Read Online Broken Road by Mari Beck - Free Book Online

Meagan McGuinnis went out of her way to imitate Sandra Simmons during the interview, she highly doubted it. She could feel her hands begin to tremble.   The reporter probably could as well.   Brenda stood up, yanked her hand away and ripped the microphone off her lapel shoving it into the younger woman’s hands.  
    “This interview is over!”  
    Meagan McGuinnis nodded clicking her pen against her shiny teeth.
    “For now.” She agreed, picking up her things off the chair and heading for the door.   It was then that Brenda realized that everyone had left. The tired production assistant, the disheveled cameraman, even the bulky equipment and the concierge cart with the pitcher of ice water were gone. She stood in the middle of the room watching Meagan McGuinnis walk the 10 feet to the door as if it were the runaway of a Paris fashion show. Swish, swish, and sway.  
    “Think about my offer.” The reporter’s voice carried across the empty room. Then, giving her a final nod and a wink she turned off the lights leaving Brenda alone in the dark.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Running Away

    She had canceled the interview with Sandra Simmons the very next day. To say the journalist was displeased was an understatement. At least that was the loud and distinct impression she got from Simmons’ assistant.   But what could she do? Everything was falling down around her. Shane was gone, Jon refused to go away and her son Callan refused to acknowledge her presence when they were in the same room. To make matters worse, Meagan McGuinnis, a reporter aspiring to be the next Sandra Simmons, had threatened to expose it all on national tv.   Shane’s memory would be tarnished, Jon’s career would be over and she would lose the love and respect of her sons. How could she allow herself to be used as the weapon that would destroy anymore lives? Her mother was right. It was time to go but where? She looked through the shutters in the family room and saw another two media vans were parked on the opposite side of the street. She panicked for a moment wondering if Meagan McGuinnis was hiding in one of them. If what the reporter had said was true and she refused to give her the interview she could very well spread the story herself. But if it was also true that other news outlets had similar leads then it was only a matter of time before the story of her relationship with Jon exploded into the headlines. Then what would she do? How could she protect Callan and Taylor then?   The only choice she had was to go and wait until the rumors died down and maybe, just maybe went away. She had wanted to warn Jon about Meagan McGuinnis but she knew that any additional contact between them would only serve to solidify any rumors. Instead, she had kept her distance, ignored the phone calls he made, and pretended she wasn’t home when he came to the door. Brenda was sure that the reporter was probably keeping track of all of Jon’s efforts to contact her, but she wasn’t about to hand Meagan McGuinnis anything for free. If she wanted it so badly she was going to have to scrounge in the dirt to get it. She stepped away from the shutters and thought for a moment. There was some place to go where maybe McGuinness and Simmons wouldn’t follow.   Brenda ran upstairs and went to her dresser.   In the top drawer she remembered there was a thick manilla envelope full of papers given to her by their family lawyer only the week before.   Among them there would be a deed and a map that had been passed down to Shane from his grandparent’s estate after the passed away and he enlisted in the service.   Now that Shane was gone the deed, to which Shane had added her name, and the fragile yellowing map belonged to her. It had been a very long time since she had looked at it. Years.   If she remembered correctly the deed was to an old farmhouse that belonged to his grandparents.   She guessed that the map showed the property lines. She couldn’t help but feel a wave