The Backup Plan Read Free

“I’ve seen it happen before. An excellent reporter goes through a close call, sees someone they know die right in front of them, whatever, and they start cutting back on the risks. They’re a little more hesitant, they play it a little safer. Or they do the opposite and turn into some sort of rogue I can’t control. Either way, a reporter like that is no good to me.”
    Anger filled her at the grim picture he presented. “Are you saying I’ll never be able to do this job again?”
    â€œNever as well,” he said bluntly. “You’re beautiful and smart and talented. Put all of that to work for you back home. If not in South Carolina, then at the network in New York or Washington. I can get a transfer authorized anytime you say the word. Find yourself a real life and live it. What we do over here, it’s necessary, but it’s not living. It’s courting death.”
    â€œAre you telling me this just because I’m a woman?” she asked heatedly. “That’s a little sexist even for you.”
    â€œMaybe so,” he admitted candidly. “Mostly, though, I’m telling you this stuff because I like you. I want to know you’re out there somewhere safe and happy. I don’t ever want to have to make the same call to your folks that I’ve had to make to other reporters’ relatives.”
    Dinah drew in a deep breath and asked him the question that was burning in her gut. “Spell it out for me,Ray. Are you telling me I can’t come back, that you don’t want me here?”
    Ray hesitated before replying. “No,” he said with obvious reluctance. “The network would have my head for saying this, but I’m telling you I hope like hell you won’t.”
    He regarded her with a worried frown. “Listen to me, okay? Think about what I’m saying. You’ve done the heroics, proved whatever you set out to prove to yourself. You’re a top-notch journalist, one of the best, but maybe it’s time to stop and figure out who Dinah Davis really is.”
    Her stomach sank. She thought she had figured that out the day she turned in her first television news report. Now this man she trusted was telling her she’d gotten it wrong.
    â€œThen you think I should quit?” she asked, hating the fact that her respect for him ran so deep that she was actually considering doing as he asked.
    â€œYes,” he said firmly. “Get a real life, Dinah.”
    She tried to picture the peaceful, ordinary life he was describing. The image eluded her. “You actually think I’m destined to be somebody’s wife and mother?” she asked.
    â€œWhy the hell not?”
    â€œAnd if I decide that what I am is a foreign correspondent, that it’s all I was ever meant to be?”
    He gave her a sad look. “Then I pity you.”
    â€œIt’s what you’ve done all your life,” she reminded him.
    â€œAnd look at me. No wife. No family. No one who gives a damn whether I come home or not. That’s not a fate I’d wish on you. Isn’t there someone back homeyou think about from time to time, some man who got away?”
    Dinah started to shake her head, but then an image of Bobby Beaufort appeared in her mind. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. It had been ages since she’d thought about Bobby. He’d been in her life almost as far back as she could remember. He’d wanted to marry her, but she’d turned him down to chase after her dream.
    â€œThere,” Ray said triumphantly. “I knew it!”
    â€œHe was no one special,” Dinah insisted. “Just a friend.”
    A good friend who’d promised to be around if she ever got tired of roaming the globe. If she was ready for love, she was supposed to turn to Bobby. She would always own a piece of his heart, at least that’s what he’d claimed. All she had to do was come