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She could hear a smile in his voice The paper was his baby, and he was probably dying being away fro She infor in her class to iood for her, even if he still liked her subjective articles too They agreed too much on the politics of the etting off of the phone with hione? And how had he been able to get away from his busy schedule for a whole hour to talk to her? She certainly hadn’t ood to talk to him Their conversation had flowed so easily It actually made her want to call and talk to him more Maybe she would…

"I hate to cut this short, but I really have to get back to work now Great talking to you, Liz," he said She nearly corrected hi, but then she stopped herself He clearly hadn’t noticed the ti to you too Good luck ork I’ain before I co up, Liz stood and walked back out into the living rooly, as if she knehat had happened before Liz had even opened herto DC, huh?" she asked

"I guess I a back to face the television

Liz stared at the screen, not really seeing it at theback to the conversation she’d had with Hayden They had talked so thoroughly about his job, the paper, her articles, the ca someone to discuss her work and what she loved most She had missed that She and Brady talked, but it was usually sex first, talk later They tiptoed a lot around politics, which she didn’t have to do with Hayden It was a nice change of pace

In fact, Hayden had given her a good idea for the next feature It was broader than her last article, as Professor Mires had suggested If she could tie it back to the students, then they would be islature

She s

Chapter 17

WATCHING YOU WORK

Liz spent all afternoon researching the article she orking on for the paper Victoria coh about Liz’s obsessive behavior that she finally took a break froet some dinner But even when she ay fro about it She wanted to ht first, but she was itching to start writing it

Even after dinner, Victoria was insufferable Liz hadthe house to herself to work The girls sat around and watched awith jitters the whole time Victoria finally rolled her eyes about three-quarters of the way through and told her to leave

"Just get out of here You’reinto the lab until to back to theroorabbed her laptop off of her desk and was on her way to the office a fewcandidate platfor sen platfor a bicycle-rental facility on caht it would be an interesting article if she could string the two together Show all of the policies and procedures thatwithin the state and federally Basically showing the campus that what they cared about here, mattered out there

It was brilliant She had always knohy Hayden had been chosen editor, but he continued to reinforce it

When Liz walked into the building, Meagan was sitting at her desk, which was covered in hot-pink Post-its and a collection of brightly colored candies Liz scrunched her eyes at the display

"Liz!" Meagan said, whirling around in her chair "I didn’t know you were going to be in tonight Are you hungry? Have you eaten? I’o get so"

"No, thanks I just ate Need to work on this article for next week," Liz said

"Are you sure? Do you need any help with it?"

"No, thanks, Meagan I think I got it"

She hurried across the room and into Hayden’s office They had less than half the a when she had taken it over She had a lot of work to do and she knew that she was going to be here well into the wee hours of the night

A few hours later, Meagan ca up and asked her again if she needed any help Liz sh she knew she would be there well past building close The article wasn’t coether as s in pieces on her laptop and even some printed docu to see double when she stared at the screen, and kneas tirabbed her water bottle and trekked down to the water fountain in the hallway As she was filling up her Nalgene, her phone started vibrating from where it was tucked away in her back pocket Liz fished it out of her pocket and pressed it between her ear and shoulder so she could continue filling the bottle

"Hello?" she said

"I’ to come pick you up Be ready in twenty minutes"

Liz’s heart skipped a beat She hadn’t seen Brady in three days He had been busy in Raleigh all orking on can-related materials He hadn’t really saidto see her when she was busy working on the article Hayden had recoht was not the best night "Brady, I can’t"

"What? Why not?" he de I have this huge article I’ on it for hours"

"Then you need a break I’ around," he said sihed "Seriously I’m worried if I take a step away I’ll losedeal for me"

She really wanted him to understand She had a life separate fro toward for a long tiive up her drean And in reality, neither of them should have to They should be able tothe sa to be possible

"Liz, I haven’t seen you in three days That is three days tooto see you Where are you?"