Eighteen Acres: A Novel by Nicolle Wallace Read Free Book Online Page A

stations where they’d arrived days earlier.
    Charlotte was claustrophobic; she never took the elevator. She loved to look at the art, so she and the three dogs made their way toward the grand staircase. She glanced into the room where the portraits of the former first ladies hung. She often wondered if they’d been happy here, if they’d seen much of their husbands, or if the weight of the office had come between them.
    Not that the presidency was what had come between Charlotte and Peter. They’d begun to drift apart years before, but the formality of life in the White House had made their distance official. His living quarters were separate from hers. She didn’t even know when he was in the residence. And since he was the first-ever first man, he was afforded more latitude to maintain dual roles as first husband and working spouse. No one expected him to host teas for visiting spouses of the leaders Charlotte met with. She had hoped that the move to Washington would be a new start for them, that they could laugh together and re-create the chemistry that had drawn them to each other nearly twenty years earlier. He’d always been keenly aware of the roles that spouses played in the success of politicians such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Charlotte’s predecessors, Presidents Martin and Harlow. But instead of bringing them together, the move to Washington and the new and inflexible demands on Charlotte’s time extinguished any hope for the recovery of her marriage.
    She passed the East Room, where all major White House events and ceremonies were held, stopping briefly to scoot Mika along. She greeted everyone on her personal staff with a smile and a wave and entered her suite of rooms. She had an hour to kill before the motorcade would take her to Roger and Stephanie’s.
    She turned on the television and flipped around looking for
Dog Whisperer
. Sometimes she heard something helpful, and the dogsalways stared intently at the television when it was on. She looked at her elliptical machine and contemplated a quick workout but decided against it and called the twins instead. She tried Harry’s cell phone first. When he didn’t pick up, she tried Penelope.
    “Hi, Mom,” Penelope said on the first ring.
    “Hi, honey. Are you with Dad?” Charlotte asked.
    “No, he left after lunch for a meeting in New York tomorrow,” Penelope said.
    “Oh,” Charlotte said.
    “There’s another storm coming in, and he didn’t want to drive in the snow, which is smart, because there were a lot of accidents last week because of black ice,” Penelope said.
    She always worried about her father. Charlotte didn’t realize that Peter was spending Monday in New York, but he didn’t tell her much of anything these days.
    “Did you have a good time with Dad?” Charlotte asked.
    “Yes, we went skiing yesterday afternoon and out to dinner. I brought Rebecca, and Harry brought Jason. We went to fondue.”
    “That sounds great, sweetie. Where’s your brother?”
    “He’s at study hall, but he’s probably just listening to his iPod,” Penelope said.
    “Tell him to call me before bed,” Charlotte said. “I love you.”
    “Love you, too, Mom.”
    Charlotte thought about calling Peter, but she didn’t want to bother him. She’d check in on Monday to ask him about the kids. Then, thinking she was being ridiculous, she changed her mind and decided to call. He was still her husband. Surely, she could call him without worrying about bothering him. She dialed his cell phone. After five rings, he picked up.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi, Peter, it’s me.”
    He paused.
    “Charlotte,” she said.
    “Of course, I know. Is everything OK?” he asked.
    “Yes. I’m sorry. I just wanted to see how the kids are doing. Penelope says you went skiing and then to fondue,” Charlotte said.
    “Yeah, they are getting really good, and if they learn to ski out here on the sheets of ice that pass as ski runs, they’ll be incredible when