“No! Are you crazy? My family would take one look at him and tell me to stop acting like a teenager,” Savannah said indignantly. “And I was getting enough of that shit this summer from my brother’s stupid girlfriend.”

The way she said that almost made Liz laugh. There was only one person that Savannah would think was the stupid girlfriend in the Maxwell family. “Andrea?” she asked without thinking.

Savannah raised her eyebrows sharply and Liz realized her mistake. There was no way that Liz was supposed to know that name. No way she was supposed to know anything about Clay, let alone Clay’s girlfriend.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

How could she backpedal out of this one? Liz knew there wasn’t stuff about them in the papers. She had checked and rechecked all of her sources last summer. Clay Maxwell didn’t even have pictures appear online that weren’t from when he was a kid, and the man had sure grown since he was a boy.

“How do you know Andrea?” Savannah asked curiously.

“Um . . .” Liz said, racking her brain. “I met her at an art gallery opening in D.C. over New Year’s,” she blurted out.

“Really?” Savannah asked. “I remember her mentioning buying a bunch of artwork, but I normally tune everything she says out. Have you met Clay? They’re an odd pair, but normally together.”

“He was there with her,” Liz confirmed. That was completely a true statement and yet didn’t answer Savannah’s question. How many times had she met Clay? How many times had he propositioned her to go home with him? Um . . . yeah she had met Clay.

“Huh,” Savannah murmured, clearly mulling it all over. “Well, anyway . . . no, not Andrea. She’s a nut job, but she’s always been that way. You get used to it. It’s Erin . . .”

Liz swallowed and cleared her mind. Nothing to think about. Nothing at all.

“What happened with Erin?”

Savannah rolled her big brown eyes to the ceiling and pulled all of her hair over to one shoulder. “She just . . . mothers me! Like I think she really, really wants to be my friend, because Brady and I are close. But she was at Hilton Head with us, and found out about the thing with Lucas. She wanted me to play buddy-buddy and have me confide in her. She kept saying things like, ‘I feel like we’re sisters.’ Um . . . I’m sorry. I don’t know you like that. We’re not sisters. I don’t have any sisters, you know?”

“Sure,” Liz said softly.

“Anyway, once I told her what happened with Lucas, she started telling me how I was like a bad person for kissing him and that if he really liked me then he wouldn’t string me along and all this. Which, okay . . . she’s right. Fine. It’s not exactly what she said, but how she said it. In this holier-than-thou voice with her finger sticking out and scolding me. And she has treated me like that every time I’ve seen her since. When I’m around her, I swear I’m about to go crazy.”

Liz nodded, her mind drifting off. She felt bad for Savannah having to deal with someone like that. And she really wanted to think that it didn’t matter that Savannah didn’t like Brady’s girlfriend.

But it made her smile devilishly anyway.

Chapter 15

DROPPING THE BALL

Liz landed back in the Raleigh airport after three days spent in New York City working with Nancy at the New York Times over fall break. She had never worked so hard, but also had never had a better experience in journalism. Nancy had a knack for utilizing people’s strengths, and Liz had been knee-deep in the political reporting area at the paper. She had shadowed various people, assisted in research, writing, and editing, and had even gone out into the field with a seasoned reporter.

The experience further solidified that she was really doing what she loved. She was so often locked away in the academic setting that she didn’t always see what it really felt like to be out there. The college newspaper, while an incredible publication, was nothing compared to starting a career at a professional newspaper.

The only downside to her being in New York for her break meant that she didn’t get to see Hayden. They visited each other as frequently as they could, but as his job grew more demanding and midterms rolled around, they found less and less time together.

It wasn’t the end of the world. A part of her just wanted to drive to Charlotte and shirk her responsibilities. But that wasn’t like her at all . . . She hadn’t been able to do any work for the school newspaper while in New York, and she had homework on top of that. So at least she would be keeping herself busy.

As soon as she got home, she changed into jeans, a three-quarter-sleeve blue button-down, and her knee-high brown boots. She twirled a pink chevron scarf around her neck and grabbed her North Face jacket and laptop before heading right back out the door to the paper.

She parked in her normal parking spot reserved for the editor and trekked up the stairs and into the Union. Liz plopped down at her desk and fired up her computer. She had a million emails regarding editorial work, newspaper design, next week’s stories, and on down the line. She would be up all night sorting through the mess.

A while into her email binge, Liz heard the office door opening. She checked her watch and saw that it was already eight thirty at night. She suspected she wouldn’t get out of here until well past midnight. She actually considered pulling an all-nighter. But she hadn’t thought anyone else would show up at the paper on their fall break.

“Hello?” she called, standing and walking out of her office. A smile broke out on her face as she saw Hayden standing in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. He drew her into him and kissed her cheek. “I got two days off and knew you would be back from New York today.”

“You could have called!”

“Nah . . . it’s better to see that beautiful face when I surprised you,” he said, cupping her cheek and kissing her lips.

“I just can’t believe you’re here. I really didn’t think I’d get to see you until next weekend. How did you know I would be here, anyway?”

Hayden shrugged and gestured for her to walk back into the office. “I called Victoria and she told me.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Liz said, taking a seat her desk. “Well, if I’d known then I wouldn’t have started all this stuff.” She gestured toward the cluttered desk and her open laptop.