Dana stared atthe journalist, not believing what she was hearing.
“David Cavallo?”she heard herself say from far away.She swallowed, trying to make sense of what she was hearing.“The David Cavallo who is now co-owner of a string of boutique hotels?”she asked, although she already knew the answer.
Sean Murray, the journalist she was talking to, nodded.“Yup, the same.Although, to be fair, he wasn’t going to print the story before he’d…”
But Dana had stopped listening.A pain sliced through her body, making breathing difficult.She jumped up and frantically looked for the nearest exit.Why couldn’t she breathe?Pushing past people, she kept her eyes on the door, her only thought to get away from here before she threw up or passed out—or both.
This was not what she’d expected when she’d made the appointment with this journalist.She’d thought hearing what he had to say might bring some sort of closure, give her some idea of exactly what role her father had played in the whole thing.But what she had learned was devastating.
David was the journalist who had run the front-page story that suggested her dad was involved in Bob Hastings’s crooked financial scheme.The story that had led to her dad’s incarceration.
Outside the coffee shop, she looked around helplessly.Where had she parked?
Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside of her.The man she’d allowed to kiss her, to touch her, the one she’d been dreaming and fantasizing about for the past five nights was the very same person who had been responsible for her dad’s death.
She stumbled to her car through a haze of tears.He had been a journalist; she didn’t want to get close to him for exactly that reason, but did she listen to her instincts?No.She’d let herself be seduced by a pair of chocolate-brown eyes and had forgotten to shelter her heart.
She turned the key.Her car coughed, stuttered, and died.Just like that.
“Please, don’t do this to me.Please, please?”
Frantically, she tried again, but this time there wasn’t even a cough.
Her phone rang.It was Caitlin.Taking deep breaths, she answered.
“Hi.”She gulped in some air, trying to cover the hitch in her throat so Caitlin wouldn’t know she’d been crying.
It was quiet for a heartbeat.“What’s wrong?”Caitlin asked, and the dam burst.
Dana tried to stem her tears, tried to speak, but all the pent-up emotions of the last two years had found an escape and wouldn’t let up.
“Dana, sweetie, what happened?”Caitlin was clearly also upset.
Caitlin found a tissue, blew her nose, and tried again to speak.
“I… just spoke to the journalist… the one I told you about,” she said, hiccupping.
“That’s why I was phoning.What—”
“He told me the story on the cover, the one that got my dad arrested?It was David’s story!I… can’t believe he didn’t tell me!”The tears were back.“And now my car won’t start!”
“Where are you?”Caitlin asked.
“In Green Point.I met him at the coffee shop.But don’t worry about me, I’ll figure something out.”She searched for her usual calm.
“I know you can do it all but let me help you.I’m on my way to the Waterfront and am very close to you.Sit tight, I’ll be there in five.”She ended the call.
Dana put her head on the steering wheel and let the tears flow.It wasn’t the end of the world; she’d been in worse situations before, and she had always managed to handle things.
What had happened to her dad was devastating, but two years had passed, and she was getting used to the idea that she would never see him again.And she had known her car wasn’t going to last; she’d been saving as much as she could and had been hoping she’d have a few more months before she needed to buy a new car.But she could do it now.It might not be the car she really wanted, but it would be okay.
So that wasn’t why she was so distraught.She felt… betrayed somehow.Betrayed by David.
Betrayed because he had kissed her, touched something inside of her, made her feel special, and he hadn’t told her he was the one who had spilled the story.
She had never even thought of asking him what he knew about the case.But then, they hadn’t really talked much.Before the weekend she’d mostly tried to ignore him, and then at Zoe’s wedding… Well, her lips were involved but not because she was talking.
She frowned.He did say he wanted to talk to her about her dad, but she’d assumed he wanted to tell her what she already knew.
