Seven - In the Air

"So when is your last day?" Tom asked Will, sitting in a chair across Will's desk.

"I've still got another month." Will replied.

Tom grunted and looked out Will's windown. He would miss these conversations. He vowed to himself to not let distance get in the way of his friendship with Will.

"How's that lawyer from Oversight?" Will asked.

"Ok, I guess," Tom responded, "we haven't had a chance to actually go out yet. We've talked a few times on the phone and grabbed a quick lunch one day, but things have been busy. You know."

Will seemed distracted; he wasn't giving Tom the usual ration of shit.

"What's up with you?" Tom asked.

"I don't know, just the whole wedding thing, I guess..." Will responded. "I don't know how much more 'flower discussions' and 'cake discussions' and 'dress discussions' I can take. I don't think I'm cut out for this shit."

"Yeah, but you knew that when you got into this. Is it really a shock that you'd hate it?"

Will turned and looked out his window, which looked over the inner courtyard for the office building. He hesitated for a long moment.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" he asked, without looking at Tom.

Tom was a little taken aback. Will had never really asked him for advice before. Will was always the confident one, sure of himself and his decisions. It was Tom that usually needed the advice.

"I don't know that I can really answer that," Tom started, "only you can know how you feel about her. I mean, do you love her?"

"Yeah, of course." Will answered quickly, but without conviction.

"You better be sure about that," Tom said, "because marriage isn't something to fuck around with. Enough people get married and find out later that they don't love their wife, if you aren't sure beforehand, you better think this through some more."

"I am sure," Will said, with a little more confidence, "I know. I'm just getting burned out from all this wedding planning bullshit." He paused a second and then said "So, I think you need to have a real date with that lawyer chick. You are going to need a date for the wedding, after all."

Tom knew that the abrupt subject change meant that Will was done talking about his issues and probably regretted having brought it up in the first place.

"Yeah," Tom started, "I need to find some time..."

"No time like the present," Will interrupted, "Doug is in Denver for the next two days - take off at five today and I'll cover for you."

"We'll see," Tom said, getting up, "maybe I'll give her a call this afternoon."

*****
Tom tried to work on his project reports for the rest of the morning, but was having trouble concentrating. The truth was that he had thought about Andrea a lot over the last few weeks. He liked her a lot, but he was wary about starting a relationship that could be seen as being used for political gain. On impulse he dialed her number.

"Senator McCallum's office," a voice answered.

"Yes, this is Tom Shields, may I speak with Andrea Martinez, please?"

"One moment."

There was a beep and then Tom heard the cheesy jazz music that is ubiquitous when you are put on hold with a federal office. Thirty seconds passed and Tom considered chickening out, but he had already given his name, so he couldn't hang up now. Finally, the music stopped and his heart skipped a beat. He felt an odd surge of adrenaline at the thought of speaking with Andrea again and then, the music loop started over. Another thirty seconds passed and then, with no warning the music stopped and Andrea was on the line.

"Hello, this is Andrea."

"Hey, uh, it's Tom... Shields. How's it going?"

"Good. What's been happening with you?"

"Typical stuff. Listen, are you available for lunch today?"

"Uh," Andrea paused, looking at her calendar, "let me see. I think I could do that."

"Cool. You want to meet at Z's at 11:30?"

"You mean, fifteen minutes from now?" Andrea laughed.

Tom looked at his clock, he hadn't realized it was already so late.

"Yeah, uh, I guess so, uh, I didn't realize..."

"No worries," Andrea said, "I'll leave now and see you in a bit."

"Ok, bye," Tom said.

*****
The restaurant was an Italian restaurant by night that doubled as an Italian deli for lunch, serving sandwiches and salads for the lunch crowd. Tom ordered a meatball sub and Andrea had a chicken Caesar salad.

"So," Tom started, "the reason I asked you to lunch is so that we could talk about something."

"Oh," Andrea said, teasing him, "so this lunch is more than just a pleasant mid-day diversion from work. There's an actual agenda. Sounds serious."

"Well, it isn't really," Tom said laughing "I just have concerns about seeing you socially."

Andrea laughed openly.

"You are a sweetheart," she said, "What are your concerns?"

"Well, my office and the Oversight Committee don't always have the rosiest of relationships. Some might think I'm trying to use you." Tom paused, hesitated, then said, quieter, "some from my office might want me to."

"I see," Andrea said, serious, "and why tell me this?"

Tom swallowed hard. It was the moment of truth time.

"Because I like you and I want all the cards to be on the table from the outset so that you know you can trust me."

It came out all at once with no pauses between the words or phrases, as though Tom had to get the words out before he choked on them.

Andrea looked at him for a moment without saying anything. Then she took a final bite of her salad, wiped the corner of her mouth and stood up. Tom thought he had completely misjudged things and that she was leaving. Instead, she slid into his side of the booth next to him.

"I don't care about any of that. I don't care what people think. I can take care of myself and wouldn't allow myself to get used," she said.  Then leaning closer to him she said "and you really are very sweet."

Then she kissed him. It wasn't the typical first kiss, awkward and unfamiliar, it was comfortable and reassuring. Tom's nervousness melted away and he got the feeling that this was going to be ok.

They parted ways with plans to see each other again that night. For the first time in months, Tom felt like things were going right for him. In his excitement, however, he failed to notice that Stacy had been sitting at the counter, eating her lunch and watching Tom and Andrea the whole time.