Two hands went up, and Hayden asked the students to stand and give their names and year so he could add them to the notes his assistant, Casey, was taking.
“Tristan King, freshman,” one boy said, standing near her.
She would have to figure out what to make of these new recruits. How best to use them. This was now her new task.
“Savannah Maxwell, freshman,” another voice said across the room from her.
Liz froze, her heart in her throat. No. She hadn’t even seen Savannah in the room. Had she been that out of it that she hadn’t even paid attention?
Her eyes slowly drifted to Savannah, who looked so much like her brother. Dark hair and eyes, strong features, confident, thin, beautiful…intimidatingly so. She stared back at Liz with an unreadable expression, and Liz wondered whether Savannah could see right through her.
She couldn’t work with Savannah. Liz couldn’t spend time with her. Would Savannah recognize her? Would she know that she had followed her brother, been to his galas, written nasty articles about him…and more, much more?
“Perfect,” Hayden said with a smile that said that he, for one, knew Liz’s feelings about Brady Maxwell. Or at least, he thought he did. “Welcome to the team.”
Hayden continued on with the remaining divisions and talked briefly about things she had heard year after year—conduct, journalism practices, ethics, plagiarism, etc. They were all necessary, but she didn’t need to hear them again.
“Thank you all so much for coming to our first meeting. Please meet with your division leaders briefly before departing. If anyone hasn’t been assigned a division or wishes to change, please come up to the front and see Casey. I can’t wait for another great year,” Hayden said, closing the meeting.
Her new team members, Tristan and Savannah, picked their way across the room to stand in front of Liz. Tristan shifted uncomfortably. He was a gangly guy in pressed khakis and a polo, with short, meticulously combed dark hair and pasty skin. Savannah looked unfazed as she stood awaiting instructions. Knowing her brother, Liz expected nothing else.
“Well, welcome to the team,” Liz said awkwardly, since she hadn’t been aware she would have her own team. “I have a schedule laid out for the semester. I’m working with a professor in the journalism department on a research project with other newspapers, and she is allowing me to publish in the school paper some of the work I’m doing with her.”
Liz went on to highlight what she had already been covering and what she wanted to continue to work on. She broke some of the research down for them and assigned them both tasks.
Tristan took feverish notes and Savannah just stood there and smiled, absorbing the conversation. As soon as she was finished, Tristan zipped off to begin his project, leaving her all alone with Savannah, who had barely said anything.
“Thank you for allowing me to work in campaigns,” Savannah said finally.
“We’re always very welcoming to students’ interests,” Liz replied plainly.
“I just hope that your feelings toward my brother don’t interfere in our work relationship.” Her voice was calm and controlled, but something about her tone spoke volumes. She was much too like her brothers.
Liz didn’t know how much Savannah knew, but whatever it was, was probably more than Liz would have liked.
“Personal feelings toward politicians have no place in journalism,” Liz heard herself responding dryly. “I’ve been learning that lesson all summer.”
It might not have been the smartest thing to say, considering all she had gone through with Brady this summer, but she didn’t know what else to say. If Savannah knew only about the articles, then the comment would work as well as if she knew about anything else.
“I agree. I’m sure I’ll be learning that lesson in the next several months,” Savannah said, a smile finally touching her features. “I just wanted to clear the air between us before we started working closely.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Liz said awkwardly, wanting to end this conversation. “We’ll keep personal matters out of it. You’re just Savannah and I’m just Liz.” She stuck her hand out and Savannah took it. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“So nice to meet you too. I’ll get started on my assignments right away,” Savannah said, withdrawing her hand. “See you tomorrow, Liz.”
And every day after that.
Liz grabbed her bag off of the ground and hurriedly exited the newspaper before Hayden could find her. She couldn’t deal right now. She was going to have to work with Savannah Maxwell all semester. An ever-present reminder of the secrets she had to hold.
She felt her phone vibrate as she passed through the doors to the Union and out into the oppressive August heat.
Private number.
Great. Of course, Brady would call now.
“Hey,” she answered with a sigh.
“Hey. I’ve been in meetings all morning that I couldn’t get out of,” Brady said.
It wasn’t an apology. Just a reason for not answering. Probably a good one, but she hardly had the energy for it.
“I just got out of a meeting too. In fact, your sister is now working for me.”
“What?” he asked sharply. She had clearly thrown him.
“Yep. She showed up at the newspaper meeting and said she wanted to work on campaigns. So, guess what? She now works for me.” Liz couldn’t keep the frustration and pent-up anger out of her voice.
“Fuck,” he growled low.
“Yeah! And imagine my surprise when she asks me not to let my feelings toward her brother cloud my opinion of her! Could you imagine if my feelings toward her brother could do that?”
“She said that?”
“Yes!” Liz snapped. “I don’t know how much she knows. She doesn’t give anything away, just like you!”
She hadn’t even meant to say that. Where was her anger coming from?
“Are you still at the paper?” Brady asked.
“I just left. I’m walking home.” She hated that he didn’t respond to her outburst. She just wanted to rile him up, make him get as emotional as he did that time he told Heather and Elliott he loved her, force him to do something about those feelings.
“I’m in Durham and have an hour.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, as if he had already decided that she was going to see him. Well, of course she was. It was always better to talk about this stuff in person. But she was almost irritated enough to call him out on it.
“Are you going to come get me?” she finally asked when he didn’t continue.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
The line went dead.
Liz ground her teeth and thought about chucking her phone into the side of the building. Goddamn man!
When Brady picked her up, she didn’t know where they were going. It had to be somewhere close and private, because he didn’t have much time to talk. She knew Victoria was supposed to be at the lab, but they couldn’t risk her coming home and finding a politician in her bedroom. That would mean a whole slew of new questions.
“Where are we going?” Liz muttered.
“I don’t know. I’m just going to drive.”
“Okay.” Liz shrugged and looked out the window.
“Do you know what I woke up to this morning?” Brady asked after a pause.
“An alarm clock?” Liz asked.
Brady’s eyes darted over to her side of the car, proclaiming rather loudly that her sarcasm wasn’t welcome.
“Fine. No.”
“I woke up this morning to Heather thanking me.”
“What?” Liz asked cautiously. “Why?”
“For you dating someone else.”