Chapter 6
"Hi, Leo. Did we have an appointment?"
"No, Sir."
"What do you need?" as the President took his glasses off and laid them on his stack of papers.
"Jed, I think…"
Jed's smile quickly went away. Leo never used his first name in the Oval Office. In the five years of the Presidency he had had to force Leo to call him Jed on only rare occasions and after a lot of persuasion. He stood and came around the desk. "What's going on? You don't ever call me Jed, especially in here."
"Jed, with all due respect, I need to say something. We need to talk about your recent behavior. The Senior Staff and some others have come to me and they say you have become very difficult to work with these past few weeks. Recently, I've started to take notice of it myself. Now, you and I both know that when Abbey goes on these long trips, you don't sleep well and sometimes you do get cranky."
"I agree."
"But you're damn good at hiding it from most people. I see it because I've known you for so many years and I think I know your moods. Well, at least most of them."
"Leo, what the hell are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that whatever is going on between you and Abbey is more than lack of sleep. It's personal. And it's affecting your behavior down here. Whatever is between you two, its time its settled." Seeing that the President was trying to speak, Leo gestured for him not to say anything until he was finished. "Now, we can have a chat here, in the Residence, or anywhere you want it. Hell, we can have it on the moon as far as I care. But we are going to have it, and we are going to have it NOW. Do you understand me?"
Jed looked at him in shock. This was not the easygoing Chief of Staff that deferred to whatever the President of the United States wanted him to implement or investigate or pass on to the Senior staff. This was a best friend that was trying to get to the bottom of his best friend's personal business by trying to settle something that even he didn't know the cause of.
"You are NOT our marriage counselor, Leo. Stay out of our personal lives."
"Jed, I have known you and Abbey since you were dating. Someone has to stop this and I'm the logical choice."
"I don't need anyone's help. I can handle my wife myself."
"You're not."
Jed stared at his Chief of Staff. Or at this time, he was in the role of best friend. "Are you going to give me a choice?"
"As much of a choice as I had when you came over to my house that night and threw out all those bottles of alcohol and dragged me out kicking and screaming to an AA meeting."
The two men, lifetime friends, stared at each other for another minute, sizing each other up as to whether the other really meant what he was saying. Finally, knowing just how strong Leo could be when he got his mettle up, Jed shrugged his shoulders. "Okay. Upstairs. Not here. The walls have ears. Let me tell Debbie…"
"I've taken care of it."
The President smiled. "You're awful sure of yourself, aren't you?"
"Ye of little faith…"
"Oh hell. Let's go." Both men walked through the portico door, picked up Jed's constant shadow, and made their way to the President's private study in the Residence.
A few minutes later, Margaret's phone rang. "Margaret, this is Debbie. Leo is in the Residence with the President. Hold all his calls."