Or, rather, it was Manny, but it was also Steph. The president of the United States. She was leaning over the insectarium with Julie, staring at the spiders.
At the sound of Melanie’s voice, everybody in the room turned. And there were a lot of people in the lab besides her and Julie and Manny and Steph: Bark and Patrick, fussing over the computer and recording equipment, nearly a dozen Secret Service agents, and Billy Cannon, the secretary of defense.
“Madam President,” Melanie said. She started to put out her hand and then nodded her head before turning it into a sort of half bow. It was embarrassing. She stood up straight and looked around the room. “Traveling sort of heavy today?”
The president waved her hand at the suited men. “Comes with the territory. It’s hard to casually pop in anywhere.” She stepped over and gave Melanie a hug.
Melanie hugged her back, reluctantly. She was never really sure how to feel about the president. She knew how she felt about Steph, but Steph, as the president, was a different matter. She’d known Steph for as long as she’d known Manny. Close to eighteen years now. She’d known Steph when she was still just Steph, before it was Governor Pilgrim or Senator Pilgrim, let alone President Pilgrim. Melanie had been one of the bridesmaids at Steph’s wedding to George Hitchens, and one of the few people to really see what it was like behind the scenes during Steph’s run for president. And she also knew that, since she and Manny had gotten divorced, her ex-husband and the president of the United States were fucking a couple of times a week.
She didn’t begrudge it exactly. It was kind of hard to be pissed off at Manny for having a casual thing with Steph when Melanie was sleeping with Bark. At least Steph was the president and not a goddamned graduate student. The truth was they were divorced, and if Manny was going to be sleeping with anybody, Steph was probably the best bet as far as Melanie was concerned. It’s not that she was still in love with Manny, but rather that there was a part of her that thought they might get back together. Someday. When they were older. Okay. Maybe she was still in love with Manny a little bit. They hadn’t gotten divorced because they hated spending time with each other, but because Melanie hadn’t loved Manny more than she did her work. At least if he was having an affair with Steph, Melanie knew that meant he might still be available to her. If she wanted. She wasn’t sure what she wanted. Seeing Manny standing there, next to Bark, should have made it easy: Bark, tall and solid and muscular, looking even better with three days’ stubble and his T-shirt wrinkled from camping out in the lab with her and Julie and Patrick; Manny, sporting ten more pounds than the last time she’d seen him, wearing a suit that was indistinguishable from every other suit he wore. Physically, there was no comparison. But just looking at Bark annoyed her, while seeing Manny, even though she wasn’t happy to have him and half the White House intruding on her lab, brought a smile to her face.
She stepped out of the president’s arms. “Good to see you. It’s been a while.”
Steph cocked her head at Manny, who offered a sheepish smile. “You know how it is,” Steph said. “You don’t mean to pick sides, but that’s always how it works.”
“I’m sorry,” Manny said. He stepped forward and took her hand. He hesitated and then leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. He had to get on his toes. Very quietly, so quietly that she almost missed it, he whispered in her ear, “You smell good.”
Melanie touched her wet hair. She could feel herself blushing a little, and she took a quick glance at Bark. The oaf had a small sulk starting on his face. Ugh. Tonight. Tonight, she promised herself, no matter what else was going on, it was over. She’d meant to drop his ass the day before, but they’d spent the entire day working with the spiders, and there had never been a good time to bring him into her office and tell him she was done with it.
“Sorry to barge in,” Manny said. “We need to talk.”
“About what?”
Manny looked around. “Can we clear the students out? It’s important, Melanie.”
There was a part of Melanie that wanted to say no. It was that same impulse that had torpedoed their marriage: there was just too much to do in the lab, too many things to study. It was hard to do to his face, always had been, and it was impossible to kick him out while the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, and a gaggle of Secret Service agents were wandering around the lab. It didn’t take somebody with a PhD to figure out this was something serious. So she found her purse, dug some cash out and handed it to Julie, telling her to take Bark and Patrick to Tara Thai on Massachusetts and get them some lunch.
As her students left the lab, Manny hustled the Secret Service guys out as well. He shut the door and attempted to smile at her. It was weak. “Sorry,” he said. “I tried calling but you didn’t answer your phone.”