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“There she is.” I smile up at Jase when I see Mimi coming toward us. “You see her?”

He grins, nods, and then laughs. “Baby, how could I miss her?”

I smack him in the gut. “Shush, Jase.”

“She can’t hear me,” he says, still smirking.

He was right. Mimi is decked out in campaign gear from the flat-rimmed baseball cap, to the personalized Clinton chucks on her feet.

I have to bite my lip to stop from laughing myself.

“She’s adorable,” I tell Jase because … she is.

He tips his head once in a sort of I-don’t-really-agree nod.

I squeeze his hand. “Behave.”

“I’m sure someone would agree with you,” he whispers as she comes closer.

As soon as she is close, she dives at me with a hug me and what happens? Jase.

“Didn’t know you were bringing security,” Mimi says after stepping away from the most accidental and awkward hug in the history of accidental, awkward hugs.

“Just trying to get to you first,” Jase says, trying to act like the fact me nearly dove in front of me when Mimi launched herself at me was purposeful.

“I can hug her,” Mimi says as she looks up at him and pushes her glasses up.

“Of course you can.” Jase forces a tight smile and steps away.

She rolls her eyes then forces her own smile. When she hugs me, she hugs me tightly.

“I am so excited to be here with you on this historical day,” she whispers as she squeezes me.

“I’m excited, too,” I tell her, and I am.

“Is he going to be with us all day?” The way she says he is with more than just a hint of irritation.

“Mimi,” I warn.

“Carly,” she says back, stepping away from the embrace, hands still on my shoulders, looking me in the eye. “This is a huge deal.”

I hear Jase sigh and look at him. He flashes me an over-the-top smile, and I feel like a girl caught between her BFF and her boyfriend, except she was my mother’s BFF and he is my husband.

I am so glad I never “middle schooled,” but apparently, I’m being thrown right into it now.

“I know, and I am here, and Jase is here, and—”

“I’m sorry I jumped in the middle of that… hug, Mimi. Just a natural reaction any man would have when his pregnant wife—”

“You’re pregnant? Again!” Mimi asks, totally shocked, possibly even disgusted.

I nod. “Yes, we’re expecting our third child.”

“Was it planned?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Women have choices, Carly,” she whispers.

“Well, sometimes things are just meant to be,” I tell her as Jase inches closer to me. “We’re very happy.”

She has it in her head that we aren’t.

“You could … wrap it, you know?”

“Condoms don’t fit. Too small,” Jase says in the most serious tone, totally deadpan.

You have got to be kidding me, I think as I look up at Mimi, ready to explain he is joking, but her jaw snaps shut, and then, before I can say a word, she starts.

“You can use birth control.”

“We’re Catholic; it’s against our—”

I smack Jase in the stomach, and he laughs out loud.

“He’s joking, Mimi.”

She looks down at his crotch and shrugs. “I assumed. A man with an ego like that must be lacking.”

I die.

With both hands, I cover my face. “Stop. Both of you, just stop.”

“You’re right, Mimi. I have a tiny penis, and because of it, I overcompensate.” Jase nods.

“Hmm,” Mimi huffs, turning to walk toward the exit.

“With my tongue,” he adds.

“Jase,” I gasp out, looking to see Mimi’s expression and knowing I’m in for it.

Thankfully, she didn’t hear a thing.

Jase laughs and takes my hand. “Let’s go check in to the hotel, and get you and Mimi off to Clinton-land.”

Once Mimi and I have gotten ourselves freshened up, we walk out of our hotel suite. Jase stands in the doorway of our suite, hands gripping the doorjamb, as if he’s stopping himself from following us, because that’s exactly what he is doing.

“Call me, text me, stay with her. You’re in the city, and everyone is a little OTT about this fucking election, baby—”

“As they should be.” Mimi scowls. “It’s an historical—”

“Look, Mimi, I’m not here to argue with you. I’m here because she’s here. My wife, my pregnant wife, the mother of my children, is going to some stupid—”

“Jase,” I interrupt.

“I give no fucks, Carly. I want you safe, and I wanna know where you are. And if that bothers you”—he literally points at Mimi and I about die … again—“get over it. You should be happy as hell that she has a man who loves her.”

“I know, you’re a prize.” She rolls her eyes.

“No, she’s the prize. You make damn sure she is safe and comes back to rest if she’s tired.”

Mimi looks shocked. I’m not. Not one bit. Annoyed, yes. Shocked, no. It’s actually very, very hot.

His eyes narrow as he looks at me. “You’ve been exhausted. You get tired, you need to rest. This bullshit means a fuck of a lot less than you or our child.”

“Jase …”

“Carly …” His eyes narrow more.

“Tell me to have fun.” I smile at him.

He nods. “Have fun.”

“I love you.” I tell him as I push myself up onto my toes and kiss his cheek.

“Love you,” he says back.

When we walk out, Giovanni is there, opening the door.

“We know how to open a door,” Mimi tells him.

He nods. “A gentleman opens the door for a lady, and … I get paid to do so.”

She huffs.

I huff, too, and then wink at him.

He smirks, knowing what I am doing, and shuts the door behind me.

“Men,” she grumbles.

I laugh. Then I look at Mimi to find she is looking at me like she doesn’t know me. Honestly, she really doesn’t know the me I have become.

I smile at her. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” she asks, semi-pouting.

Mom. Mom was Mimi’s “person,” and Mimi was mom’s when she needed her to be.

“I am the same girl. I am a strong woman, Mimi. I believe in equal rights. I believe that no man should tell a woman what to do. I believe in that.”

“But he’s so—”

“Perfect for me,” I tell her. “He’s perfect. He doesn’t try to change me. He isn’t all that controlling.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks sternly.

It takes me a moment to put together my thoughts.

Finally, I smile. “Some things don’t need to be shared. Some things are between him and I.”

“But those things aren’t condoms,” she says, pointing to my belly.

I smile wider. “Mimi, Jase lost his first love during childbirth. He about lost his mind when I found out I was pregnant with Katherine.”

“Katherine,” she whispers her name like it’s too hard to say it any louder.

“Yeah, she’s … amazing. Not planned, but amazing. And her father … God, Mimi, I wish I could find someone like him for you.”

“We’d kill each other,” she groans.

“You’d want to at times.” I laugh. “But then, you’d make up.”

“I wouldn’t want a man I wanted to kill,” she argues.

“Well, of course not.” I take her hand. “But to have a man who always has your best interest at heart; wants to keep you safe; enjoys his time with you and wants more time with you; looks at you like you are the sexiest thing on the planet when you wake up, turning green because you are going to get sick, and holds your hair back while you get sick; who doesn’t fuss when you steal all the covers; laughs at your idiocies and actually finds them enduring. Yeah, Mimi, you’d want a man like that. And, and he’s an amazing father.”

She nods.

“And he’s an amazing lover.” I feel my face flush with embarrassment.

She chuckles.

I grin. “Now, let’s have fun. Let’s enjoy this night.”

“Let’s pretend your mother, my best friend, is here,” she adds.

“She is, Mimi, she is.”

She smiles a genuine smile, one like she used to. “Let’s have some fun!”

“Yes, let’s!”

Fun … fun?

Okay, it started out fun. Celebrities speaking on our future president’s behalf, the entertainment, all while being surrounded by thousands of people here waiting, just waiting, for the moment the United States of America gets to see a change.

We were all waiting and waiting for the moment Hillary would come and speak to us, her people, her public.

I sent Jase texts every hour, even when I was anxious and knew he was all but praying he would win this damn bet, but he wouldn’t. I would. Women would. Hilary would.

There is no way America would put a man in office who had started his first company in the family garage. I mean, they might follow that BS story with the fact that he started it with a “loan” of a million dollars from his father. He is not the American people. He’s a real-life Chester Cheetos. Okay, that was not my own dig. It was from a really cool girl that Mimi and I met. We call her Jersey Jules. She said it, and I about died laughing. We formed a fast friendship.

The Donald would not win. He was a damn reality TV star, who was such a ginormous … and orange * snort * manwhore, who became famous for using the line, “You’re Fired.” Please. America is smarter than that.

By eleven, I was exhausted, and she, Hillary, was going to be our future president, in spite of what the polls were showing. I knew she would win. Regardless, she had yet to show up.

By midnight, Mimi was loaded and passed out.

I messaged Jase on the hour and, well, this time, I had to ask my husband to come help me get a wasted Mimi out of there.

And he did.