[email protected]
MY GUESTBOOK
Never one to back down from a challenge, Josh straightened his poster and hitched his backpack up a little higher on his shoulder. �That�s why I didn�t do it over the phone,� Josh tossed back.
�Your showing up does have a nice nostalgic symmetry,� I admitted. I had to at least give him that.
�Style points,� Josh nodded.
�If nothing else.�
�Substance, too,� Josh said. �This guy�s the real deal,� he continued, getting to the serious part of the conversation.
Flashes of a similar conversation on a New York street corner assaulted me. �You said that last time,� I pointed out.
�And look how right I was. Tell me you don�t miss it.�
�I don�t miss it,� I said, only half sure that what I was saying was the truth. Something was missing from my life, but I still wasn�t quite sure what it was.
Josh rolled his eyes. Even after so much time living on opposite sides of the country�not to mention the fact that Josh had spent the last year campaigning and not returning any of my attempts at communications�Josh could still read me the same way he could back when we were starting out in the White House. �Liar,� he said.
�Attorney,� I corrected as we headed for a table and sat down across from each other. �Amazing thing, what you did,� I said. I have always been one to give credit where credit was due, and Josh deserved to hear that what he had done was nothing short of a miracle.
�Well that�s the easy part. It�s what you do with it that counts,� Josh said as he crossed his legs. I was, quite honestly, awed by the lack of ego in that statement.
�You know how much I�m making now?�
Josh groaned. �It�s gonna make me want to puke.�
�Not make you want to. You�ll actually puke.�
�So you can afford to come back to Washington and work for a government wage,� Josh said. I�m sure it was a sound argument in his head, but it lacked something when he verbalized it. He wasn�t, however, wrong. It could easily go back to living on a government salary. That didn�t meant I wanted to, though.
�I can afford to do good work right here. You wouldn�t believe what I�ve gotten the firm to do�you should come work with me,� I said, disregarding the fact that Josh had never actually practised law, let alone the fact that I had been the first one to tell him that he wasn�t a real lawyer on more than one occasion. We both knew Josh would never leave politics, that he was destined to follow in Leo�s footsteps, but I wanted Josh to know that he had non-political options that would still allow him to help make the world a better place.