Dispute Resolution

Chapter Twenty-Six

Quinn was tired, slightly jet-lagged, but happy to be back at work and sitting at her tiny workstation ready to type her first article since returning from Bali. Actually, she was quite impressed with herself. She hadn't resorted to ice cream and she hadn't collapsed in a messy heap on the floor. Both of those things were a bonus. Now if she could keep up the pretence that she was doing alright she'd be winning.

She looked at her laptop screen. Today she would be writing her first article since Gray had reinstated her column, Social Eyes, and she planned on writing a big 'I'm back!' to all of her loyal readers. But before she started, she checked the latest social media websites, looking at all of the trending news and she did not like what she saw there.

Just looking at the images made Quinn angry. The headlines were worse- 'The Holloway's darkest hour,' read one. 'Torn apart,' said another with an image of Gray beneath. She didn't need to read the article to know that they were giving Gray a serve, but she read it anyway. They had got it so wrong, even the journalists from The Daily Times. They had painted him to be a monster who had sent his brother to jail, his sister to hospital and his mother left to pick up the pieces of her shattered family. They didn't know the real Gray or the real story.

Just because she and Gray were over, it didn't mean she had stopped loving him, so it hurt her to see the the media trashing him for no reason. He cut a forlorn figure in the photograph, sitting alone in the hospital outside his sister's room, waiting for her to get better. Every fibre of her being wanted to go to him, to wrap herself around him and absorb some of his pain. But the fact was, she had been the cause of this, both her and Gray. The best thing she could do was to stay away, she didn't want to be the cause of any more pain to him or his family.

Quinn's fingers rested lightly on top of her keyboard. Stay away, her mind whispered. She'd caused enough pain. But her fingers itched to type. She had a new topic in mind. Gray would probably hate it, his family would definitely hate it, Gordy would probably need to be convinced it was a good idea. But she was going to publish it one way or another. Opening a new page, Quinn began afresh.

Hours later, Quinn sat back in her chair and breathed, liking what she'd written. She wondered what Gray would think of her words, but she didn't care. She'd said what needed to be said. She gave it one final proofread before she was ready to print it and hand it to Gordy.

'Far from the headlines and breaking stories, the flash of cameras from the gutter press, he sits alone in his tower overlooking his newly hatched empire...'

She read on further, making small corrections here and there then hit print on the screen. She pulled it out of the printer and took it over to the fishbowl office where Gordy sat, immersed in whatever he was reading.

"Are you sure about this?" Gordy asked her about ten minutes later.

"One hundred percent," Quinn replied.

He looked down at the printed piece of paper in his hands again. "I hope you know what you're doing, Quinn."

"Not really," she admitted. "But my column is all about writing the truth behind the trending articles and top stories. As if I was going to leave this one alone just because I was involved with him."

"I suppose you're right," Gordy conceded. "Email me the copy and I'll run it in tomorrow's morning edition."

"Thanks, Gordy," Quinn said, hugging him quickly before practically skipping to her desk.

Quickly she emailed him the story, then grabbed her bag ready to head home. It had been a long day. She had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but Quinn knew she would sleep tonight, knowing she'd told the truth. Besides, she suspected she was going to have an even bigger day tomorrow once this story was published and she needed her rest.