“It was the way you made it all sound. Natalie wasn’t flirting with Landon.”
Gretchen’s brows shot high. “I definitely did not write that she was. Where does it say that?”
“It doesn’t specifically say that, but?—”
“But nothing, Casey. You’re grasping at straws here. You wanted to write these articles, and now you’re mad that I made them more compelling. This is a business. This isn’t your little book club.”
My eyes widened. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re getting too close to these women. Your job as a journalist is to report what you see. You can’t let others influence your position on a topic. And that’s what’s happening here.”
“No, it’s not. I’m writing a story about two people who are in love. People who are celebrating their happiness with the town. And instead of you wanting it to be a joyous thing, you want to twist it.”
“Didn’t you get divorced a year ago?”
I pulled up short. “I… I did. Why?”
“Why are you so big on love? From what I’ve heard, you got your teeth knocked out by it. Why are you sugarcoating this love story?”
“I’m not sugarcoating anything. I’m telling the truth. Natalie and Omar love each other. They are sharing the parts of their lives that they want to share with the people of this town. They love MacKellar Cove, and they want to?—”
“No one cares, Casey. No. One. Cares. People want to witness the misery of others because it allows them the chance to feel better about their own pitiful lives. We don’t want to see joy. We want despair.”
“I don’t. Why would you want that?”
She scoffed. “Get out of my office.”
“Natalie is done,” I said, not moving.
“What?”
“She texted me this morning. She said the article you published wasn’t what we agreed on. It wasn’t what she expected, and she isn’t willing to work with me going forward.”
Gretchen leaned forward, her eyes boring into me. “You have to convince her to change her mind.”
“Why? I can’t go to her and promise that this won’t happen again. That the article I write won’t be changed after I turn it in.”
Gretchen sneered. “You showed her the article before you submitted it?”
“I did. I didn’t think there was a reason not to. I wasn’t aware that what I wrote wasn’t what would be published.”
“Did you do the same before you published your articles about Mr. Levine?”
“Mr. Levine was an underhanded manipulator who was lying and left this paper vulnerable to lawsuits. The only reason Mayor Knight didn’t sue was because of me. Because I wrote the article about Mr. Levine and his involvement in the articles about Omar.”
“Do you think that wins you something? That you used your relationship then and you’re doing it now, so you should get something for it?”
“I am not! I was asked to write an article about Omar. Everyone who knew him knew the articles were lies, but Erik printed them anyway. I am not to blame for any of this, but you’re going down the same path Erik did, twisting things and making up stories that you think will sell papers. It doesn’t work like that here.”
Gretchen pursed her lips so tight they turned white. “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
“I won’t change anything in your next article. And we’ll see how things go from there.”
“I can’t go to Natalie and say you’re going to leave one article alone but not the rest.”
“You want full control. That’s not how this works.”
