wolves they have ostensibly become.
She reeled off on her exasperation with the Ugandan government curtailing the foundation's progress in the North despite brokering a logical and what Hollis deemed optimal strategy to their proposed infrastructure. The initial resistance of the Ancholi leaders and their people from fear of the LRA's retribution was a grueling negotiation. She mentioned that Charlie also called to check if she'll be staying until the New Year and that he was sorry he will miss her talk. She also recounted her nagging hourly need to check on her daughter despite knowing perfectly well that Thea will be fine with Danny's sister.
She was finishing the last pieces of roasted potatoes when she piped up with, "Have I already told you that you look really well? I mean besides the salad and fish lifestyle, Toby, have you been working out?"
Her extraneous inquiry was answered by his short, sarcastic laugh and a snippy "It was a bet."