She started packing her bag up while her mind worked overtime. Who the hell was Erin Edwards? The girl could be a stunt, but Brady had said that he wouldn’t ever let Heather go that far. She couldn’t pick someone for him to date . . . for him to marry. He agreed to be set up for events out of convenience, but that was where he drew the line. How had they met? Did he still think about Liz?
No, it clearly didn’t matter.
“Is he dating that girl?” Liz blurted out before she could stop herself.
Savannah turned back to face her. Her face was a mask in indifference, and if Liz hadn’t worked with her every day for the past seven months, she wouldn’t have known the other girl was uncomfortable with the question. Liz knew Savannah didn’t like to talk about her family, but she needed someone to tell her whether what they were showing on the news was a false trail . . . or if Brady really had moved on.
“Liz . . . you know I can’t talk about it. It’s a conflict of interest if I tell you and then you write about it. Sorry.”
“No, I know,” Liz said. She sighed and looked away, hoping Savannah didn’t notice the heat rising in her face. “I wasn’t planning to write about it. I mean, no offense, but right now he’s old news, with the campaign being over and him a freshman congressman. I was merely curious.”
Damn. How had she kept her tone neutral? Brady Maxwell was never old news. He was so hot that she could put him in any paper and make people read about him, but she didn’t, because most of the time it just hurt too much. And really, he had just gotten into office, so there wasn’t much to cover. Either way, she just hoped she could convince Savannah.
“None taken,” Savannah said with a laugh that told Liz she was relaxing. “I will tell you, though, it’s so weird having my dad and Brady in D.C. now. I always knew Brady would get there, but I’m not used to him being gone.”
“Yeah, I bet that’s hard,” Liz said. Savannah’s father was a sitting Senator in the U.S. Congress, and Brady had followed in his footsteps right into the House of Representatives. She knew they were all close.
“It is sometimes. I know you’ve heard some of his speeches about not wanting to leave North Carolina, and that’s not him spitting bullshit. He really did want to stick close. He made sure to still spend time with me, especially after Clay left,” Savannah told her.
“That’s sweet of him,” Liz managed. She and Savannah had never talked directly about Brady since that first conversation, when Savannah had made it clear that she knew Liz did not agree with Brady’s politics. She hadn’t wanted to be judged on her brother or by Liz’s political beliefs.
Little did she know.
Savannah shrugged and then nodded. “That’s Brady.”
Yes, it most certainly was.
They both turned to exit the newspaper together, but just before they reached the double doors of the mostly empty office, Liz stopped Savannah short. “Savannah, I don’t want you to think that I was digging for material back there or anything. It was just my own curiosity.”
Oh man, she was going to go all out, wasn’t she?
“And I know what my articles said about him last summer,” Liz said. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this. “But I changed my mind.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was wrong about him and his behavior, and I ended up voting for him in the election.”
“You did?” Savannah asked, surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t really talk about it with anyone. It’s kind of a personal thing.”
“Wow. That’s . . . unexpected.” She broke into a big smile. “I don’t know why, but I feel like a huge weight just lifted off my shoulders. Is that weird?”
Liz laughed and shook her head. “No.”
“It feels weird.”
“Well, I’m still glad I told you.”
“Me too.”
“Just don’t tell anyone. I’d hate to ruin my reputation as a hard-ass,” Liz joked.
“My lips are sealed,” Savannah told her, pushing through the double doors.
They walked down the stairs and out to the main lobby. The building looked like a ghost town. Liz rarely saw the Union look so deserted. She knew there was an away basketball game just a town over today, and it was a Friday, but it seemed exceptionally quiet. She walked outside with Savannah and realized why.
It was snowing.
Walking back from her meeting with Justin, she certainly hadn’t thought it was cold enough for snow. It only snowed in Chapel Hill once or twice a year, and it was never anything dramatic. But for someone who grew up in Tampa and never saw snow, it looked like a blizzard.
Savannah giggled next to her and held her hand out, catching a few flakes on her palm. They immediately dissolved into water droplets and her smile just grew.
“Come on. Let’s go catch some!” she said, pulling Liz toward the Pit, where a cluster of other students were milling around and staring up at the sky.
“Um . . . snow and I do not get along,” Liz told her. She was already shivering with the cold sinking into her clothes. She hadn’t even brought a waterproof jacket and she was in heels, as usual. This was not going to be a fun walk home.
“Why would you wear heels today?” Savannah asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t look at the weather.”
“Well, we’re supposed to get six inches by tonight, and then it’s supposed to ice over. Of course, this only ever happens on the weekend.”
Liz shuddered. Last winter there had been less than six inches of snow in Chapel Hill and they had closed school for three days, because the roads were impassable. It was a huge problem when the town only had a handful of snowplows.
“Of course, and now I have to walk home in this,” Liz groaned.
“Do you want me to give you a ride?” Savannah offered. “I have a parking spot on campus, and the roads won’t be bad for a couple hours.”
“Oh my God, I would love you forever!”
“It’s kind of a walk, but I was just happy I got one,” Savannah said, setting off across campus.
Then the thought caught up with her. “Wait, you’re a freshman. How did you get a parking spot?”
She wasn’t sure why she even asked. It was pretty obvious. Savannah had an influential family, so she probably got whatever she wanted. Just like Brady. Ugh! Liz didn’t even want to think about him or Erin Edwards right now.
“Um . . . the chancellor and my father are old friends.”
“Ah . . .”
Liz wasn’t going to argue with their favoritism today. Today she was just glad that she didn’t have to walk home.
They reached the parking deck and Savannah located her small black BMW. Liz tried not to sigh. She wasn’t surprised that Savannah had one. Brady had a brand-new Lexus. She assumed Clay drove a sports car; it just felt like Clay.
God, why could she not escape Brady? She was surrounded by his family and he was constantly on the news. Just when she was moving past what had happened, he cropped right back up. And she just fucking wanted to know if he was dating that girl. She didn’t even care how stupid it was. It made her want to dial his number and demand to know . . . even though she knew she never could.
Liz didn’t live too far away. It would have been a bad walk, but it was an easy drive. The snow was coming down harder when Savannah pulled up in front of Liz’s house.
“Thanks a lot,” Liz told her.
“Anytime. Hopefully this sticks and we don’t have school next week, but otherwise I’ll see you on Monday.”
Liz popped the door open and turned to go, but thought better of it. “I hope you don’t think that I’d actually publish anything you tell me, Savannah. I take my job seriously, and unless you’re telling me something because you want it in the paper, it would never end up there.”