Page 19 (1/2)
prologue
He’d iames, to watch his favorite movies with, to teach to drive stick A son ould slay the Jabberith hiht the side his old acy, the faacy An heir
Standing with his baby girl in his ar in the crook of his elbow, he felt the need to say he was sorry To apologize for i her a boy Because from the moment she was born, the moment he first saw her, it was as if a seed had been planted in his heart It quickly rooted there, and now, three days later, he felt it growing, filling him with pride and love and determination
“Nina,” he whispered to the fragile baby in his ar I will raise you to be powerful I will raise you to be fearless”
His daughter stared at him, her eyes blue like his, her cheeks round and pink “And I will protect you,” he said “Until the day I die That’s e to you”
The baby reached her hand toward hiers
The pact was sealed The deal was ory would spend the rest of his life trying to keep that promise
1
Soot lost in the elasticity of tiular focus, time seemed to stretch, like a rubber band pulled taut, until—snap!—the sound of a cleared throat or a car horn would ain
She was lost there now, putting the finishing touches on the speech her boss, Rafael, was going to give at tonight’s cae roommate, Leslie, would have said if she were there
Then, just as Nina got to the last sentence, her phone buzzed, bringing her back to the present It was Tim
On a call that’s running over Probably be about 20 ht Sorry!
No worries, she typed back I’ll be there
Can’t wait to see you quickly appeared on her screen
Nina smiled Same, she wrote
Tim’s ansas a smiley face and a thumbs-up emoji
When Ti conference calls with the start-ups he worked for, he would scroll through e his day in cartoon i them reminded her of the rebus puzzles the two of theether as kids, when they shared the backseat of her father’s car, before they knew their futures would twine around each other
As she was responding to Tin’s co favor,” she said, twisting her ht’s event on your own? Mac and I need more time to hammer out the details of Rafael’s position on charter schools before I prep him for that New York One interview”
Nina didn’t usually staff events Most speechwriters didn’t But she happened to be going to this fund-raiser because her closest friend fro it because Nina had asked her to, though she’d n knew that
“No proble her attention to Jane “I’m sure I can handle it Just tell me what I need to know”
As Nina hit print and e-ave her a crash course “Mia’s running advance for the event, so you don’t have to worry about the logistics All you have to do is introduce Rafael to donors with inforuest list along with their photos and e know about thee without the list anyway”
Nina nodded
“Make sure he always has a drink in his hand—a weak one,” Jane continued “He likes vodka soda with a twist of liers “And make sure no one s set up—so you don’t have to worry about that either She can help if you need anything”
Nina nodded again “Got it,” she said
“I pro herself off Nina’s desk
“Don’t worry,” Nina said, gathering her bag and her blazer “We’ll be fine”
She grabbed the speech and walked into the hallway Rafael aiting right outside the elevator bank, his tie perfectly straight, his gray suit jacket folded neatly over his arm