Page 13 of Breaking News

She nodded, adjusting the clip securing her dark hair at the back of her head. “I can’t believe we live next door to him,” she said. “He has, like, half a million followers.”

“I know, isn’t that wild?”

“Probably because he’s so hot,” she said, making her dad mutter something under his breath. “So were the Gardners having a big rager, or what?”

I laughed. “Not quite. There’s only a few of us every Friday. The guys play poker for a while, and the women have a sort of book club meeting. And then we end up—”

“Book club?” That caught her attention. “What do you guys read?”

“Romance, mostly. Sometimes something a little more murder-y. Sometimes both.”

Olivia’s phone lit up, and she pulled it out of the pocket of her bag just enough to read the text message that flashed across the screen. Whatever it said, it made her roll her eyes. I decided to turn around and face the front. “Speaking of books,” Graham said, peering at her in the mirror again. “You should peek at the shelf in the den when we get home.”

“Oh. You have a den?”

“Yes,wehave a den. At least that’s what I’m calling it.”

“What’s on the shelf? My books?”

“Yes,” Graham said, clearing his throat. The corners of his eyes crinkled like he couldn’t contain his happiness. “And then some. Actually, I don’t want to ruin the surprise. You’ll just have to see.”

“Hmm. Okay,” she mumbled. For a few minutes, she pulled out her phone and texted someone. Graham and I were quiet in the front seat, other than him asking me if I was cold.

Graham’s expression gradually turned into a concerned scowl as he concentrated on the road. The lively, jokey guy he was before the call from his daughter was gone. I wondered about theconversation they’d have after he dropped me off. Would Olivia open up to him?

He seemed like an easy person to open up to.

When Olivia’s phone screen turned off, I twisted my body to face her again. “So, Olivia, do you have any exciting plans for the summer?”

She glanced around and stared at her fingernails, as though searching for the right answer. “Not really. My friend Sasha just got a pool, so I’ll probably just… be at her house a lot.”

“Ooh, nice. It pays to have a friend with a pool,” I said.

“Do you have a friend with a pool?”

I let out a little chuckle. “Well, no. I did when I was your age.”

“You should convince the Gardners to get a pool,” she said.

“That’s not a bad idea, you know. Maybe I will.”

Olivia glanced at the back of her dad’s head again before looking at me. “You look so different from your picture on the billboard.”

“That was taken ages ago, back when I first moved here,” I said with a grunt. “They really need to update that.”

She crossed her arms and in a monotone voice, she said, “You should complain to the new CEO about that.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. This girl definitely had her dad’s sense of humor. Stealing a quick glance at Graham, who was shaking his head, I said, “Good thinking. It’s about time he does something useful.”

“Hey,” Graham said, slowing the car as he drove through a school zone. “You’ll be happy to know I’ve been busy implementing the new intern program. And… not much else, but it’s something.”

I grinned, knowing the high school internship initiative was one of Silas’s few good ideas before he resigned. “Didn’t your predecessor come up with that one?”

“I said ‘implemented’,” Graham snapped back. He glanced at Olivia in the rear-view mirror. “I tried to get this one to recruit some of her friends for it, but she thinks journalism is dorky.”

I scoffed, pretending to be offended as I looked over my shoulder at Olivia. She spoke up before I could say anything. “I wasn’t talking about WWTV. Just the paper.”

Graham clutched his heart. “Oof. That hurts.”

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