For the Record (Record #3)(38)

She ran her hands over the desks, most of which had been emptied for the summer, and then she walked to her old office. She and Brady had had sex in that office. She had spent a year of her life working as editor out of that office. It would always feel a bit like it belonged to her.

She toed the door open and took a step back. “Oh, sorry,” Liz whispered, seeing Massey hunched over the desk on her laptop.

“Liz,” Massey said softly, glancing around. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just leaving,” she said, turning to go.

“Wait,” Massey called. She jumped up from her desk and into the open doorway.

Liz stood still and took a deep breath before facing her again. “What’s up?”

“I haven’t seen you since . . . since you left.”

“Left . . .”

“You know what I mean,” Massey said. “How have you been?”

“Keeping myself busy. But I’m sure you guessed that with all the things popping up in papers,” Liz said dismissively. She didn’t want to have this rift in her friendship, and she knew it wasn’t exactly Massey’s fault that Liz had been forced out of the paper. Still, the argument hit too close to home.

Massey cringed at her statement. “Well, I’m glad you’ve been busy. When are you moving to New York?”

It was Liz’s turn to cringe. “I was let go.”

“Oh,” Massey said. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah. It sucks,” Liz found herself admitting.

“I can’t believe they did that.”

“Well, they did.”

“What do you plan to do now?” Massey asked.

Liz shrugged. “Kind of an open game plan. Applying late to grad programs.”

“Can you do that?”

“We’ll see. Professor Mires thinks so.”

“Oh right. She loves you,” Massey said. “If I can get into UVA for the PhD program, then you’re sure to get in anywhere . . . even late admittance.”

“You got in!” Liz cried. “That’s so great.”

“Yeah. I was really excited. So much to do to get ready to go now, though.”

Liz could feel the tension slowly draining out of her. She might be angry with Massey for what had happened, but she was angrier at the system that had made all of this the reality. Not any one person had ruined everything that she had worked toward. It wasn’t fair to pin it all on Massey just because she was an easy target for Liz’s animosity.

“I know what you mean. Victoria and her boyfriend are moving to D.C. over the summer. They both got into Johns Hopkins and are planning to live together when they go to school. Our house looks like a train wreck right now,” Liz told her.

“Victoria and boyfriend in the same sentence is still weird to me.”

“Join the club, but they’re really serious now.”

“Serious enough to move to D.C. together and get into the same PhD program,” Massey said, shaking her head. “Who knew Victoria would be the first of us to settle down?”

Liz laughed. “No one! But I’m really happy for her. She needed someone like Daniel to keep her ass in line.”

“And if any of us know her, we know he’s probably keeping her ass in line a lot.”

“Oh, God, you’re as bad as she is,” Liz cried, throwing her hands up.

Massey laughed. “So what about you? Are you happy with . . . everything?”

“I’m happy with Brady,” she told her, and then glanced around.

“I’m not working,” Massey said. “It’s all off the record.”

Liz sagged. She was so tired of reporters. She didn’t like being on her guard all the time. “I spend every weekend with him and it’s amazing. We just click. You know?”

Massey got a dreamy look in her eye. “I think I do.”

“Are you dating someone?”

“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head. “But there is a guy I like. Knowing me, it won’t go anywhere.”

“You should go for it,” Liz encouraged her.

“You’re right. Maybe I will.”

“Well, I should probably get out of here. I just wanted to look at the office one more time,” Liz told her. “Probably sounds stupid.”

“No, it doesn’t. I know exactly what you mean.”

Their eyes met and they both smiled. Everything wasn’t suddenly better between them, but they at least had a chance that it would be. That was good enough for Liz. She was glad she had decided to come to the newspaper after all. Waving good-bye to Massey, she exited the newspaper building feeling just a little bit lighter.

Liz turned the corner to take the stairs and stopped dead in her tracks. She gasped. “Hayden?” She hadn’t seen her ex-boyfriend since he had walked out of her house back in February.

“Hey, Liz,” he said, walking the last few stairs to stand next to her. She took a few steps backward. “You look great.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked numbly.

“I came to see you.”

Liz just stared at him. “You drove all the way to Chapel Hill to see me?”

“It’s not like it’s the first time. I used to do it all the time,” he said with that same stunning smile he’d always had.