Page 42 of Rumors in Bayberry
He was totally over being interrogated.What had he done to make people jump to the worst conclusion about him?Was Carrie right?Was everyone just being overprotective?
“Hey, Reed.”The female voice came from not far away.
He sighed and considered continuing to walk as though he hadn’t heard her.His next thought was that she might follow him back to the maze.And he didn’t want any false accusations thrown around in front of Sadie.
His back teeth ground together as he stopped.Then he forced his jaw to relax, and he pasted a smile on his face as he turned.He came face to face with Sadie’s other friend.But he couldn’t recall her name.
“Hi,” he said.
She smiled at him.“I’m Kate.”
“I knew that.”He didn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
She let out a little laugh.“Sure you did.”
“Okay.I might have forgotten.Sorry.”Anxious to be on his way, he asked, “How can I help you?”
“It’s about Sadie…”
This time he was the one to hold up his hand, stopping her in mid-sentence.“If you’ve come to threaten me not to hurt your friend, it’s been done.And if you’ve come to find out if the rumors about me are true, I can tell you right now that they are not true.”
Kate’s eyes widened.“Oh.Okay then...I wanted to talk to you about the newspaper.”
“What about the newspaper?”
“I heard a rumor that the paper is up for sale, and I heard you might buy it.Is that true?”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.“I make a point not to discuss business deals, especially business deals that are still up in the air.But it seems like the town already knows all about it.”
She at least had the decency to look apologetic.“I’m sorry.I understand your reluctance to talk about this, but you need to know that theBayberry Gazetteis important to this town.Next to the candle factory, it’s the oldest business in Bayberry."
Reed nodded in understanding.
“It’s more than just the news.It keeps residents connected.It makes Ethel Baker, who is eighty-five and can’t get out much anymore, feel relevant when her chicken and stuffing casserole recipe is in the newspaper.Her phone rings with friends calling to tell her they saw it and can’t wait to try it.Do you know what that can do for a person when they begin to feel irrelevant?Suddenly, Ethel is digging through her old recipes to share them with her friends.And that is just one example, but I could give you many, many more.”
“I hear you.And I understand.But there’s more to the paper than recipes.Do you know the reason I picked theBayberry Gazetteout of all of the other papers?”
“No.But I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
“I found myself getting caught up in the articles by S.J.Plummer.At the time, I believed they were written by Samuel.I had no idea until I was here in Bayberry that Sadie wrote those stories.She has a way with words.It’s like she paints a picture, but instead of a brush and paint, she uses words.They aren’t just any words.They are vivid and invoke emotions.”
The whole time he was talking about Sadie’s writing, Kate was nodding her head.“So, you know how special both she and the paper are?”
“I do.The problem is that Sadie doesn’t want to stay.”
Kate was quiet for a moment.“Maybe she never had a reason to stay before.”She glanced away.“Oh, there’s Wes.Sorry, I have to go.Thanks for hearing me out.”
Kate walked away, leaving him with her last words.But how was he supposed to give her a reason to stay if the newspaper wasn’t enough?
Chapter Fourteen
It’stimetomakea decision.
The next day, Sadie resigned herself to the fact that when her editor called with a new assignment, she was leaving.She pushed away her doubts.This was the path she’d been on since she graduated college.It didn’t make sense to change directions now.
She’d been in her apartment all morning.She thought her father would have called when he had questions about the new processes that she’d put in place, but her phone had been quiet.
That was fine.It was obvious her father didn’t need her—need her input—even though she’d been the one keeping the paper going for the past several months.
