But none of those were the question to pop out of her mouth.
“Yes, young lady with the dark hair. Sorry, I’m not familiar with your name.”
The blood curdled in her veins as realization dawned on Charlotte that they mayor spoke to her. Every face in the entire room pointed in her direction. So many eyes trained on her. So much attention. Pressure clamped down on her forearm, and Charlotte looked down to realize Bekah held her arm in support. “Um, yes.” Charlotte closed her eyes, took a deep breathe, and opened them again. “Have you been able to determine the motivation for the arsonist? Is there any pattern to the arsons that might indicate they are revenge fires?”
Once again, the fire marshal leaned over the side of the podium to take the question. “It is hard to say at this point. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to the fires, but sometimes patterns don’t become apparent until more evidence is found. Revenge could be one motive. Another could be simply that this guy likes to watch the destruction he causes.”
Charlotte returned to her seat as the press conference wrapped up. Her hands shook violently in her lap, the adrenaline from simply standing and asking a question leaving her body weak.
“Good job, girlie,” Bekah whispered in her ear before turning back to watch the end of the press conference.
Five minutes later, everyone was standing and filing out from the now extremely hot conference room. Except Trey, he stood statue still by the wall, still staring at Charlotte. Ignoring him, or trying to, Charlotte gathered with Bekah and Cory at the back of the room. “I can stay and help you guys put the story together for a little bit, but I have to head back to the newsroom before Annabelle leaves.”
“That would be awesome. No one knows this story like you. But I have to hit the little ladies room first.” Bekah sauntered off, several men watching her as her hips swayed hypnotically. Only she didn’t head to the hallway where the bathrooms were, instead, she walked straight up to Trey, who finally broke his stare down with the back of Charlotte’s head to watch the reporter’s approach.
Uncharacteristic jealousy shot through Charlotte. Was Trey looking appreciatively at her friend? True, he was free to look at any woman he wanted in any way he wanted. But it still made her blood boil. The green-eyed monster consuming her logic quickly got knocked out by panic as she realized Bekah was telling off Trey. From across the room it was impossible to hear what they said, but the waving of Bekah’s finger, the hand on her hip, and Trey’s ashamed face tilting toward the floor told the whole story. Bekah was giving him a piece of her mind about ghosting Charlotte.
If only the ground would open up and swallow her. That would be much preferable to the embarrassment of having her first, what? Ex-lover? Told off by her bold and brassy friend. She knew Bekah meant well, but Charlotte would be having her own uncomfortable with the woman with no boundaries later.
Chest squeezing until she almost couldn’t breathe, her stomach sank down to her feet, and her fingers tingled with building panic. But no matter how much she wanted to escape the situation, her feet were glued to the floor and refused to move.
“Char, you okay?” Cory placed his hand on her shoulder, leaning in to block the scene playing out before her.
It wasn’t until that minute that she realized silent tears had been rolling down her face. Quickly wiping them away, she nodded, but her mouth wouldn’t respond. Cory shrugged and moved to break down his equipment. Once he did, the confrontation between Bekah and Trey seemed to be over. She stomped her way back to where Charlotte stood, and Trey once again stared at her, sadness and anger swirling in his eyes. More tears trickled from her eyes, and the anger left his eyes, leaving only despair. Trey took a step toward her, and she responded by turning on her heel and jogging from the room. Not easy in the heels Bekah had insisted she buy.
“Charlotte, wait.” Bekah ran after her until they stood on the sidewalk outside city hall.
“Why would you do that? What did you say? What did he say?” Charlotte’s chest and shoulders heaved with effort of sucking in breaths past her panic.
“Okay, calm down, slow down. I just yelled at him for treating you the way he did. He didn’t say a word, just took it, looking like I’d kicked his puppy.” Bekah grabbed Charlotte’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Then I guess Cory touched you, and Trey started acting all alpha-dog, emphasis on the dog. He started toward you guys, and I stopped him. Told him he had no right to be jealous when he was the one to drop you without a word. No one would blame you for moving on.”
“I’m not moving on. I never plan on moving on. I’m never doing this dating thing again. It sucks. It hurts.”
“Oh honey. I know it does. But it gets better. You’ve been with one man. I swear there are more, better, out there.” Bekah’s lips curled up into a secretive smile. “Besides, I have a feeling things aren’t totally finished between you and Mr. December.”
No matter how much Charlotte questioned her about that last declaration, Bekah wouldn’t elaborate. Instead, they concentrated on getting her story ready for her first hit on the five o’clock news.
But Charlotte’s brain never strayed far from thoughts of Trey, and the pain that had filled his eyes when she ran from him.
