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innocence, made him miss her all the more.
    ‘What does he have you doing? It’s legal, I hope.’
    ‘What? Of course it’s legal. It’s … some architectural stuff, actually.’ Donald leaned forward to grab the finger of gold Scotch left in his tumbler. ‘To be honest, I’d forgotten how much I love the work. I would’ve been a decent architect if I’d stuck with it.’ He took a burning sip and eyed his monitors, which had gone dark to save the screens. He was dying to get back to it. Everything fell away, disappeared, when he lost himself in the drawing.
    ‘Sweetheart, I don’t think designing a new bathroom for the Senator’s office is why the taxpayers sent you to Washington.’
    Donald smiled and finished the drink. He could practically hear his wife grinning on the other end of the line. He set the glass back on his desk and propped up his feet. ‘It’s nothing like that,’ he insisted. ‘It’s plans for that facility they’re putting in outside of Atlanta. Just a minor portion of it, really. But if I don’t get it just right, the whole thing could fall apart.’
    He eyed the open folder on his desk. His wife laughed sleepily.
    ‘Why in the world would they have you doing something like that?’ she asked. ‘If it’s so important, wouldn’t they pay someone who knows what they’re doing?’
    Donald laughed dismissively, however much he agreed. He couldn’t help but feel victim to Washington’s habit for assigning jobs to people who weren’t qualified for them, like campaign contributors who became ambassadors. ‘I’m actually quite good at this,’ he told his wife. ‘I’m starting to think I’m a better architect than a congressman.’
    ‘I’m sure you’re wonderful at it.’ His wife yawned again. ‘But you could’ve stayed home and been an architect. You could work late here .’
    ‘Yeah, I know.’ Donald remembered their discussions on whether or not he should run for office, if it would be worth them being apart. Now he was spending his time away doing the very thing they’d agreed he should give up. ‘I think this is just something they put us through our first year,’ he said. ‘Think of it like your internship. It’ll get better. And besides, I think it’s a good sign he wants me in on this. He sees the Atlanta thing as a family project, something to keep in-house. He actually took notice of some of my work at—’
    ‘ Family project.’
    ‘Well, not literally family, more like—’ This wasn’t how he wanted to tell her. It was a bad start. It was what he got for putting it off, for waiting until he was exhausted and tipsy.
    ‘Is this why you’re working late? Why you’re calling me after ten?’
    ‘Baby, I lost track of the time. I was on my computer.’ He looked to his tumbler, saw that it held the barest of sips, just the golden residue that had slid down the glass after his last pull. ‘This is good news for us. I’ll be coming home more often because of this. I’m sure they’ll need me to check out the job site, work with the foremen—’
    ‘That would be good news. Your dog misses you.’
    Donald smiled. ‘I hope you both do.’
    ‘You know I do.’
    ‘Good.’ He swilled the last drop in the glass and gulped it down. ‘And listen, I know how you’re gonna feel about this, and I swear it’s out of my control, but the Senator’s daughter is working on this project with me. Mick Webb, too. You remember him?’
    Cold silence.
    Then, ‘I remember the Senator’s daughter.’
    Donald cleared his throat. ‘Yeah, well, Mick is doing some of the organizational work, securing land, dealing with contractors. It’s practically his district, after all. And you know neither of us would be where we are today without the Senator stumping for us—’
    ‘What I remember is that you two used to date. And that she used to flirt with you even when I was around.’
    Donald laughed. ‘Are you serious? Anna Thurman? C’mon, honey, that was a lifetime