Page 94 of Waiting for Her

“Can you be impartial doing a story about someone you admit you’re in love with?”

She’s quiet long enough he catches it. “That’s what I thought,” he says quietly. “Look, I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions about the treatment thing. You’re right. I know better. But damn, Bri. Why didn’t you tell me about your relationship with Grady Ryan? And if things started back up again, you know damn good and well you should have told us.”

“I know. In my defense, it only recently happened.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe? Ava told me you were hung up on some old flame which was why you rarely dated. I take it Grady’s the guy?”

She offers up a sheepish smile to me. “Yeah.”

“Fuck me. You realize what this brought upon me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You already said that. And I believed you the first time. Just… give me a day to figure out where we go from here. Until then, keep doing what you’re doing.”

She smirks in my direction and I release a breath, glad she’s able to think of anything else other than the bullshit happening right now.

“Will do, Simon. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

There’s a pause and I wonder if he hung up for how quiet it is on the other then before, “Bri?”

“Yeah?”

“For the record, I want you happy.”

“I am,” she tells him while looking at me.

“Good. You deserve it, and I’m sorry, again, for accusing you of lying. Won’t happen again.”

“Thank you.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow. In the meantime, not that I need to tell you this, but if any other reporters come around…”

“I know, don’t talk to them.”

They say their final goodbyes and she tosses her phone onto my desk, pressing the heel of her hands into her eyes.

“What the hell?” she plops down into one of my office chairs, and I sit next to her.

“Kennedy,” I say by way of explanation.

She twists her head to look at me. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “Jealousy? Angry she wasn’t getting her way? I haven’t talked to her yet.”

I go on to tell her the delightful story Drew told me a bit ago.

“What a bitch!”

I bark out a laugh. “Honestly, her behavior threw me a little bit. I’ve known Kennedy for a long time and never once saw this side of her. Either she’s a damn good chameleon or there’s something happening in her life that’s caused her to lose her shit.”

“You’re defending her?” she cries out.

I reach and rest a hand on her knee. “No. I’m not. I’m pissed but trying to remain calm because it won’t help our situation if I freak out the way I want to. I’m telling you I didn’t see this coming. I’m a bit blindsided by it all.”

“You knew she was in love with you, though,” she accuses.

“I did, but not until recently. At least not for sure, anyway. But that doesn’t mean I could have anticipated her behavior.”

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