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Laughter spilled out of him. “Well, maybe they’re better people than I am. I can certainly appreciate a good cause and be part of it, but like I said before, I’m a businessman, first and foremost. I didn’t get to where I am, to be in a position to contribute to causes that were important to Annie, by not putting the interests of my business at the forefront of my decision-making.”

It wasn’t the wholesome interview I’d gotten when I met with Carl or the melancholy-laced one I’d had at the library, but that didn’t make this one any less beneficial. If nothing else, it helped to show that Annie could impact the lives of so many different people in such different ways. Even if it hadn’t been my initial intention, there wasn’t a chance I wouldn’t put together a piece on this remarkable woman.

“It’s clear you saw such a stark contrast between yourself and Annie when it came to your motivations. Do you think she saw it, too? And if so, did it impact your ability to work together?”

“I’m pretty sure she saw the difference between what drove each of us, but Annie wasn’t the kind of woman who’d ever allow that to deter her from what she set out to do. Her goal has always been to help those who need it, so even if she might not have agreed with everything that drove me to make my decisions, she never let that stop her.”

I glanced over at Ty, saw the way he was looking at me, and felt a wave of pride wash over me. Maybe there was a little bit of Annie in all of us, even if we used it all differently. Because despite the restrictions Dale had put on me in refusing to allow me to work on this story at the news station, I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

Passion was passion.

And I had a passion for the truth.

Ty and I spent another fifteen minutes or so with Jackson, most of which had shifted to him telling us a bit about working directly with her. The message I got was the same as I’d gotten in the other spots we’d visited, and as expected, I had no new information that would help with uncovering the truth about what happened to Annie.

Just before we walked out the door, I remembered I hadn’t given a card with my contact information on it to Jackson, so I stopped, turned, and moved to Georgia’s desk. “I’m sorry, I forgot to give this to Jackson. In case he has anything else he’d like to add, he’s more than welcome to give me a call.”

She took the card from me. “I’ll be sure to pass it along.”

“Thank you.”

I spun around and found Ty was waiting patiently for me with a smile on his face and the door held open. I didn’t hesitate to walk right toward him.

Ty

Alana and I hadn’t been walking for more than a few minutes along the downtown sidewalk when she suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Her uncertain gaze came in my direction with a slight shake of her head. “It’s just…well, I just realized this is where the accident happened.”

Although I knew that, it hadn’t been anywhere near the forefront of my mind. Because much like Alana’s thoughts had drifted back to something so traumatic, mine had done the same.

Obviously, I hadn’t experienced anything that had physically harmed me like she had, but the day she was remembering now was one that I’d done my best to put behind me.

But now I was here again, and everything was hitting me full force. The last time I’d been walking along this street, I’d just learned the truth about a woman I’d invested nearly a year of my life in.

The thoughts I’d been having, though, weren’t filled with longing, despair, or devastation about what had happened. Quite the opposite was the case. It hadn’t been that long since everything went down between us, and I didn’t think about Evangeline at all anymore.

My mind had been consumed by Alana. Not only did I sometimes feel this sense of breathlessness when I was with her, but I also noticed that everything around us ceased to exist. Of course, I was still alert for dangers that surrounded us, but I wasn’t distracted by the little things. I enjoyed her company, even if most of it was spent with her working. It made me crave time with her that wouldn’t be filled with interviews and questions and details about the story she was working on. In fact, it left me excited about a day like tomorrow. I couldn’t wait to take her to the doctor, to do something different. And my hope was that, soon enough, she’d get to the bottom of this, and I’d be able to spend time with her that was just for the two of us to enjoy.

I wrapped my arm around her back and allowed my hand to settle on her opposite shoulder. “How are you feeling about it? Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. It’s been a couple of weeks since it happened, and I’m feeling really good.”

“We should celebrate,” I told her.

“What?”

I jerked my head in the opposite direction and pointed. “How about you let me buy you some cookies to celebrate?”

“Ooh, Ty, that’s tempting. But you’re not supposed to be buying anything, remember?”

I rolled my eyes. I hated this stupid rule she felt compelled to impose about paying for meals since I told Avalon not to set up an account to start billing her for bodyguard services. “This is different. It’s just two people celebrating how far you’ve come since the last time you were here.”

“Okay, well, I do love cookies.”

Laughter spilled out of me. I took her by the hand and led her to the end of the block so we could cross the street. We enteredthe cookie shop and were assaulted by the scent of freshly baked treats.

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