Could too.I smiled. God, I loved him.But thank you. I accept. Thisonce.
:-)
I sent a kiss in response to his smiley and went back to O’Neal’stexts.
Can wetalk?
Yeah. Will call in asec.
I ran out to the car, chatted with the driver and took off, a little giddy at not having to bus it. I’d be early, foronce!
I tapped her name and put the phone to myear.
“Hey,O’Neal!”
“You got aminute?”
“Um, yeeees.” Why did this sound ominous? “Seriously, why are you blowing up myphone?”
She paused, which sent another wave of foreboding through me. Hesitation was so not my best friend’sbag.
“Okay, O’Neal, now you’re scaring me. What thehell?”
“Did you see my piecetoday?”
“In thepaper?”
“Yeah. Front andcenter.”
“Oh! Congrats! That’s amazing! No, I’ve been at schoolsince—”
“I’m sending it to you. Call meback.”
I clicked on the link andread.
Clint Riley Embezzlement Claims RockElection
I scanned it. Riley’d been caught stealing from the company where he was COO. No charges had yet been filed,but…
Another link popped in. This headline read:Clint Riley, Jr. Drops City Council Race Handing Victory toCruz.
I dropped the phone, my hands numb, my face, my nose, everythingprickling.
The phone rang from the floor of the car and stopped by the time I got to it. Breathing hard, I called O’Nealback.
“What’s goingon?”
“You won!” Her excitement sounded forced. “Congratulations,V!”
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. I didn’twantit this way. Victory was meaningless if my opponent dropped out of the race. I needed the voters to be behind me, not resentful of my presence there. It felt like I’dcheated.
“Who broke the embezzlementthing?”
“Idid.”
My eyes narrowed. Why did she sound so uncomfortable? “Where’d you get thelead?”
“You know I can’t divulge sources to you, Veronica. It’s about journalistic integrity. That wouldbe—”
