The Vixen and the Vet Read Free Page A

most well-regarded newspaper in America. Lifestyles would mean reporting on cook-offs and fashion shows, charity benefits, and star sightings. Not to mention, the Phoenix Times was second-string at best. And it was in … Phoenix. Hot, dry, middle-of-nowhere Phoenix.
    Then again, it was Phoenix. The sixth -largest city in the United States and a hub of Southwestern activity. Far enough from New York that her calamitous failure at the Sentinel would feel removed, yet close enough to LA and San Francisco that maybe she could segue to one of those bigger outfits after a few successful years. And no, Lifestyles wasn’t exactly her dream department, but it was a way back in, wasn’t it? After a few months—a year, tops—she could ask for a transfer to one of their other departments.
    “Derby,” she said, determination lowering her voice to a serious pitch. “What do I have to do to make it happen?”
    “Our editor in chief knows who you are. He’s willing to give you a swing at the job, but you have to wow him with a Lifestyles piece first.”
    “Oh, I have a ton of stuff I could send —”
    “No, Savannah. You don’t. I tried to find something , anything, that you wrote that could pass as a human interest piece. I came up dry.”
    Savannah nodded, gloom encroaching. Derby was right. She didn’t have anything.
    “But Maddox McNabb, our editor, he’s all about hot scoops and he loves that you’re coming from a New York background. He can be a little heavy on the edits, but I haven’t had any complaints so far. He makes a good story more sensational, and at least a quarter get picked up on the national news wire.”
    “ Wow. Great numbers. Sounds like he’s got the magic touch.”
    “ Like I said, no complaints. Anyway, he needs a piece. Something big and heart-tugging and personal in time for the Fourth of July. That’s, uh, five weeks from now. Think veterans. Think returning soldier dad home in time for the big Fourth of July barbecue. Small-town Americana stuff that makes every reader cry before breaking out in a chorus of ‘America the Beautiful.’ How you write it is up to you, but Maddox wants updates every Friday from now until the second. If he likes it, he’ll run it on the front of Lifestyles on the Fourth, and let’s just say he’d probably like to see you in Phoenix soon after.”
    Savannah’s brain whirled, but she could feel the excitement gathering inside her. No, human interest wasn’t her forte, but she could change that. She’d write the best goddamn piece of lifestyle Americana the Phoenix Times had ever seen.
    “I’ m all over it. Tell Maddox he’ll have the idea and the first installment by next Friday. Six days.”
    “I knew you’d bite,” said Derby, her voice laced with approval. “I’ll e-mail you with Maddox’s info. The rest is all you.”
    Savannah shook her head, smiling into the phone, marveling at second chances that came from unexpected places , and determined not to squander this chance. “Derby, I don’t know how to thank you. Really. I don’t even know what to say.”
    “Hey, I’m not Mother Teresa. You come work here? I figure you owe me a few more of those late-night sessions cracking stories. I sure wouldn’t mind another Sunshine Award.”
    “You got it, ” Savannah said with feeling. “Anything I can ever do for you, all you have to do is shout.”
    “I hope you don’t regret that offer,” said Derby, “because I promise I’ll be collecting.”
    Savannah chuckled and exchanged information with her guardian angel, thanking her again for reaching out and sending her thanks to Maddox for the chance. When she hung up the phone, the sun was even lower, aggressively gold on the horizon, brightening the hills beyond her small neighborhood.
    She squinted, her eyes pulled to the grand, old Victorian house straight ahead, about two miles away, up on the hillside.
    Asher Lee’s house.
    T he front door of her own house opened, and Scarlet appeared