Page 19 of Breaking News

Meghan didn’t laugh at my joke. I kept one AirPod in as I typed, so I could half-listen to her while working on my notes for this goddamn breaking news report. Some cattle got loose on Persimmon Road, and a truck carrying a load of turkeys overturned trying to avoid hitting a cow.

Barnyard animals everywhere. What a calamity.

Chase was busy covering the city council meeting that evening, so this one was on me. I’d reported live from the scene, but the morning show would need an update. I stood at my kitchen counter to work on the report while my perogies boiled in a pot nearby. Xander would be here for dinner soon.

“No, Jill. Someone brought it to my attention that you were kinda, I don’t know… wincing in pain during your morning report?”

I slammed my finger down on the spacebar and stopped typing.

Something’s going on.

Because Meghan wasn’t the first person to ambush me about this that day. Xander had also not-so-casually brought it up when he popped into the studio earlier. He could barely look me in the eyes when he asked the real reason why I’d been popping so many ibuprofens lately, and I brushed it off and said I’d talk to him about it that night.

And now this?

“Okay, what’s going on? Who’s been talking to you and Xander about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t lie to me, Meg,” I said, picking up the tongs to flip over the sizzling asparagus spears in the pan beside the pierogies. I was literally juggling three pans at once: the pierogies, the asparagus, and skillet of caramelized onions and bacon. “Did someone say something to you guys?”

She huffed into the phone. I braced myself for her to say Marco was the one with the concerns, so I almost choked on my gum when she said, “Fine. Graham may have noticed.”

I clenched my eyes shut, feeling a twinge of embarrassment. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“No. He said you were pulling some Edward Cullen faces while delivering the news.”

“He did not say that.”

“I’m loosely paraphrasing.”

I sighed. “Damn it. I thought I was hiding it better.”

“Look, if you’re in that much pain, can you just talk to your doctor about it? What if there’s a really simple solution? They could write you a script and you could be done with this.”

There’d be no simple solution. They would either completely dismiss my concerns or put me through rounds of endless tests—tests that might lead to an answer I wasn’t ready to face. “I just don’t have time,” I lied.

“Graham would give you some time off to go to the doctor. I’ll make him.”

“And who’s going to do the morning show in my place?”

“Uh. Chase?” Meghan suggested, and we both laughed. Chase might have to wear something besides his usual attire of a ragged t-shirt and torn-up jeans, and that would never fly. He was strictly a field reporter, even acting as his own cameraman. Suiting him up and plopping him behind the news desk would be awkward for everyone involved. “I’m sure they can squeeze you in some afternoon. Promise me you’ll go. Please.”

I closed my laptop. “Okay,” I said, pausing to chew on my bottom lip. “I promise.”

Meghan wasn’t done badgering me, though. “Good. Quick question. Why are you keeping Xander in the dark on this? He seemed a little embarrassed that Graham knew and he didn’t. It was so f—”

“Kind of like how Abigail knew all about his woodworking skills and I didn’t?” The words flew out of my mouth without warning. My stomach flipped, and Meghan went silent. “We just haven’t reached the stage where we tell each other everything. We’re not like you and Chase. Or, you know, him and Abigail.”

“I wondered if that bothered you on Friday night,” she said, lowering her voice. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think Abigail meant anything by it.”

I gasped. “I know! Please don’t think I was implying she had any malicious intent with that. I just—I just think…”

The words wouldn’t come out.

So Meghan said them.

“That Xander and Abigail have a super freaky untouchable bond, and it makes you feel like the third wheel in your own relationship?”

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