Never

Pauline was incredulous. ‘In school?’

‘No. For that she would have been expelled instantly. They have a zero-tolerance policy, no exceptions. But it’s not that bad. She did it off the premises and outside school hours, that time she went to Cindy Riley’s birthday party.’

‘But I suppose Ms Judd found out somehow, and she can’t ignore the report, even though Pippa hasn’t actually broken a school rule.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Fuck. Why can’t kids go from cute child straight to responsible adult without the nasty in-between stage?’

‘Some do.’

Gerry probably had, Pauline thought. ‘What does Ms Judd want us to do?’

‘Make Pippa stop smoking weed,’ Gerry said.

‘Okay,’ Pauline said, but she was thinking: how the hell am I going to do that? I can’t even make her pick up her socks off the floor and put them in the laundry hamper.

Milt’s voice said: ‘Pardon me, I left my scarf behind.’

Pauline looked up, startled. She had not heard the door open.

Milton picked up the scarf.

Lizzie looked in and said: ‘Can I get you a cup of coffee, or anything, Mr Green?’

‘No, thanks.’

Lizzie caught sight of Milt and frowned. ‘Mr Vice-President! I did not see you come back.’ It was her job to police visitors to the Oval Office, and she was annoyed that someone had slipped in without her knowledge. ‘Is there anything I can do for you, sir?’

Pauline wondered how much Milt had heard of her conversation with Gerry. Not much, certainly. Anyway, there was nothing she could do about it.

Milt held up the purple scarf by way of explanation and said: ‘I’m sorry to have interrupted, Madam President.’ He left quickly.

Lizzie was embarrassed. ‘I’m so sorry about that, Madam President.’

‘Not your fault, Lizzie,’ said Pauline. ‘We’ll go to the Residence now. Where is Pippa?’

‘In her room, doing her homework.’ The Secret Service always knew where everybody was and they kept Lizzie informed.

Pauline and Gerry left the Oval Office together and took the winding path across the Rose Garden in the evening sunshine. At the Residence they climbed the stairs to the second floor and went to Pippa’s bedroom.

Pauline noticed that the poster of polar bears that had been over the head of her bed had been replaced by a picture of a cute boy with a guitar – probably a big star, though Pauline did not recognize the face.

Pippa was sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, with her laptop open in front of her. She looked up and said: ‘What?’

Pauline sat on a chair. ‘Ms Judd went to see your father this afternoon.’

‘What did old Judders want? To make trouble, I guess, by the looks on your faces.’

‘She says you’ve been smoking weed.’

‘How the fuck would she know a thing like that?’

‘Don’t swear, please. Apparently, it happened at Cindy Riley’s birthday party.’

‘What asshole told her?’

Pauline thought: How can she look so cute and talk so mean?

Gerald said calmly: ‘Pippa, you’re asking the wrong questions. It doesn’t matter how Ms Judd found out.’

‘It’s none of her business what I do outside school.’

‘She doesn’t see it that way, and nor do we.’

Pippa gave a theatrical sigh and closed the lid of her laptop. ‘What do you want me to do?’

Pauline remembered giving birth to Pippa. She had wanted the baby so badly, but it had hurt so much. She still loved her baby with all her heart, and it still hurt.

Gerry answered Pippa’s insolent question. ‘Stop smoking marijuana.’

‘Everybody smokes it, Dad! It’s legal in DC and half the world.’

‘It’s bad for you.’

‘Not as bad as alcohol, and you drink wine.’

Pauline said: ‘I agree. But your school bans it.’

‘They’re stupid.’

‘They’re not, but it would make no difference if they were. They write the rules. If Ms Judd decides you’re a bad influence on other pupils, she has the right to throw you out. And that’s what will happen if you don’t change your ways.’

‘I don’t care.’

Pauline stood up. ‘I guess I don’t, either. You’re getting too old to be told, so I can’t protect you from the consequences of your mistakes much longer.’

Pippa looked scared. The conversation had taken a turn she had not expected. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘If you get thrown out you’ll have to be home-schooled. There’s no point in sending you to another school where you can get in all the same kinds of trouble.’ Pauline had not planned to say this, but now she saw that it was necessary. ‘We’ll hire a tutor, probably two, who will give you lessons right here and take you through your exams. You’ll miss your friends, but that’s too bad. In the evenings you may be allowed out, under supervision, if you behave well and study hard.’

‘That’s so mean!’

‘It’s called tough love.’ She looked at Gerry. ‘I’m done here.’

He said: ‘I’ll spend a few more minutes with Pippa.’

Pauline stared at him for several beats, then walked out of the room.

She went to the Lincoln Bedroom. This was the one she used if she had to come to bed late or get up early and did not want to disturb Gerry’s sleep, which was quite often.

Why did she feel let down? Pippa had been defiant, so Pauline had spoken firmly to her. Yet Gerry had stayed behind, no doubt to soften the impact of Pauline’s reprimand. They were not in accord. Was this new? When they first got together she had been struck by how much they thought alike. But now that she reflected on the past she realized that they had often been at odds over Pippa.

It had started before she was born. Pauline had wanted to give birth in the most natural way possible. Gerry wanted his child to be delivered in a state-of-the-art maternity ward with all the high-tech equipment known to medical science. Pauline had had her way, initially, and Gerry had gone along with all the plans for home birth; but then when the contractions became severe he had called an ambulance, and Pauline had been too distressed to fight her corner. She had felt betrayed, but in the thrill and the challenge of caring for a new baby she had never confronted him about it.

Were they disagreeing more these days? Certainly this tendency to blame her for what went wrong seemed new.

A couple of minutes later he came in, saying: ‘I thought I might find you here.’

She said immediately: ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Comfort Pippa?’

‘Undermine me!’

‘I thought she needed a little tender loving care.’

‘Look. We can be strict or we can be indulgent, but the worst thing is to be divided. Mixed messages will just bewilder her, and a confused child is an unhappy child.’

‘Then we must agree in advance how we plan to deal with her.’

‘We did! You said we had to stop her smoking dope, and I said okay.’

‘That’s not how it was,’ he said with irritation. ‘I told you that Ms Judd wanted her to stop, and you decided to make that happen. I wasn’t consulted.’

‘Did you think we should let her carry on?’

‘I would have liked to discuss it with her, rather than just give her a command.’

‘She’s getting too old to obey us or listen to our advice. All we can do is warn her of consequences. And that’s what I did.’

‘But you scared her.’

‘Good!’

Outside the door a voice said: ‘Dinner is ready, Madam President.’

They walked along the Center Hall to the Dining Room, at the west end of the building next to the kitchen. There was a small round table in the middle and two tall windows looking over the North Lawn with its fountain. Pippa came in a minute later.

As Pauline took her first mouthful of breaded shrimp, her phone rang. It was Sandip Chakraborty. She stood up, stepped away from the table, and turned her back. ‘What is it, Sandip?’

‘James Moore got wind of the postponement of our resolution,’ he said. ‘He’s on CNN now. You might want to take a look. He’s hitting this hard.’