Free The Reluctant First Lady by Venita Ellick Page B

embarrassing to us or be used to compromise her? Any arrests, any protesting for a wrong cause? We need to know everything. I don’t need to tell you how important it is that we get this appointment right. We don’t need a member of the administration going sideways on us. I’ll start the process right away.”
    “I’d like to announce the decision to establish a director of protocol position at our next press conference. Let’s schedule it for one week from today. That’ll give us time to get started and make some inroads on the transition process. Also I’ll be publicly naming you, Ed, as my chief of staff, and you, Jack, as my White House press secretary, even though everyone already knows you’re in those roles. We’ll make an official announcement at the conference. Plus, I could use the time to get in touch with Paula about the job, and I’ll want to talk to Ashley about it before she hears it on the news.
    “Let’s adjourn for now and meet again this afternoon with the whole advisory team.” Michael stood.
    Jack and Ed headed for the door, ready to put the plans they’d discussed into motion. Ed turned to Michael before he left. “I know how hard this has been on you, particularly where Ashley’s concerned. But, for what it’s worth, I think you’ve made a very wise decision.”
    “I appreciate that, Ed. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

11
    Commercial flights were a thing of the past for Ashley, at least for now. This was yet another adjustment she’d have to make now that Michael had been elected president. She understood from a security point of view why it was necessary, but she wished it weren’t so. It felt like an unnecessary luxury to have a plane at her disposal, and at a great cost to the government. However, of all the things she had to worry about right now, this one, for the time being, could be put on hold.
    The flight between Washington, DC, and New York was a little over an hour. Usually she used her travel time to shift gears from one aspect of her life to another. Unfortunately the shift didn’t occur during this flight. She kept replaying in her head conversations she had with Michael or wished she’d had. Her brain was tired from working the problem, trying to come up with some sort of a compromise that would work for both of them.
    Regardless of their differences, she hated leaving Michael without saying goodbye in person and, worse, leaving with so much animosity between them. They’d fought before; what couple hadn’t? But this was the first time they’d been unable to find some sort of halfway solution on which they could both agree.
    Ashley laid her head back on the headrest of the black SUV that was transporting her from the airport to her apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. This, too, was something she resented. How in the hell could she live her life and conduct her business with the Secret Service always in the way? She barely tolerated their presence during the campaign, and now they were going to be a permanent fixture in her life. Swell, just swell.
    Thinking about her lack of freedom made her want to scream. She was used to coming and going as she pleased, but the Secret Service made clear that she no longer had that option. She was expected to give them a daily itinerary listing where she would be going and with whom she’d be meeting so they could secure the areas where she’d appear. Ashley felt depressed thinking about the impact the Secret Service was going to have on her life.
    She obviously needed to have a serious talk with the agents assigned to her. She knew they were under orders, that their job was to protect her, and that most likely they weren’t any more fond of being assigned to her than she was of having them around. Maybe a compromise could be made. She would not live like a prisoner.
    The SUV stopped in front of her apartment building, and she noticed two other agents talking to her doorman. Great. Agents seemed to be