Heart of the Matter by Marta Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

wasn’t who she was.
    And he hadn’t really answered her questions. He hadn’t denied or explained anything. He’d stonewalled her, like a crooked politician fending off the press.
    She tossed the towel in the trash and touched her hair, smoothing a strand back into place, regaining the polished facade she was careful to present to the world. Well, even if she hadn’t gotten the answers she’d gone into Ross’s office for, something had been gained. She’d actually confronted Ross Lockhart, and she was still in one piece.
    She grimaced at her face in the mirror. More or less, anyway. And she still had her job, although he’d issued a not-so-subtle threat on that score.
    Ross had implied that she was imagining the emotional currents that had swirled through the office during that interview. Little though she wanted to believe that, she forced herself to consider the possibility.
    She couldn’t deny that she tended to rush headlong into her latest crusade. If she did deny it, her loving family would stand in line to protest. There was that incident with the woman who claimed her lawyer had stolen her inheritance. It turned out she had neither lawyer nor inheritance.
    Tension had existed between Ross and her father. She certainly hadn’t dreamed that up. But it was possible that the two men simply disliked each other. Daddy could well have picked up on her feelings for her annoying new boss over the past few months. She hadn’t made a secret of them, certainly.
    But that didn’t account for her conviction that her father had been hiding something. Brett Bodine never hid anything—everything he thought came right out his mouth. Anyone who knew him knew that. He should have exploded at Ross. He hadn’t.
    She pushed herself away from the sink. Standing here brooding about it wasn’t doing the least bit of good. She had to think this through logically. If she talked to Daddy—
    The reluctance she felt to broach the subject shocked her. She’d never hesitated to talk to her father, even though sometimes she’d known she’d have to be prepared to ride out a storm if she did. But then, never before had she suspected that Daddy was lying.
    Enough of this. She strode out of the restroom and headed for her desk. She’d forget the whole thing, go and get some supper, maybe call Annabel, just for the assurance of hearing her twin’s voice.
    But when she rounded the corner of the newsroom, she realized she’d forgotten something. C.J. was there, apparently waiting for her. In Amanda’s chair, in fact.
    C.J. got up hastily when she spotted Amanda coming. “Hey.” She seemed to take a second look at Amanda. “Is somethin’ wrong?” Her tone was laced with a kind of reluctant concern.
    “No, nothing.” She pasted what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face. “I didn’t realize you were still here. We don’t expect our interns to work late, you know.”
    C.J.’s face tightened, as if she interpreted that as a criticism. “I was writing up the descriptions of the Coast Guard base, like you asked me to. Or was that just busywork to keep me out of the way?”
    Amanda pressed her lips together. The truth was that she’d forgotten all about giving C.J. that assignment, and the kid was astute enough to know that. She cleared her mind and prepared to deal with the problem in front of her.
    “The assignment isn’t busywork, but it’s true that I need to get a sense of where your writing is now. And it wouldn’t have been appropriate to take an intern to that sort of interview. You see that, don’t you?” C.J. nodded, perhaps a bit reluctantly.
    “Okay, then. Let’s have a look at what you’ve written.”
    The intern put a couple of sheets of paper in front of her on the desk. “I was just doing some rewriting on the printouts. If you want, I can input the changes and print it out again.”
    So C.J. wanted to present her with the best work possible. That was a good sign.
    “Not necessary. Believe me,