Page 114 of Breaking News

“She’s the one who made the Facebook post. It was her.”

“Elaine,” he whispered. There was a long pause before he asked, “How do you know?”

“Your daughter figured it out,” I said, glancing over at Olivia in the passenger seat. “She nearly got it out of the admin of Concerned Citizens of Woodvale.”

“Wow, really?”

“She told him she was his worst nightmare,” I said, making Olivia laugh at herself beside me. “This girl is going to be a kickass investigative reporter someday. She’s been conducting interviews, and she almost brought Xander to his knees.”

“Glad I’m not the only grown man she can threaten,” Graham said, letting out a low whistle. “Okay, so what are you going to do with this information?”

“I don’t know. I really want to confront her, Graham.”

He sighed. “Well, I’m not going to stop you. Just be careful that you don’t blow this up any further. Tread carefully.”

I almost gave him a “Yes, sir,” but his daughter was sitting right next to me, so I stopped myself. Instead, I asked, “How’s your first day on the job hunt going?”

He groaned. “I just set up my LinkedIn profile. Kill me now.”

I grinned, staring down at the hem of my black pencil skirt beneath the steering wheel. “I’m already missing you being in the same building as me. Even if we weren’t in the same room, it was just comforting to know you were there.”

“Maybe we could be in the same building tonight,” he said, his tone suddenly playful. “With... dinner.”

I blinked. “Graham, is that your dorky way of asking me on a date?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, laughing at himself. “I’m not very good at this. But yes, I would like to take you out to dinner tonight.”

Olivia was shaking her head beside me, but she still wore a grin on her face, clearly catching bits and pieces of her dad’s side of the conversation.

“That would be perfect,” I said, deciding at the last second to add the risky but innocent-sounding, “Wear a tie.”

Graham choked out a chuckle. “Okay, I will.”

After we hung up, I tried not to giggle like a high schooler whose crush asked her to prom. I put the car in drive, acutely aware of Olivia’s eyes on me from the passenger seat.

“This is going to sound cheesy, but I think you’re really good for my dad,” she said.

I glanced over at her, my heart suddenly feeling full in an entirely new way. “Oh, Olivia, your dad is so good for me, too. He’s such a sweet and caring man.”

She rolled her eyes, but a half-smile broke through. “Yeah. Sounds about right.”

This felt like she was giving me her blessing. I had Olivia’s approval to date her dad, and that mattered to me more than I’d realized. A lump formed in my throat, but I swallowed it down, forcing myself to be cool about this.

Internally, I was screaming with joy.

Back at the studio, I told Olivia I wanted to approach Elaine alone, and she seemed to understand. I found the woman in the breakroom with a book and a Snickers bar. When she saw me walk in, she straightened in her seat, her expression already looking a little shifty.

“Morning, Elaine,” I said, making my way over. I sat down across from her and folded my hands on the table, cutting right to the chase. “Is there anything you need to tell me?”

She swallowed a bite of chocolate. “No?”

A silence settled between us as I waited for her to reconsider her answer. I wasn’t angry or confrontational. I just looked at her with a gentle smile, trying to put her at ease so she’d be more likely to tell the truth.

But she was going to need a little persuasion.

“Elaine, were you... upset about the interns getting switched around at the beginning of summer to accommodate Olivia?”

“Upset?” She closed her book. “No. I mean, I wasn’tupset.”

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