She laughed. “Of course, you get it. I think we’ve all been there at some point. Okay, so last February…”
Stephanie and I talked for almost an hour. When the call wrapped up, I sat there staring at my laptop. She confirmed exactly what I had been starting to piece together.
Brian had a reputation for making women feel uncomfortable. He was pushy, dropped his clients’ names to get what he wanted, and sometimes crossed a line. What made it worse was that people looked the other way because of who he was. And the manipulation didn’t stop at female reporters. His clients trusted him. And the more I dug, the uglier it got. This was worse than I thought.
Now, I understood Stephanie’s hesitation. If you were going to make an accusation as strong as this, you needed proof, and I wasn’t going to stop until I got it.
I rubbed a hand over my face before reaching for my phone again.
My thumb hovered over the next person on my list. It was amazing how once one story started, the rest just kept on coming.
I straightened up in my seat and hit call.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Julie. It’s Becca Hendrix. I appreciate you making the time to talk with me today.”
“Thanks for pickingme up at the airport,” Callie said, rolling her suitcase into Nate’s living room and setting it off to the side.
“Of course,” I said, juggling my keys and the grocery bag digging into my wrist. “I stopped by the store earlier and picked up a few snacks.” I held up the bag. “Your brother is in the middle of the season, so I figured you might want something other than protein bars and grilled chicken to eat.”
She laughed while following me into the kitchen. “You didn’t have to do all that.”
I set the bag on the counter. “I needed to make it look like an actual person lived here,” I said, as she watched me unload the chips, salsa, cookies, and wine.
She leaned against the counter, staring at all the food that would be on her brother’s “non-approved list.”
I opened the pantry to put a few things away and searched for the wine opener. After the week I had, I needed a glass badly. Actually, I probably needed the whole damn bottle.
She shook her head and smiled, while I popped the cork on the wine.
“He’s been like this forever. Even when he was a teenager.”
“Really?” I slid a glass of wine her way.
“Afraid so. Every Friday night, my parents would order pizza and wings, but Nate would only eat one piece, then go eat his grilled chicken and rice. He was always conscious about what he put in his body.”
Huh. That was interesting. When we ordered Chinese the other night, I noticed he only ate the chicken and broccoli. He had cheat days here and there, but he was very disciplined in a way I never could be. I loved my carbs too much.
“Well, that sounds depressing.” I lifted my glass. “Here’s to eating junk food for the entire weekend.”
She clinked her glass against mine. “You might be my new favorite person.”
We drifted into the family room and collapsed onto the couch.
“How was your flight?” I asked, tucking one leg underneath me.
She sipped her wine. “Nate bought me a first-class ticket, so it was great.”
She almost didn’t come, with everything going on, but I was thankful that she did. I knew he really wanted her here.
Callie leaned forward with her wineglass dangling loosely between her fingertips. “He told me what has been going on.”
I knew he called and mentioned there were some things going on, and didn’t want her blindsided. I just wasn’t sure how much she knew, so I let her do most of the talking.
“It’s been crazy, but I’m glad you came. He has been looking forward to your visit.”
Her expression softened. “He didn’t sound like himself. I’m worried about him.”
