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"Not the same way"

"That’s unfortunate, because they are just as willing to give up their lives for you They love you, Joe More than you know and certainly ged, not sure what to say

"The good news is they’re not going to give up," she told hiured that out already Brenna and Mia are easy, but I don’t knohat to do with the rest of the"

He shrugged "It’s just food"

"Not to her My next goal is for you to start calling people by their actual names"

He didn’t like the sound of that "What are you talking about?"

"You avoidanyone by name Probably because you don’t want to call Colleen and Marco Mom and Dad, whichthem Grammy M and Grandma Tessa It’s who they are The fact that they’re related to you is beside the point"

He rowling at hted than annoyed

"Yes"

"I’ve never had a rowl at me before"

"They were probably all too scared of your Secret Service agents"

"And you’re not?"

"I could take every one of them"

Darcy stood by thein her room, but instead of the view, she saw questions So ers Ti, only to hesitate out of fear or concern or need What had she missed because of that hesitation? What had been lost?

She crossed to the secure phone on the nightstand in the corner and dialed Lauren’s nus

"Hi, it’sin your sunny days and sultry nights?"

Darcy smiled "There’s not hed "There’s plenty here Near record levels The corn is growing, though Growing andto feel like a character in a Stephen King novel Soon I’ll be slipping into insanity"

Darcy sat on the edge of the bed and battled guilt "I’m sorry you’re stuck wherever you are"

"Me, too, but I’ll survive The Secret Service guys are nice, and I’ up to White House standards, of course, but I never really bothered before Even when I was h to know she was about to get lost in the past Given that Lauren was trapped in the middle of nowhere and on her own, she didn’t think that was a good idea

"You should plan your welcouest list You can put hed "Hardly You don’t like all those fancy events, but I appreciate youthe effort for htly "That I don’t like the White House social scene?"

"You don’t When Dad was vice president, he , but you never caured you were too polite to actually say you hated that kind of stuff"

Darcy wasn’t sure what to say Yes, she had been busy with school, but she’d also been confused and feeling unwelco was to not ask you any?"

"No Of course not" Darcy flopped back on the bed "Maybe Iinvitations, but I didn’t want to be cut off from you two"

Lauren sucked in a breath "Is that how you feel?"

"Sometimes"

"Oh, Darcy I’m sorry You knoe don’t want that"

Darcy’s mouth twisted "I know you don’t want that"

"Stop it Dad loves you He talks about you and asks about you, which he wouldn’t have to do if you called him and came by sometimes He’s busy, but he’s still your father and he cares about you"

Darcy wanted to believe that, even though it wasn’t true After herout the truth about her biological father the same day that her mother died had nearly destroyed her Worse, the ical father was already dead, so she’d lost him before she ever found hi for ain, only to have her walk away from him Just about the ti

"It’s complicated," she said

"It doesn’t have to be," Lauren told her "He wants you in his life"