A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,13
piece of it as well as a big scoop of eggs.
“Did Aiyana tell you?” she asked.
“Tell me what?”
“I’ve decided to go ahead and sue the station,” she replied as he set the food in front of her. “I talked to my attorney about it this morning.”
He returned to the stove to dish up his own breakfast. “You confident in that decision?”
“I feel it’s the right thing to do,” she hedged. “But I’m scared. It could get ugly. Ethan could go to the media, cause the story to blow up even bigger, when all I want is for it to go away—the sooner the better.”
“You should expect the worst. You need to be prepared or your commitment will waver.”
Biting her bottom lip, she stared down at her food. “How do I get prepared?”
“You have to know your own mind, remain determined.” That was how he tackled each new climb. It was determination that carried him through every challenge.
“At Christmas,” she added glumly. “Who wants to deal with such negative—and embarrassing—stuff at Christmas?”
He thought of her parents’ divorce and her grandmother’s deteriorating mental state, but she didn’t mention those things, and he didn’t bring them up, either. He rummaged through the refrigerator for ketchup, grabbed the last piece of toast he’d buttered and the rest of the eggs, and sat down with her at the table. “I can’t imagine anyone would. But Ethan whatever-his-last-name-is brought this fight to you.”
“Right.” She watched as he took his first bite. “There’s just one thing.”
He swallowed. “What’s that?”
She cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable. “I hate to ask you this, but...” Her eyes skittered away from his only to return a second later, and her shoulders lifted as she drew in a deep breath. “I can’t quit imagining it, can’t quit feeling as though... Well, it’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it?”
“If there’s an elephant in the room, I don’t know about it,” he said, mystified.
“You’ll understand as soon as...” She twisted her hands in her lap. “Maybe if I just broach the subject, get it out of the way, I’ll be able to relax and...and won’t have to feel so self-conscious and humiliated every time I see you...”
He swallowed. “Sounds good to me. What are you talking about?”
“You haven’t...” She squeezed her eyes closed. “You haven’t watched the video, have you?” she blurted out.
He waited for her to open her eyes, which she did with a wince, as though she was afraid of what she might hear. “No.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Really?”
Skepticism showed in her voice, but there was hope in her face—and it was the hope that made him glad he was telling the truth. “Really,” he said with more authority.
She pushed her eggs around her plate. “Most people, especially old acquaintances, would look it up the moment they heard of it. Curiosity alone would tempt someone to watch it. I admit—” her face reddened “—if I wasn’t the one going through this and someone told me there was a sex tape on the internet featuring you or anyone else I knew from high school, I’d be tempted to look it up. I was a news anchor, after all. I’ve been trained to jump on any piece of potential news, even if it’s only gossip. I’m sort of ashamed of that now that I’m on the other end.”
“It’s human nature,” he said.
She took another bite. “So why haven’t you looked it up?”
It sure as hell wasn’t because he wasn’t interested. Like she’d said, curiosity alone dictated he have a look. He guessed he felt even more curiosity than others, because of his earlier romantic interest in her.
Before he’d dropped into bed last night, he’d nearly gone online to see what all the fuss was about. How bad was it? How much of her could be seen? Should she be as embarrassed as she was? Was Ethan putting on an act, playing the great lover, knowing he was videoing the whole thing? Did he ever look toward the camera?
The thought that Ethan might have done something like that had made Dallas want to punch him in the face. He’d used his anger as an excuse to grab his laptop. He gave himself several other excuses, too—it was no big deal, everyone else had seen it, it might help him calm Emery’s fears and convince her it was no big deal if he knew what exactly was involved. It wasn’t like it would change his opinion of her. What would it hurt?