Page 56 of Desire
“I had a reason for passing the story off to Kathy,” she said. “I wanted to avoid exactly what happened.”
I put a hand over my tightening chest. There was logic to what she’d just said, but my mind couldn’t make the connections.
She watched me with a concerned frown. “You look confused.”
I fell back against the sofa and pressed my forearm over my eyes. “I feel confused.”
Kylie patted me on the knee. “I bet you do. I hate that you had to face off with Arthur Valentine. We’re down but not out.”
I dropped my arm and grimaced at her. “What do you meanwe’renot out?”
“I want to tell you whyI’m here.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why she was there. Did I want to have anything else to do with the Christmases or the Valentines? I pressed my hands over my ears and squeezed, knowing I had to force myself past the emotions I was feeling. Something traumatic had just happened to me, but sometimes my job could be dangerous.
“Tell me what?” I finally asked.
“JasperChristmas and Julia Valentine were prepared to go on the record and give a statement.”
I adjusted until I was sitting up straight. “What statement?”
“I don’t know, but Rachel thinks they were planning on throwing Julia under the bus.”
My head flinched back slightly. “What?”
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “Regardless, I just spoke to Rachel, and she really doesn’t wantyou to go anywhere. We’re going to try to smooth this over with Dave.”
“But Jasper’s the one who’s telling him what to do. Remember last night’s revelation. He’s buying or bought the company.”
“That fell through. Stopped cold turkey.”
My mouth dropped open in awe.
“Arthur Valentine stepped in somehow and made Jasper withdraw his FCC application and bid. Kathy’s groupis buying BCN.”
I still didn’t know what to say.
“Rachel’s meeting with her today, explaining everything to her. We’re getting you back on the show. So…” She was wringing her hands.
“So, what?”
“Do you have an update on Chattanooga?”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you still dead set on ruining the Christmases because you think Bryn stole your boyfriend?”
She grunted.
“Because if you’re actually telling me the truth, then your fight is futile. Bryn’s known Dale ever since we were eighteen. He used to come to our dorm room. That’s how long they’ve been involved.”
She sighed sharply. “Okay. That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
Her eyebrows furrowed then evened out. Seconds ticked by. Finally, I realized that once again she wouldn’t providean explanation.
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. I was worn out. I had given up. “Well, you’re going to have to ruin the Christmases on your own. I’m going back to my life before all of this.”
“This is your life before all of this, Holly.” She sounded as if she were trying to sell me something.
