Page 51 of Every Broken Promise
Astrid Hart was my best friend, and I needed to get my head together and act like it. I couldn’t risk telling her. The stakes were too high. I’d rather have her in my life than deal with the aftermath of us not working out. Never knowing what her lips tasted like made me want to scream in rage, but losing her would kill me.
TWENTY
“If I killed Ronnie,would you help me cover it up?” I swiveled my chair so I could face Orianna. Talking about murder with someone who was now in a relationship with a cop was probably not wise. But Orianna was chill, and I trusted she wouldn’t narc on me with her new man.
“Why would you want to kill Ronnie?” she asked a bit hesitantly.
“He’s getting on my nerves,” I replied.
It wasn’t a lie, and Ronnie had not crossed the inappropriate line—yet—and maybe I was being paranoid, but I was sure he was toying with it.
“You never told me anything about that charity gala. You went all gung ho about your story with Callahan, and now you’re acting like he doesn’t even exist?”
She looked at me, and then craned her head so she could look at Ronnie’s office.
“Some things are more important than breaking a story…you know?”
I shrugged and left it at that. I turned so I could face my monitor. Doing my little column was getting old. I was going to have to suck it up and pitch my new idea to Ronnie. “AroundTown with Hart” needed to break ground. At this point, my dread was less about going into Kanes’ Auto and more about the fact that Ronnie would just approve it because I was asking. It somehow cheapened my grand idea.
Or he could shut the idea down and I would still feel like shit—but him approving it no questions asked would be even worse.
Before working up the nerve to get up and go into his office, I opened the anonymous email. I scanned the headlines to see what caught my attention.
Sunny Pines Mayor Seen With His Ex.I tried to recall who was in charge of Sunny Pines but couldn’t remember, so I skipped it.Town Pariah is Back.My heart skipped a beat as I moved the cursor so I could click it.Astrid Hart has been pining over her best friend for years. She couldn’t handle the fact that she couldn’t have him, so she ruined everyone’s prom night.
My stomach was in knots as I read the first few sentences. I immediately went back and stopped myself from reading the rest. Was that how people viewed me?Pining over her best friend.Those words stood out above the rest. Had it been so obvious that everyone pitied me? Was that the real reason everyone hated me, because they thought I did it as some sort of revenge?
I could feel the sting of tears blur my sight, so I blinked them away. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.
That was in the past, and it shouldn’t matter—it didn’t define me.
I repeated that two more times until I was ready to let it go—for now. Problems couldn’t be avoided forever. Maybe if I hadn’t avoided Tyler back then we wouldn’t be struggling now. Maybe we would be healed in our own paths, thinking fondly of childhood memories.
Annoyed with myself because I let my mind wander to Tyler once again, I began to read the other email. The fact thatOrianna was looking into him should have been clue enough that Callahan Sr. was not a good man. Like every corrupt politician before him he had cops in his pockets, so they looked the other way, and no one cared about the dead-end trail of women that were left behind.
Everyone knew Willow Grove’s mayor was a manwhore, and he liked to date them young. I hoped Rachel wasn’t having dinner with his son anymore. I wasn’t getting a good feeling about it, and now with Orianna backing off, it seemed ominous. I made a mental note to myself so I could demurely warn her off him.
I was about to close the window when an email with five flower emojis caught my eye. Maybe it would be some feel-good fodder. I loved something positive to report on when the world was full of negativity. A dose of kindness went a long way.
What the fuck?
The email only contained a picture of an astrid flower.
Maybe I was wrong and people weren’t as fooled as I thought? Had someone finally put two and two together and made four? Did they know I was the anonymous poster? I only told my family, and Rachel, because she didn’t read the paper much. As for my coworkers, they knew, but I doubted they would snitch. Not when my column was driving traffic, and it was givingThe Heraldfinancial security.
I forced myself to close all the windows. Since I needed to take my mind off things, I opened a new document and began to work on my next article.
“Just get it over with,” I mumbled to myself.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I rose from my seat and made my way toward Ronnie’s office.
“Hey, Ronnie,” I greeted him as I knocked on the door.
“Come in, Astrid, you’re always welcome in here. There’s no need to knock.”
“You know me, I don’t like to impose,” I told him as I walked in, leaving the door open. Although he had an open-window concept, it was better to let others hear what we were discussing.
“Nonsense, we’re all family here,” he waved me off with an easy smile. “How can I help you?”
