Then he was gone, his speech over, and the news outlet flashed a series of pictures of him with the same girl over and over and over. The same skinny brunette she had seen in the green gown on New Year’s Eve. He wasn’t pictured with anyone else.
Her heart stopped beating. Who was this girl?
Brady’s press secretary, Heather, appeared next, standing on a stage, answering questions to a press room in D.C. The clip only showed one question, though.
“Ms. Ferrington, can you comment on Representative Maxwell’s bachelor status? He has appeared several times with the same woman, and as we all know, it’s not common for the Congressman to stick to just one.”
The crowd laughed lightly, but Liz just cringed.
Heather smiled. She had been prepped for the question, no doubt. “Representative Maxwell has no comment but to say that whatever relationship he has with Miss Erin Edwards is business of his own, and he would prefer to keep his personal life personal, ladies and gentlemen.”
Liz felt as if her eyes might pop out of their sockets. That was perfectly planned—a stunt by the campaign to spotlight his new relationship. Was it just a ploy, though? It didn’t sound like Brady, but Christ, what did she know about Brady Maxwell?
All she knew was the name that was going to be on everyone’s lips from here on out: Erin Edwards.
Chapter 7
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Earth to Liz. Earth to Liz,” Savannah said a moment later, waving her hand in front of Liz’s face. “Are you alive in there?”
“What? Oh, yeah, sorry. Zoned out, I guess,” Liz muttered.
“Happens. I was just about to get out of here. Are you finished?” Savannah walked back to her desk and grabbed her purse.
Liz stared at her computer blankly. Well, she wasn’t going to get any work done now. “Yeah, I suppose I am.”
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.