Page 97 of Breaking News

Minutes after the plane took off, a baby started crying a few rows behind us, and it never stopped. It wasn’t a soft, pitiful cry, either. It was more of a scream, and no amount of shushing or singing was lessening it one bit. As frustrating as the nonstop wailing was, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the parents.

“Better get used to that, Graham,” Meghan said from across the aisle, giving me a grin. “You’re going to be hearing that sound a lot in a few months.”

I let out a chuckle. “You’re right.”

On my other side, Xander’s knee stopped shaking and he looked up from his phone, his eyes flicking from me to Jill. Ah, hell. He thought Jill was pregnant.

“My daughter’s having a baby,” I clarified.

There was a flash of relief on his face. But then he muttered, “Didn’t ask,” pulling his hood up over his head and turning away.

I didn’t take it personally. In fact, it made me smile. Because Jill had chosen me, a forty-year-old man about to become a literal grandpa, over him, and I knew that had to sting.

Good.

He could stand to be humbled every now and then. I just hoped his bruised ego wouldn’t push him into opening his mouth and exposing Jill and me.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about that conversation with Chris from theIndyStarand how he wanted Xander to apply for the regional reporter position. How I’d told Chris that Xander was one of the best damn writers theWoodvale Timeshad ever seen.

Maybe Xander would respect me more if I actually said that out loud to him. I would, someday—and soon. But in that moment, I leaned my head back against the seat, trying to tune out my restless thoughts and the fussy baby.

When I glanced toward Jill, all I could see were her hands, opening a packet of Biscoff cookies over her tray. I heard her sigh, like she was already feeling the weight of everything that awaited us back in Woodvale. I felt it too.

At least she was eating something.

Just as I was about to doze off, the seatbelt light dinged as the plane began its descent. I put my tray up and sighed, stretching one leg out into the aisle when the flight attendants were done collecting trash.

We touched down with a bump, and Xander hunched forward with a sigh, pulling his phone out of his hoodie pocket as the notifications began to roll in. We taxied down the runway, and I was momentarily distracted by the man in front of us who was already standing up like he was somehow going to get to the gate faster than the rest of us.

And then, out of nowhere, a phone appeared in front of me.

Xander held it out wordlessly, letting me read the texts on the screen. “What’s this?” I asked, but I got my answer a second later.

Intern:Are you gonna be back today

Intern:I have something to tell you

Intern:It’s about your exgirlfriend

It was safe to assume “intern” was how he had Isaiah saved in his phone. And it was just as painfully easy to conclude that this was about Jill. And me.

Dread flowed through every vein, and I looked up at Xander’s face. He returned my panicked expression, almost like he was genuinely concerned. “Looks like he’s already talking.”

“Fuck.”

If he was texting Xander, there was a good chance he’d already run his mouth to someone else.

Like his family.

Or the other interns. Including my daughter.

I’d thought we had more time. Naively, maybe. I had hoped I could get ahead of this and control the narrative. We could have disclosed our relationship to HR before they caught wind of it from someone else. But it was starting to look like that window had already closed.

I watched Xander screenshot the texts and forward them to Jill. She read them just as we stood up to deboard, her eyes snapping to mine in horror as she reached for her bag.

We couldn’t talk about it now. Not here. All I could do was frown and shake my head.

As soon as we stepped off the jet bridge and into the terminal, Jill came to an abrupt stop and turned toward the others. “I need to talk to Graham alone for a minute. Can you guys wait for us somewhere?”

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