Chapter 28

Nichole couldn’t go back to sleep, so she opened her computer and started reading articles and searching information about what she’d read. She wasn’t necessarily back checking what her colleagues had written, just getting more information from a broader source.

At some point, she turned on the auto-read feature on her phone and listened to articles as she ate breakfast and then cleaned the condo, not that Jesse had left much to be cleaned. Nothing in any of the articles caught her attention, so she hopped from one article to another, trying to pick up on any thread that interested her.

Maybe she was just exhausted. Instead of staying in Jesse’s condo, she decided to head to the beach for a few hours. Getting out in the open air would help her focus.

Months, maybe more like a year had passed since she’d been to the beach for something other than work. She’d seen the ocean in the last few years, flown over it, and had an interview in a building next to the beach, but she hadn’t kicked off her flip-flops and dug her toes into the sand.

When she stepped out onto the beach, she closed her eyes and listened to the surf pounding the shore, people chatting as they jogged or walked, and a few kids squealing down the beach as they played. She took it all in, breathing deeply, letting the sun soak into her skin. This was life. Her job took so much out of her. There was always another story, another thread to chase, something to hunt down and suss out. But being here, soaking in the atmosphere, this was why people lived.

Why had her job become everything? Maybe her father not believing she could do anything in life right pushed her. When guilt hit for not visiting her parents, she questioned if it had really been that bad. Her father hadn’t believed she was capable of holding down any sort of job. He’d thought her to be absolutely incompetent. When she first wanted to go to college, she remembered the huge fight between her parents. Her dad had wanted to marry her off to some guy in town.

Ultimately, that fight had driven a wedge between her and her father. When her mother passed away, she’d stopped concerning herself with his needs. It was harsh, but he’d never treated her fairly. Even now, after she’d more than proven that she had what it took to be a journalist and have a job, he thought she should quit. He’d actually called her and told her that she’d embarrassed herself when she’d broken the story of the corporate embezzlement scheme.

He’d wanted her to write the CEO and apologize for exposing the corruption. Of course, she’d told him he was crazy. The CEO and other people at that company had broken the law and used their positions to steal money, not just from consumers but also from the lowest employees at the company. It was horrific what the man had done.

She’d destroyed a criminal enterprise, and that was what she lived for. Exposing corruption at the highest level brought satisfaction to her. The pull to do something great with her life overshadowed her personal needs. Living alone, not having anyone to come home to, had been easy. Working hard and making a difference had been all that mattered to her, but Jesse had been in the back of her mind for four years. Now he was back in her life, and she didn’t want to screw it up. Could she actually make a life with him? Would her work get in the way? She hoped he never thought she didn’t love him just because she left to track down a story.

Somehow, she needed to find a way to keep Jesse in her life and work her job. If people in the industry knew she was dating a Navy SEAL, they would want information. But she would never betray Jesse. There were probably dirty secrets floating around the Navy base, but there were other stories she could cover that wouldn’t pit her against Jesse and his buddies.