Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
The elevator door opened, and I marched toward my father’s office.
His receptionist, Beth, jumped to her feet. “I’m supposed to let your father know—”
I walked by her. “I’ll let him know I’m here.”
“Ms. Tilson!” she cried out when I opened the door and slammed it behind me.
My father looked up from his computer, smiled, then leaned back in his chair and assessed me as I stood in front of him. “Someone isn’t happy.”
Clenching my hands into fists, I stalked toward him. “How could you, Daddy? How could you rewrite something of mine and publish it?”
“Harlee, take a few deep breaths.”
My entire body shook. “No! You took something I wrote—months ago and never published!and changed it. Why would you do that?”
He leaned forward. “Have you not seen the response we’ve been getting to Brax and Ms. Seaside? They’re going crazy for it, and it makes for an amazing read. I just gave you a nudge in the right direction with Braxton.”
I stood there and gaped at him. “You care more about this paper than you do your own daughter.”
“Oh, Harlee, stop that. This is business and you know it. You’ve spent years gossiping about everyone in this town, including your own friends, and now you have a problem with it? You’ve even talked about yourself in the column. Why do you have an issue with it now?”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut before I said something to my father that I’d regret later. I needed to stop and focus on my words.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The hand that Braxton had held only minutes ago still felt as if it tingled, and that made my heart ache in my chest. Suddenly, I was so tired.
God, I felt exhausted. I was mentally and physically exhausted. All the lying about Ms. Seaside had paid its toll on me, and I was over it. All of it.
I wanted to go back to the cabin. To pretend that none of this had happened. I wanted to wrap my arms around Brax and tell him I still loved him. That I had never stopped loving him.
Tears stung at the back of my eyes because I knew I couldn’t do that.
“Now that you’ve calmed down, do you see my point?”
Looking at my father once again, I slowly shook my head. “No, Daddy, I don’t see it at all. You stole something that was mine, something I never intended to publish, and took liberties with it knowing I was out of town with Braxton. I write what I want to write. What I’m comfortable writing. I never would have mentioned going away with Brax in an article and made it seem like it was a love triangle between me, Brax, and Thomas. More importantly, I would have never taken your words and changed them and printed them without asking your permission. You went behind my back and did this.”
He sighed and slumped in his chair. “Why do you care so much now, Harlee? This column was your idea. You knew what you were getting into when you started it. At the most, I guess I shouldn’t have taken one of the articles and tampered with it—”
“Or published it as me.”
“It is my paper.”
“It’s my life, Daddy! I get to control it. And it’s my column. I get to control what information I put in and what I don’t. We both agreed when I started this that you would give me one-hundred-percent ownership and wouldn’t censor me.”
“I didn’t censor you. I added content. And from the comments online, everyone seems to love the idea of you and Braxton being together. What makes your private life any different than those of the people you write about?”
I blinked several times. I wasn’t sure if I was attempting to keep my tears at bay or clear the sudden confusion that his words had caused. “The difference is, you took an article I wrote and changed it to benefit you.”
He shook his head. “I also did it for you, Harlee.”
I let out a bark of bitter laughter. “For me? How in the world did you do this for me?” I asked, slamming a fist to my chest.
Standing, my father placed his hands on his desk. “You might not want to admit it to yourself, Harlee, but you’ve never gotten over Braxton. I would go so far as to say you’re in love with him—maybe even more than before.”
And that’s when it happened. The dam broke and the tears spilled free.
My father straightened abruptly and started to make his way around his desk.
I put up my hand to stop him. “Stop. Don’t,” I whispered.
I was about to open my mouth to say I was finished being Ms. Seaside when I heard a female voice clear their throat behind me.
Spinning around, I gasped when I saw Braxton standing next to Beth. His eyes bounced from me, to my father, before settling on me again.