Ooh, I know! I just reread this one
This is Erin Klingler's
The Accidental Husband Hmm. What can I paste? Be back in a few.
Okay, how about this?
She had never been so frustrated. Never. In all her years as an investigative reporter, never had someone been so bold as to tell Lois Lane that she'd lost her edge.
Today it had happened.
This morning Ralph had walked casually past her desk, the day's edition of the Daily Planet in hand. He paused long enough to make sure she noticed him, then proceeded to say with a smirk, "Hmm, once again, another day goes by and the famous Lane byline hasn't even graced the front page." He saw her features flinch at his words, though she did her best to hide it, and it only served to encourage him. "Whatever is the world coming to?" he asked, his voice filled with mock exaggeration.
Her initial urge had been to stand up and slap that haughty expression right off his pudgy little face, but thankfully, she'd found enough control not to respond. Instead, she'd given him a searing glance and gone back to her phone conversation, pretending she hadn't been affected by his careless remark.
But inside, she had been hurt; the truth in the barb had wounded her more deeply than she cared to admit. Other than the occasional slump that every professional went through from time to time, she had always been the Planet's star reporter. Why had everything suddenly changed?
She hadn't written a decent story in a month and a half. Longer, probably, if she actually sat down with a calendar and counted the days, but there was no need for that. She was depressed enough already.
Her current investigation was a bust. Earlier in the morning, Lois had found out that the tip she had been given by one of her sources had turned out to be nothing more than a misunderstanding; he had overheard the wrong parts of a conversation and, consequently, come to the wrong conclusions. That particular situation, added to Ralph's comment, was responsible for her less-than-amiable demeanor and had, unfortunately, set the tone for the entire day.
The slump would bearable if Clark were here, she thought sullenly. Her partner always had the right words to reassure her and calm her down.
But Clark wasn't here anymore. It was funny, the way things had worked out, she mused. If Perry had told her five years ago that the day would come when she would loathe working alone, she would've told him he was crazy.
But then Clark had arrived on the scene and changed all that. Their names had been intertwined ever since, on byline after byline, award-winning story after story. After being his partner for four years, it was tough to acclimate herself to being "single" again. But that was the reality now; she was alone in her reporting.
And she just wasn't cutting it anymore.
