Jake skipped the victory party. He checked out of the Stanford Court and drove his rented Mercedes down toward Fresno. It was nearly two a.m. but he didn’t feel the least bit drowsy. Too wired.
Frank’s won the California primary! he kept repeating to himself. He’s actually got a real chance to get the party’s nomination this summer.
Clicking on the car’s radio as he raced eastward on Interstate 205, Jake listened to Senator Sebastian’s concession speech: short, dignified, ending with a pledge to “carry this fight right into the convention, if we have to.”
“You won’t be the only one, pal,” Jake said aloud to the senator from the solitude of the rented car.
He made the turn at the intersection of Interstate 99 and headed south toward Fresno. Won’t be there until damned near dawn, he realized. So what? Tami’s there, visiting her folks. That’s where I want to be, too.
The car’s GPS guided him to the Umetzu residence with softly spoken instructions. Jake made one wrong turn, and the woman’s “Recalculating” sounded mildly reproving to him.
At last he glided to a stop next to the three-story clapboard house. A street lamp on the curb about twenty yards away brightened the area enough for Jake to read the house’s number, and his faithful GPS guide announced, “You have arrived at your destination.”
The place looked quiet, closed up for the night. Not a light showing. Suddenly the long night caught up with Jake: he felt dead tired. Yawning as he shut down the car’s engine, he cranked his seat back, closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.
* * *
“Jake! Are you all right?”
His eyes flashed open and Jake saw Tami—with two of her younger brothers beside her—peering anxiously through his driver’s-side window.
Breaking into a sheepish grin, he saw that it was full daylight on the suburban street, and Tami’s father was coming down the porch steps toward his car.
“Hi,” he said, as he opened the door. Stepping outside the car, he wrapped an arm around Tami and bussed her, then explained, “I figured you’d all be asleep so I came without calling.”
Tami broke into a delighted laugh. “You could have called! We didn’t go to bed until we heard Sebastian’s concession speech.”
Mr. Umetzu extended his hand to Jake. “It’s good to see you again. Your man did all right for himself last night.”
With a laugh, Jake agreed, “He sure did.”
Pointing to the crowded driveway running alongside the house, Mr. Umetzu said to the elder of his two sons, “Move a couple of the cars so Jake can park on the driveway.”
“Okay, Dad.”
Within a few minutes Jake’s Mercedes was on the driveway and the five of them were climbing the porch stairs, heading for the front door, where Mrs. Umetzu stood waiting with a beaming smile. She was a formidable-looking woman: white hair pulled back in a bun, thick body, heavy arms and legs. Twice the size of her slimly elegant husband.
“You’re just in time for breakfast,” she said cheerily. “How do you like your eggs?”
“Any old way,” Jake said, one arm still around Tami’s waist.
* * *
Breakfast was cheery, with Tami’s brothers asking Jake about the Tomlinson campaign, her father sitting at the head of the table smiling approvingly, and her mother shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room table, carrying trays of steaming food.
Only one of Tami’s sisters was at home, the other lived in San Francisco with her husband, an advisor with a major wealth management firm.
The talk around the table was all about the election and Senator Tomlinson’s chances to capture the Republican nomination. Tami said, “If Tomlinson does win, it’ll be Jake’s space plan that wins it for him.”
Jake put down the coffee cup that he’d been sipping from. “And Frank’s foreign policy ideas, and his economic program, and his stand on terrorism…”
Tami’s eyes widened slightly at that last statement. She’s thinking of Billy Trueblood, Jake realized, counting himself an insensitive fool for mentioning the subject.
Recovering before anyone else around the table could notice, Tami shook her head stubbornly. “It’s your space plan, Jake. It gives the people hope for the future. It gives us something to work toward, to aim for.”
“Developing the new frontier,” said the younger of her brothers. “That’s something to shoot for.”
Mr. Umetzu smiled at his son. “So are you going to become an astronaut?”
“I might,” the lad said. “I’m taking a special course on lunar construction techniques next fall.”
“You’re gonna be a lunatic?” his older brother teased.
Mr. Umetzu glanced at his wristwatch. “The two of you will be late for school if you don’t get moving.”
Both boys scrambled out of their chairs and pounded up the staircase to their room.
Tami’s sister and mother began clearing the table. As Tami got up to help them, her father said, “Let’s go into the living room and let the ladies take care of the dishes.”
Surprised, Tami started to object. “I can help…”
Crooking a finger at his daughter, Umetzu said, “I want to talk to the two of you.”
Jake followed his wife and father-in-law into the spacious, meticulously decorated living room. Umetzu gestured to the sofa beneath a breathtaking photograph of the Grand Canyon he himself had taken years earlier, then pulled up one of the armchairs to face Jake and Tami.
Without preamble, the older man said, “It seems to me that you two have a big decision to make.”
Jake glanced at Tami, who looked suddenly concerned, as if she expected her father to lecture them both severely. She looked like a sheepish little kid who’d been caught sneaking cookies.
Trying to keep his voice even, nonconfrontational, Jake replied merely, “Yes, we do.”
“I know you may think your decision is none of my business,” Umetzu said softly, “but as head of the family I feel I have some responsibility here.”
“I understand,” Jake said.
“My children are very dear to me.”
“Your daughter is very dear to me.”
Umetzu smiled gently and nodded his approval. But then he continued, “My daughter has been offered a very good position here in Fresno,” Umetzu said, his face a noncommittal mask.
“And I’m an advisor to a man who might become president of the United States.”
“Which means you would be separated by nearly three thousand miles. That’s not good for your marriage.”
“No, it wouldn’t be,” Jake agreed.
In a very small voice Tami said, “Unless you decide to stay in Fresno.” Then she added, hopefully, “Or maybe in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, someplace nearby.”
Jake wanted to counter, Or you could stay with me in DC while I help the new president start up our space plan.
But he remained silent, frozen, staring not at Tami but at her father.
Umetzu sighed. “Where is Scotty with his transporter beam when you really need him?”
No one laughed.
Tami said, “This anchor position is the chance of a lifetime for me.”
“Maybe Frank or Kevin or somebody could get you a slot in the DC area,” Jake said. It sounded pretty desperate, even to himself.
“Too much competition there,” Tami replied. “Everybody wants to be on Washington TV. I need to prove myself, work my way up. Fresno is where I can get a start.”
Umetzu raised both his hands. “In my day, a wife followed her husband’s career, wherever it led.”
Tami started to object, “But—”
“But it’s no longer my day, I know that,” Umetzu went on. “You have your career to think about.”
Tami’s eyes started to fill with tears. “I had a good career in DC until Senator Santino wrecked it.”
Jake remembered. The Little Saint had gotten Tami fired from her position as a reporter on the local Reuters news bureau because of an environmental story she had broken, and effectively blackballed her in the entire region. Santino had been a ruthlessly powerful figure in the US Senate in those days. Now he was in a nursing home but Tami was still persona non grata in Washington.
“So what are you planning to do?” Umetzu asked. “Both of you.”
Jake heard himself reply, “If Senator Tomlinson doesn’t win the Republican nomination, I’ll quit his staff and come out here.”
“You will?” Tami blurted.
Nodding solemnly, Jake said, “I will.”
She threw her arms around him and they kissed.
Umetzu waited until they broke up their embrace, then asked, “And what if your senator wins the nomination?”
Shrugging, Jake admitted, “I don’t know. That would change things, wouldn’t it?”
“Considerably. And what if he is elected president? Could you leave then?”
Jake was silent for several long moments. Then, staring at Tami, he said, “That would change things even more. That would change things a lot.”