Once Upon a Friendship

On the fact that a kiss had never rocked him so deeply...

“It was the night the letter came to the shop,” she said. “That’s when we were sitting at that table, just the two of us. After Tanner and the police left, and then Marie went with Burton, we were the only ones in the shop...”

He wasn’t surprised she’d gone straight to analyzing. He’d moved as far away from her as he could while still having a good view of the screen. They’d both continued to stare only at it.

If they ignored the fact that they’d just kissed, would the fact disappear into the ether as though it was just another of the dreams that had been haunting him the past several nights?

“We have to find out who took the picture,” Liam said.

“My guess is it’s the same person who sent the letter. I’m thinking he sent the letter to set us up. To bring us both down there. With the hopes of getting a good shot of the two of us together.”

“Why would anyone want a shot of the two of us together?” The surprise brought on by her statement had him staring at her before he knew he’d broken his vow not to look at her again. “We weren’t branded a couple until you spoke to that reporter this morning...”

Gabi’s brow furrowed, and for the first time since he’d known her she looked lost. Completely and truly lost.

Had his kiss done that to her?

The idea shouldn’t please him.

But it did.

* * *

DIZZY WITH CONFUSION, Gabrielle attempted to swallow to counteract the dryness in her throat. She looked back at the computer, attempting to find a rational explanation for the way her mind had spun a scenario that didn’t exist.

Her life was based on reason. Understanding allowed the ability to affect. To change. To make better...

“You’re right,” she said when she could trust herself to sound professional. “The photographer wasn’t looking for us in particular, he was watching you and I just happened to be there. It fits. The news of your father’s arrest had hit, but there was no mention of the grand jury indictment yet at that point. He was betting one would be coming, that it would be big news, and he was going to be ready when it hit. I’ll bet he took hundreds of photos so he’d have an arsenal to choose from when the time was right.”

She was back on her game. Her mind was working. She just had to focus on the job. The one thing in her life she could count on. Her security. And her greatest satisfaction. Her source of happiness...

And pray that Liam let go of her jumping to such an inane conclusion. Lest he figure out that she was also inanely rattled around him.

Lest either one of them be forced to mention the kiss that they needed to forget ever happened.

Liam pointed to the screen, farther down in the article, and she realized he’d been reading.

His finger was on her quote from that morning and she started to lose grounding again. Shaking inside, cold and feeling pressure in her chest, she knew her worst nightmare from that morning had come true.

She’d embarrassed Liam on a national level. Made his situation worse by feeding the media fodder the American public would gobble up.

He scrolled down. And the picture of him being arrested came into view.

The news was sensationalistic. The national source’s handling of it was not. Only the facts were being told. But the implications couldn’t be missed.

As soon as Walter Connelly had been arrested, his son and his longtime best friend, attorney Gabrielle Miller, had hit the streets with their separate little dramas. One had to ask, according to the story, why the couple who’d never been together in the media before both hit on the same day. Could it be that they were trying to detract media attention from the FBI investigation?

Trying to protect Walter Connelly by having his alleged sins be less public?

The article intimated that the couple, in light of the newly exposed picture of them taken the week before, were clearly an item. The pieces were all coming together: Liam Connelly’s broken engagement. His father’s arrest. And then the exposure of his longtime affair with Gabrielle.

Both Connellys were of the same cloth—men who appeared honest and trustworthy but led secret and not so honest lives.

The implication was that Walter Connelly was already assumed guilty. Before he’d even been indicted.

The press was busy judging the family’s way of handling being found out, not questioning if a man with as many philanthropic endeavors as Walter had would have committed such a crime. They’d already been judged.

Other pictures were there. One of Liam and Elliott by the door in the back of the apartment complex and several of Walter—stock photos and a couple of more recent ones.