“And what does the story say?”
“It’s something awful about her having some mystery ailment the doctors can’t cure. They talk about her body wasting away and so forth. It even says something about Gherring getting back on the Most Eligible Bachelors list.”
Before he could stop himself, a curse slipped from his mouth.
“Spencer! Watch your mouth. Anyway, it’s only a tabloid story.”
“You don’t understand how Mrs. Gherring is about this stuff. She gets mortified. Mr. Gherring’s going to be furious. Does it look like they’re walking toward the parking area?”
“Yes, definitely. You can even see the hood of a car. Why?”
“The four of us were the only ones in the parking area when we were waiting for the Gherrings to come off the trail. It had to be one of the girls.”
“Your friends you brought along from the hiking club? One of them took the picture?” asked Grace. “Oh, shoot!”
“I know.”
Spencer stared at the picture on the front page of NYC Word. It was clearly the Gherrings, and Mrs. Gherring looked as sick as his sister had described her. The story was worse than he’d imagined—supposed reports of eyewitnesses who’d seen her pass out, a quote from a doctor who proposed likely diagnoses. He berated himself for agreeing to take Becca and Candace on the hike. Now, he was responsible for this fiasco. He could lose his job. But more importantly, he could lose Emily. He was hoping to someday be more than friends, but now he might even lose her friendship.
He had to find out who’d taken the picture. It must have been Candace. She’d seemed all too interested in Mrs. Gherring’s health, and she’d told him about the other picture and story in the NYC Word. Sigh. He’d call Becca first.
“Hi Spencer. What’s up? Are you going on the overnight hike this weekend?”
“No, I can’t. But that’s not why I called.”
“Why did you call?”
“There was a picture in a tabloid today. A picture of the Gherring’s coming off the hiking trail. Does that sound familiar?”
“No. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying either you or Candace took that picture and gave it to the tabloid.”
“I didn’t do it!” Her voice was indignant. “I would never do something like that. I don’t think Candace would either. How do you know someone else didn’t take the picture?”
“There was no one else in the parking lot, and the picture was taken from right behind where I was standing. I’m pretty sure it was Candace, but I thought I’d cal
l you first. This is really bad. It was an awful thing to do to them, and I could lose my job over it.”
“Oh... I just can’t believe Candace would do something like that. I thought I knew her pretty well. I’m really sorry, Spencer. I hope it won’t affect things between us. If I find out she really did it, I won’t be her friend any more.”
He cringed. Did she really think there was something between them? “It’s okay, Becca. The damage has been done now.”
“S-sorry. D-do you want me to talk to her?” Great—now she was crying. He was going to swear off women altogether.
“No. I’m calling her right now.”
“You have her phone number? I didn’t know you were friends.”
“She called me yesterday, so I have it. We’re not friends, especially not now. Becca, I need to go.”
“Okay. Bye Spencer. Will I see you this weekend?”
“I really don’t know, Becca.” He disconnected the call. Was this his fault, too? Had he done something to make her believe they had a real relationship beyond friendship?
He called Candace’s number. No answer. He tried again, and left a message.
“Candace, this is Spencer. We need to talk. Please call me.” Then he sent her a text asking her to call him ASAP.