“Thanks. You are a life saver.” Mira swiped mascara on her eyelashes, leaning in close to the mirror. Her eyes darted to Charlotte hovering just behind her shoulder. “Something else wrong?”
“Did you see Trey at the scene of the fire today?” Fingers trembling at her sides, Charlotte fisted them to stop the tremors.
“Of course not, this was way outside zone seven. And they didn’t call in any additional man power, so there would be no reason for him to be there.” Mira stopped what she was doing and turned back to face Charlotte. “Why, is everything okay? Things have been good since you got back together, right?”
With a shake of her head, Charlotte stared at the floor. “He’s hiding something from me. Something about the fires. I don’t know if he’s holding back because he doesn’t trust me to report on it, or because he’s involved somehow, but it’s been a barrier between us. This morning was the first time we’d, you know…” She raised her eyebrows, praying Mira wouldn’t make her spell things out. “Since we reconnected. He said he loves me.”
“Wow. What did you say?”
“Nothing. I can’t take that step until I know what he’s holding back. I thought it was something about an ex that showed up at his parent’s house during the cookout, but I swear I just saw him in the background of your video fighting with someone. Now I’m thinking this is altogether much worse.”
At that moment, an intern stuck her head in the bathroom door and shouted they had five minutes to air.
“Fudge.” Mira turned back to the mirror and rushed through the rest of her preparations. “After my hit, I want you to show me the video. Then we’ll come up with a plan of attack for confronting Trey. Because you’re right. You can’t go any deeper into this thing with until you know what he’s holding back.”
Mira shoved her things back into the locker assigned to her, and turned once more to Charlotte. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry. We’re journalists, dammit. If we can’t figure out this puzzle, no one can.”
With a wink, Mira headed out to the studio, leaving Charlotte to stand in the bathroom, dread pouring through her. Maybe she didn't want to figure it out. Because something deep in her gut told her the answers they found wouldn’t be something she could live with.
