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MY GUESTBOOK
My mind wasn�t processing any of what they were saying. �I don�t understand. I don�t understand, is�is it serious?�
�Yes, it�s critical. The bullet collapsed his lung and damaged a major artery,� Toby said. I think I blinked and then the man who I assumed was a doctor started talking again. Other than the dull buzzing of his voice I didn�t actually hear what he was saying, but I was sure that someone in the room, probably Toby, would be able to tell me anything I needed to know if there was anything important.
I sank into a chair as the doctor left the room. CJ started rubbing circles on my back and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam tear a piece of paper out of his notebook. He handed the paper to CJ. A release, my mind filled in. I wanted to throttle Sam in that moment. One night on the campaign trail they told me how long they had known each other. Over twenty years, they told me. I was learning to walk when they met. Best friends for over twenty years� and Sam decided to write a press release. I could barely remember to breathe and Sam was writing press releases.
CJ said something about Leo and Charlie left, probably to get the President some clothes or something, and for the next hour I sat in my chair, shivering, until Sam draped his suit jacket around my shoulders. I pulled it tight, breathing in the comforting scent of Sam�like the ocean after a storm�and managed a slight smile of thanks. Sam draped his arm around my shoulder and I leaned my head on his chest and listened to his heart as we waited for word on Josh.
�I should call his mother,� I said, sitting upright and pulling away from Sam as I realized that Rachel Lyman had probably heard reports of the shooting�she might have even seen footage on MSNBC if they continued filming the President as he worked the rope line�and, knowing the Lyman family�s propensity for dying before they�re supposed to, her mind would go to worst case scenario. I know mine would.
�Leo called her when Josh was taken to surgery,� Sam said in a reassuring tone. �She�s trying to get a flight to DC but��
�The Secret Service and FBI have closed down the airports,� I nodded. Most of the reports I had heard on my way to the hospital had speculated about accomplices on the ground, of further assaults planned, all the usual garbage that I�ve learned to take with a grain of salt since I started working in professional politics. �She should be here,� I said softly.
Sam nodded but there was little that anyone could do, least of all the two of us, and to try and fail would be worse than doing nothing at all in that moment in time, so I put my head back on Sam�s chest and closed my eyes, comforted in my Sam Seaborn cloud of safety.
Mrs. Landingham arrived a few hours later, forcing cookies from her infamous crystal jar on Sam and Me. Toby dragged Sam away and he took his jacket with him leaving me no choice but to pull my own jacket back on as Mrs. Landingham and I sat silently in uncomfortable waiting room chairs for the first possible moment we were allowed to visit the most important men in our lives.