I was glad she could finally see the real strengths in my writing, but it still wasn’t the right time to admit I wasn’t a business expert. We both knew it.
“Keep it up, Paige.”
“Alice?”
She turned. “Yeah, what is it?”
“I have the notes from Commissioner Rodriguez’s press conference. But since you mentioned the feature angles, I was wondering what you thought about me focusing on her.”
Alice set the coffee on the edge of my desk. This was the longest amount of time she had spent at my desk. The first time I met the editor was over a Skype interview. My immediate reaction was she looked tired. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her short blond hair was patched with streaks of gray.
“Are you talking a political story for the election?”
I shook my head. “No, something about why she’s an environmentalist. How is she so connected to these groups? Where does she find them?”
“Hmm. Doesn’t sound very interesting to me.”
“But she’s the only one on the board who is anti-development.”
“Paige, if you find something new and interesting then let me know. In the meantime, I need the name of the contractor starting work on the resort. We are a business journal. A contract like that is going to impact this area.”
My stomach rolled. I knew Mason had narrowed the search to two companies. He had met with both of them in San Antonio. He had purposely kept me from the information. My eyes narrowed. He kept me distracted from a lot of things.
She strolled into her office, closing the door behind her. I could see Alice from where I sat. There was a glass window separating the editor from the pods of cubicles in the center of the room.
I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I wasn’t going to find out the names of the contractors by sitting here. I headed out of the office.
My steering wheel was hot. The seats were hot. Everything in Texas was hot. I waited for the air conditioning to switch from blasts of heated air to something resembling cool before I headed to City Hall. My hope was that whichever contractor had been awarded the bid had already submitted their information to my new friend in the development office.
I clicked the seatbelt when I heard my phone ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Eden Brady. How are you?”
“Eden? Oh, hey.”
“Sorry I haven’t been in touch since last week.”
I tried to figure out where this was going. “It’s fine.” I still had her number folded on the napkin in my purse.
“I told you I’d let you know when we could get together. There’s a bonfire tonight on the beach. I think you should come. You can meet some of our friends.”
I thought back to the night at Pete’s. The night that led to me sleeping w
ith Mason. There was a knot in my stomach.
“Is Mason going to be there?” I had to ask.
“I haven’t seen Mason today. I really want you to come. You can meet my friend Marin, and her girlfriends are in town. It’s going to be fun. You said you needed to meet people on the island, not just tourists. There is nothing better than a Padre bonfire.”
I chewed on the end of my sunglasses. The tips were chipped and jagged from the abuse I gave them. “I want to go, really, but I think it would be awkward if I ran into Mason.”
She huffed. “I haven’t invited him. Bonfires aren’t really his scene. I’ll text you the time, and I can meet you on the boardwalk at the Palm.”
“All right. If you’re sure he’s not going to be there. I think it sounds fun.”
“Awesome.” I could hear the smile in Eden’s voice. “See you tonight. You can tell me what happened between you and Mason.”