by Kahlen Aymes
I walked back into my office, sat the coffee down on my desk, and continued to eat the bagel as I logged on to my computer, intent on shuffling through my company email. Until Bryan gave me the go ahead, I still had my current job to do. I needed to look at the schedules and see what my assignment would be for the coming week or weekend.
A sharp rap on the doorframe made me look up to see Jerry Stanley, one of the staff writers walk in. He worked on segment pieces and additional online content for the network website. He was sort of an awkward dork, but a really nice guy who’d do anything for anyone.
“Hey, who’s that gorgeous woman Cindy is showing around?” He was barely leaning into my office, his shoulder still on the doorframe and his hand pointing over his shoulder. He had a shit-eating grin plastered squarely on his acne-ridden face. His skin was angry and red, with sores all over. Poor kid. That shit had to hurt like a motherfucker.
I picked up my coffee and took a sip of the steaming liquid. “I don’t know her name, but supposedly she’s interviewing with Walsh.”
Jerry was sort of nerdy and reminded me of that Jimmy kid from Superman. He wasn’t even cool enough to be Clark Kent. His eyes got wide at my words, clearly understanding the implication. “In production or on-air?”
Ugh. I groaned internally but wanted to do so aloud. “Production,” I admitted flatly. It would be great if my friends would stop bringing it up so I could just believe the job was mine without challenge.
“But we only have that Monday night producer position, open, right? I would have gone for it, but I didn’t think I’d be able to beat you out. Why bother, right?” He was rambling.
I motioned him into the office with my free hand as my email opened up. The last thing I wanted was to make it known that I was the least bit threatened by another candidate and he wasn’t exactly discreet.
“Good call,” I nodded with a casual, confident grin. “Your day will come, buddy. I was a writer for three years before I got the chance to be in front of the camera. You’re just getting started.”
“But you’re good-looking, and I’m…” he motioned to his face by drawing a circle around it in the air. “Hideous,” he finished. “I’ll never get a chance to be on camera or have a chance with a woman as fine as that, either.”
“Fine, huh?” I asked, still focused on my computer screen. I already knew she was pretty because I’d seen her in the lobby, but I put on an air of nonchalance. I’d learned that there were fine women everywhere, but genuine, sweet, loving… those qualities were hard to find. I’d had my share of dates; many of them were beautiful and fun to be with, but none motivated me to make a commitment. Besides, my focus was on my job and Remi right now.
I had a long list of emails waiting for me. One from the travel department with my flight details for the coming week, one from Tyler, one of the cameramen I worked with trying to make plans to get a beer after work, and another from Chase, asking if I would be able to join the family on a cruise vacation the following summer. I smiled to myself. He was a very good friend. It was amazing how we’d moved on from all of the misunderstandings and the huge cluster-fuck we’d made of our friendship. I couldn’t think of another man who would not only forgive me but also invite me on trips so that I could be with Remi as much as possible. We’d all grown up a lot and were putting Remi first.
“Yes.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose and leaned in so he could half-whisper. “She’s super-hot.”
“She might be a shrew or an idiot, Jerry. You can’t judge by a pretty face or tight skirt.”
“Ah ha!” Jerry’s eyes widened, and he quickly sat down across the desk from me. “You know she’s hot! You’ve already seen her,” he accused.
I started typing out a response to affirm the travel plans but glanced up and grimaced at his raging hormones. “So, what? I don’t want her to get the job, obviously.”
“I guess,” he said, his tone clearly disappointed. He looked over his shoulder again, straining out of his chair a bit to check the woman out again.
“Dude.” I shook my head. “First of all, you don’t know if she’s hired or is even a contender, second, if she is, you can’t act all goofy around her, or you’ll never have a shot. On top of that, you have to be professional. You can’t approach her at work. Haven’t you learned anything from the news lately?”
Five network employees had already lost their jobs due to sexual harassment allegations over the past three months. While sexual harassment couldn’t be tolerated, even a compliment could be misinterpreted, and so my co-worker needed to chill. Of all the men I worked with, Jerry might offend someone just because he had no clue how to approach a woman.
He craned to look over his shoulder, ignoring my words. “But, she’s soooo pretty.”
Jesus, I thought. “Pretty or not, I have network experience. Your admiration is moot because that job belongs to me.”
I wondered why, if she was so attractive, Bryan wasn’t trying to get her to anchor one of the shows instead of producing, or maybe take my place as correspondent. It was a good idea, and if it came down to it, it was a win-win-win. I’d still get my well-deserved promotion, she’d get hired, and Jerry could drool over her from afar. I almost laughed out loud at the thought.
I glanced up at Jerry as I opened another email. “You’re not hideous,” I admonished reassuringly. “You have character, and you’re smart. Women care more about intelligence and a good sense of humor than a pretty mug, anyway. Trust me.”
Jerry shoved his hands in his pockets as he hovered over my desk. “Easy for you to say,” he mumbled. “You can get any woman you want. Mary Jane asked me to introduce her, and I heard Janice talking to Ellen about you at the water cooler.”
I rolled my eyes in exaggerated mocking. Janice was pretty but too fake and conceited for my taste, and Mary Jane was just some starry-eyed kid who tripped over herself for any of us who were on-air because that’s what she aspired to someday. “I guess they haven’t been paying attention to national news either, then.”
“Guess not.” He chuckled.
“I’m scheduled for the L.A. Rams-Broncos game.” I was talking more to myself than to him. I didn’t like going to L.A. I hated LAX; I hated the traffic and the long hours on the plane. “I’d give anything if this game were in Denver, instead.” I looked up, and he was still sitting there, and it didn’t seem like he had any intention of getting on with his day. “Hey, sorry, Jerry. I’m going to do a little research and make some calls to line up some interviews. Why don’t you go get Cindy to introduce you to that woman and fill me in on the details later?”
“Oh, sure,” he said happily, rising from the chair and backing out of my office awkwardly. “Catch ‘ya later, then, man.”
I stopped typing and held his gaze, still waiting for him to split. “Okay. Later.”
I was curious as hell about the woman, too; wanting to size up the competition more than anything else, and I cared more about her brain than her looks. Either way, I’d be damned if I was going to act like I was one bit worried. Nope. I was going to sit my ass at my desk and carry on as usual, though I couldn’t help glancing through the glass walls of my office a few times.
The offices were lined up around the perimeter of the floor with dozens of cubicles in the middle. I could see Cindy walking toward the opposite end of the big room, and the slender woman with upswept blonde hair was following her. Jerry was now lopping up behind them. I felt sorry for him. He had zero finesse and was in desperate need of a good dermatologist. I shook my head and watched for a minute.
She wore a dark grey suit jacket and seemed tall in her tasteful high heels. Cindy was introducing her around which told me Bryan was seriously considering hiring her. Fuck.
I threw the pen I was holding down on my desk and reached for the phone. It wasn’t after lunch yet, but I was going to get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on.
“Mr. Walsh’s office,” Tracey answered the phone.
“Tracey, it’s Jensen. Put me through to Walsh.”
“He stepped out for a few minutes, Jensen, but I’ll tell him you called.”
In the middle of the call, Cindy and the mystery woman suddenly appeared in the open doorway of my office.
“Okay, well, have him call me, please.”
“Sure thing, Jensen.”
“Thanks.” I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair, glancing between Cindy’s face and that of the other woman. She was exquisite, no question, but she seemed a tad stiff. Her face was classically beautiful, and her eyes an amazing shade of dark aquamarine and were fringed with long dark lashes that made them pop. Her expression was somber and reserved; emotionless. If her demeanor was her true nature and not just nervousness, we were all in for a real treat. She was slender, but her figure swelled gently in all the right places. Many of the women in this business were bone thin, but at least she had breasts, I couldn’t help but note. I swallowed and brushed my hand over my lower face. I admonished myself for having the same thoughts I’d just warned Jerry Stanley about. “Um… hi?”
“Jensen,” Cindy began. “This is Melissa Ellington. Mr. Walsh asked me to show her around and introduce her.”
My lips thinned, and I nodded. “I see,” I acknowledged before standing and politely offering my hand to her across the desk. “Jensen Jeffers.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said and took my hand in the briefest of contact. Her voice had a professional quality about it that would suit well to this gig, but she was not what I’d call an extrovert. “I’ve seen you on NFL Sunday and Monday Night Football.”
“Thanks,” I said, shoving my hands into the pockets of my dress slacks. I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or not. I looked her over, and she was doing the same. We were obviously sizing each other up. I wondered if she knew we were trying to snag the same job. I wanted to ask Cindy but doubted she’d know more than I would. Surely, Bryan would tell me his decision before spreading it around.
Cindy could sense the tension and shifted in place. “Well, Melissa is interviewing with Mr. Walsh, and she is going to be staying with us for a couple of days. She’ll be shadowing some of you to see if ESPN would be a good fit for her.”
I couldn’t help the way my jaw shot out and my eyes locked with hers. I was in an awkward position. I found her extremely attractive but didn’t know this woman. I didn’t know what she was after. Every instinct told me to put up my guard and keep it up.
I glanced at Cindy. “I see. Production or on-air?” I asked pointedly. There was more than one way to find out what I needed to know.
“Both, actually,” Melissa Ellington answered before Cindy could do so.
Okay, so maybe she wasn’t as shy as I initially thought. “I gather I’m up first?” I directed the question at Cindy.
“Yes, please, Jensen,” she replied.
“I was supposed to hear from Bryan after lunch,” I hedged. “Alone.”
“He said to tell you he’d be in touch.” She smiled brightly and then looked from me to the new girl. “Will you be okay? Melissa, just ask if you need anything. Jensen knows my extension.”
“Please, call me Missy.” She smiled warmly showing dimples that only made her more attractive. “Thank you so much for showing me around. I love it, already.”
I stood there, with my hands in my pockets, watching the exchange and wondering what in the hell was going on. As soon as Cindy left, I gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk and suggested Missy sit down, taking a seat myself as soon as she settled into hers.
“Listen, Missy—” I began, but she put up her hand to stop me.
“Melissa,” she said.
What the hell? I huffed in irritation, my eyes narrowed, snapping up to meet her gaze without flinching. So, this was starting off with a bang. “Excuse me? You just told Cindy to call you Missy.”
“Yes, but professionally, I go by Melissa. I prefer to maintain a certain professional decorum between myself and my direct co-workers.”
I sensed she wanted to say more, but I spoke instead. “I see, well, we don’t know if we’ll be working together yet, now do we?”
“I could sense your…” she searched for the right word, “hesitation, the minute Cindy brought me in here. Let’s just be honest, shall we? I know you’re up for the same position, Jensen.”
“Mr. Jeffers,” I said shortly, causing both of her eyebrows to rise. “Decorum, right?”
Melissa paused and had the grace to flush, and the corner of her pink lips twitched slightly. I wasn’t sure if she was amused or pissed. “Touché. My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
“I will respect your boundaries, Melissa, but personally, I think it’s cutting off your nose to spite your face.” I resumed scrolling through my emails and deleting any that I felt were worthless.
“You don’t know my history, so you can’t adequately judge.”
I paused shortly, glancing. “And, apparently, I won’t in the future, given the igloo around you. That’s fine if that’s the way you want it.”
She seemed taken aback by my bluntness and maybe I’d made her think. “As I said, this job—”
“You’re right. The production promotion is mine to lose, and I have no intentions of doing so, however, I will tell you that if you’re gonna be so off-putting, you won’t do well in this office. I can’t speak for the Bristol office, but this one is smaller and close-knit. Didn’t Bryan tell you we’re like a family here?”
She crossed one shapely leg over the other; her back straight as a rail as she sat on the edge of the chair. “Even in the closest families, there’s always someone waiting for an opportunity to stab you in the back. I’ve learned to be cautious, that’s all. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“Being cautious is fine,” I typed out a response to one of the new assignments and sent it off. “Being unprofessional or shrewish isn’t,” I warned sternly. Melissa’s mouth opened in a soft gasp, but I continued. “You seem awfully shocked by my bluntness, in light of your own.”
Her eyes widened slightly, and her chin jutted out. “No, it’s just that you seem so much more charming on-air.”
Wow. A zinger. I huffed out a surprised and somewhat pissed off laugh, meeting her defiant gaze unflinchingly. So, she was spunky, and I liked that about her. Being a bit of ice queen might help her hold her own with some of the more obnoxious players. Professional football was a male sport, and some of the players could get rough and suggestive with the female correspondents. I’d seen it a hundred times before. It took a certain amount of guts and a very thick skin to deal with it. I wasn’t sure she had it.
“Look, I’m not sure what your previous jobs were like, or what type of environment you’re used to, but we cover events globally, and there are times when we need to be able to depend on each other to pick up the slack or get us out of difficult situations.” I shook my head, disgusted. “I’m not sure what Bryan’s plans are for you, but whatever it is, there will be times when you’ll need help, or others will rely on you to step up. It’s better to get along and save the attitude for the locker rooms.”
“But production doesn’t deal with the players directly, do—?”
Thankfully, I was offered a reprieve when my phone started ringing. I grabbed the receiver. “Excuse me while I take this.”
“Do I need to step out?” she asked quietly, pointing toward the door.
I shook my head and held up my hand indicating that I wanted her to stay put. “Hello?” I said into the phone. The caller ID told me it was Bryan.
“Have you had lunch?” Bryan asked.
“Not yet.” I knew my tone was still irritated. “Have you made a decision?” I countered.
“Yes. I’m hoping Ms. Ellington will accept your current position, but I haven’t offered it to her officially yet.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled softly. “I see.” It wasn’t my place to tell the woman sitting across the desk the details, but I cou
ldn’t help looking at her while I was sitting there on the phone with my program director. I could see Melissa felt uncomfortable after our slightly heated exchange. If she took this job, I’d be her boss, and I wasn’t sure that was something I wanted. “Do I have anything to say about it?”
He cleared his throat. “Of course. She’d report to you, so it needs to be a good fit. I have to tell you, she’s got looks and brains, but more importantly, she wants it pretty badly, so she’ll work hard.”
So, this was why Cindy brought Melissa into my office. She wasn’t going to shadow a few of us. Just me. Fuck.
“So, what do you think?” he asked through the phone.
“I got the new assignment from production today, and also spoke to Cindy.” I was hedging, unsure if I should have this conversation in front of this woman, but she would find out soon enough. “The two things don’t mesh very well, because there is traveling involved in the main one.” Was he suggesting that I take her with me to L.A.?
“Yeah, they do. You always have a crew, so adding one more shouldn’t throw you off that much.”
I groaned internally; certain displeasure was painted all over my face. I swiveled my chair around, so it was half facing the window to hide it from Melissa. “Did you clear this with her?”
“Not yet. You can do that.”
“Gee, thanks.” My response was a mixture of resignation and wry displeasure.
“That doesn’t sound good. Don’t you like her?”
I leaned an elbow on the arm of my chair, bending my head into the phone to hold it against my shoulder; then lowered my voice. “The jury is still out.”
“Well, spend the day with her and then decide. I’m leaving this in your hands but try to be objective.”
“Always,” I said flatly. “You know me.”
Bryan laughed heartily on the other end of the line. “That, I do. Congratulations.”
“Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.”