“I do, but . . .”
“But what? No one’s going to bother us. Stop worrying about it.”
Despite what he was saying, I couldn’t help but think that if it were my father out there, he’d be worrying about it.
Evan moved toward me again, and I moved a little farther from him.
He smiled. “Okay, okay. We’ll go slowly. I promise,” he said, holding up his hands.
Just then, we heard his mother calling.
“What?” he shouted back.
“Your father has something to tell you, and he is showing those new pictures of the 9/11 memorial. Maybe your friend wants to see them. They haven’t been released on television yet.”
“Her name is Emmie,” he shouted back.
“Emmie,” she said.
“What’s he got to tell me?”
“I don’t intend to stand here and talk through a door, Evan. Come to the entertainment center,” she said.
“Okay, Mom. We’ll be there in a minute,” Evan called back.
We heard her walking away. I was working on getting my dress zipped up again and quickly fixing my hair.
He smiled at me and kissed me on the neck. “Saved by the bell,” he whispered.
I thought he wasn’t wrong as we left his room to go to the entertainment center.
8
Everyone else was already in the entertainment room. Evan’s father looked up at us when we entered. The way the others looked at us made me feel they knew we weren’t only talking in Evan’s room and that now I had my dress on crooked or something.
“What’s up?” Evan asked.
“You can sit,” his mother said, and we did.
“You know,” his father began, “that there has been some talk about my running for Congress.”
“Yeah, sure,” Evan said, glancing at me.
“Well, I just received a phone call from the nomination committee. They unanimously decided that they want me to run. Part of the reason for this dinner tonight was to wait to hear their decision. Mark is going to be my campaign manager.”
“That’s great, Dad.”
“You know how it is with people running for national office, especially these days,” Evan’s father continued.
“Expensive?”
“Yes,” he said, laughing. “That’s true, but what’s also true is we’re going to be under a magnifying glass held by the press and the opposition.”
“Magnifying glass?”
“What your father is saying,” his mother continued, “is that all of our actions and words take on more meaning now. That includes you.”
“Evan’s never done anything to embarrass you guys, and I’m sure he won’t now,” Mark Vincent said. “But your mother’s right. It’s squeaky-clean time, okay?”