Penny came over to spend the weekend with Carly and have some girl time. Carly’s parents were gone for the weekend, and she was house and dog-sitting. The two best friends went for a few walks, watched movies and ate junk food, and on Saturday night, they decided to have some drinks in their pajamas.

After Carly shut the blender off and poured two more margaritas, she said, “I just don’t understand why he’s being so stubborn. He obviously has feelings for me.”

“Maybe he’s scared.” Penny reached for her drink.

“Of what?”

“Losing his career momentum. I mean, you’re kind of worried about that too, aren’t you?”

“No!” Carly grimaced. “It’s actually kind of the opposite. I’m afraid I’ll get so into my career that ten or fifteen years will go by before I bother to look up and try and find someone. By then, I might be too old and hardened to love anyone.”

Penny laughed. “You won’t be old in ten or fifteen years.” She carried her drink into the living room, and Carly followed her. They were on their second round, and Carly had to move carefully to keep the green liquid from sloshing over onto her mom’s beige carpet.

Penny set her drink down on an end table next to the brown leather couch, pushed her glass up further on her nose, and plopped down. “So, do you think he’s going to fire you?”

Carly sat in the brown rocking chair across from her friend. “It sure seems like it. Ugh. Then what am I going to do?”

“You’ll find another job, that’s what. But maybe you can keep him from firing you.”

“How? It seems like he doesn’t want me to work on any stories. Plus, he doesn’t want to have me around. So what can I even do? Maybe I should just quit while I’m ahead. It’s my first job out of college, and I’ve only been there for a week, so I could just leave it off my resume.”

“Find a story yourself.” Penny picked up her margarita and took a long swig.

Carly cocked her head at her friend. “That’s not a terrible idea,” she said slowly. Then she shook her head and took a sip of her own drink. “But how? I have, like, zero connections in Newton.” She dropped her head back onto the chair. “Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a reporter after all. Fired from my first job. Really?”

“You haven’t been fired yet. Hey, you said that Jessica lady from your office seemed to know about something the other day when you talked to her. Maybe it’s a scoop. Think you can find a way to get her to spill the beans to you?”

Carly shook her head. “She didn’t seem like she was going to say anything. Maybe I read her wrong.”

“I highly doubt that. Girl, talking to you is like taking truth serum. People are going to tell you what they know whether they want to or not. Maybe you just need to talk to her again and turn on some of your reporter magic. Think of her as a hostile witness or whatever.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “I’m not a lawyer, Pen. I’m a reporter.”

“Right! And who do you think gets the dirt when the lawyers can’t? Reporters! Don’t forget about Bernstein.”

Carly raised an eyebrow and nodded thoughtfully. Then she jumped up and turned on some music, and they had a dance party like teenagers.

The rest of the weekend went by fast. Carly had a great time with Penny, and she couldn’t help wondering how different things would be if her friend had shown up for their beach vacation. Carly wouldn’t have had the fling with Donovan. Would her job be going easier now? Would she and the editor have still found each other attractive if they hadn’t had the affair but had just met on Carly’s first day at the paper?

On Monday morning, Carly dressed carefully and got to work early. She was on a mission, and she wanted to give herself plenty of time. Jessica wasn’t at the front desk when Carly arrived, so she went and got settled in at her cubicle and then headed back up to the lobby.

The receptionist looked up and smiled when she saw Carly. “Good morning!”

“Morning. Hey, I wondered if I could talk to you for a minute.”

“Sure!”

“I’m still looking for a story. Donovan doesn’t seem ready to give me one, and I’m kind of worried that, if I don’t have an opportunity to prove myself soon, I’ll be out on my ear.”

Jessica’s forehead wrinkled as she narrowed her eyes. “That’s terrible. Everyone really likes you here. The top reporters are saying you do a good job wrangling their notes into great stories.”

Carly flashed her best smile. “That’s good to hear.” She put on a sad look. “But I really want something of my own. You know, so I get the byline.” She moved closer to Jessica and leaned in, speaking in what she hoped was a conspiratorial voice. “Are you sure you don’t have a scoop you could give me to chase down?”

Jessica’s eyes darted back and forth. Aha! She did know something. Carly held her breath and tried to keep a puppy dog look on her face. Finally, the receptionist leaned even closer and spoke. “Okay, I really don’t know if this is even a story or not, but some people have called in saying that Monroe Manufacturing over on the east side of town is dumping chemicals illegally into the Cross River.” She glanced around again. “I told Donovan about the calls, but he hasn’t assigned it to anyone yet. He must not think it’s a real story.” She wrung her hands. “Please don’t tell him I told you about this.”

Carly pretended to use a zipper to close her lips. “If anything comes of it, I’ll tell him I heard it from a friend or stumbled on it myself. Thanks, Jessica. You’re a life saver!”

Carly almost danced back to her cubicle. She grabbed her notebook and coffee and went to the story meeting in the conference room. Donovan was already there, and he looked irritated. Carly sat as far away from him as she could. She’d abandoned the practice of sitting right next to him when aloofness had become her new plan. And now it seemed like the prudent thing to do was to stay away from him and hope he didn’t fire her.

Donovan was grumpy and terse with everyone. He only spoke when he had to, and he assigned stories quickly and kept the meeting short.

Carly got a story.

She stared at the typed paragraph on the sheet of paper he’d passed around the table to her. What in the world? It was a total fluff piece. He wanted her to go to the Newton Bakery and report on their new cupcake flavor. Did he think so little of her?

She wandered slowly back to her cubicle, staring at the paper. She could get this done in about two hours. But going to the cupcake shop could be a cover for her. She’d pretend to be there longer and head out to Monroe’s to see what she could dig up.

Once she made the decision, Carly quickened her pace. She had to extricate herself from a conversation with Jackson, who had been waiting at her cubicle, but she got out of the building and into the Kia fast.

The bakery owner was a delightful young woman with a bubbly personality. Carly felt a sinking feeling as they talked about the new cupcake flavor, red velvet mint. The woman sure could talk about cupcakes. After fifteen minutes, Carly was desperate for a way to end the conversation and get going. She forced herself to take a deep breath and stay in the moment. Monroe Manufacturing wasn’t going anywhere.

After an hour and a half, two cupcakes devoured, and a full tour of the bakery, Carly was back in her car. She scribbled a few more notes on things she wanted to remember when she wrote the bakery piece and then started driving east.

Carly felt her pulse quicken as she got closer. This could be her big break. She was determined to get the scoop, finally have a story with her byline on it, and maybe . . . just maybe . . . turn Donovan’s opinion about her around.