“So, Maisie,” she moved off the subject, “I wanted to let you know that I respect your work, and I think you are a valuable asset to the station.”
“Thank you.” And?
“And I want to give you some, not advice necessarily, but some information. It’s really not my place to advise you.”
“Go on.” Don’t worry, I thought, if you join the family, we’re used to unsolicited advice all over the place.
“Mathis Bosch is a decent man and treats his employees extremely fairly. He has noted your value, even if he forgets to mention it. Daniel Sofer has noted your talent, but Daniel has not always had the best motives in his decision making.”
“Should I be worried about harassment?”
“No, nothing like that. Just be aware that his motivation is always about the bottom line, sometimes at the expense of his employees. And Campbell Casey …”
Go on …
“Let’s just say that Campbell has pretty hair and eyes and leave it at that.”
We both burst into laughter.
“You don’t need to say anything more.”
“Good. I know it was exciting to attend the gala with him, and all—”
“No, actually it wasn’t.” I frowned.
“Well, you learn fast. And one last piece of information. Watch your back around Calliope.”
“Yeah. Big news there.”
Addison stood up and straightened her outfit and hair to prepare to leave. “Shall we?”
“You go on,” I said, shaking my head. “No need for the office to think we’re best buddies all of a sudden. Thanks, Addison.”
“Please feel free to call me Addy outside the office.”
“All right … Addy.”
She picked her way through the forest of hipsters. I sat for a moment before pulling out my phone to call Phyllis, to fill her in on this conversation. Before I could call, my brother Anthony’s ringtone came through.
“Hey, Anth, what’s up?”
“How was coffee?”
“She just left. Sheesh, where are you, sitting at the next table?”
“As it happens, I am at the airport, but tell me you didn’t say anything annoying to Addy, did you?”
“Moi? I was just my usual self.”
“That’s exactly what I was afraid of.” I could visualize his eyebrows meeting in a scowl.
“Calm down. We had a lovely time. We shared a pastry. She likes me, and I like her. We are now best friends. Almost sisters, you could say. Could you say that, bro? Is she almost my sister, hint, hint?”
“We’re seeing where things are going. She’s enjoying meeting and getting to know the family.”
Almost the exact same words that Addison used! I knew this was getting serious.
“In any case, brother, we talked about the office, about work in general, about Canadian baked goods—you know, coffee talk.”
“And me?”
“Wow. You must think highly of yourself. No. Well, your name did come up once.”
“And?”
“And nothing, Anthony. She didn’t pump me for any deep dark secrets, for pity’s sake. Although I do have a few stocked up in my back pocket to share if I ever need to drop them.”
“I just want you to get along.”
“Why? Is it because we’ll have to get along … for a lifetime?” I couldn’t resist.
“Cool it, squirt. I just like her. I don’t want there to be any weirdness if I bring her around the house again.”
Ha. Who was he trying to kid with “if”? Well, I should cut him a break.
“You don’t need to worry, Anthony. We got along. No, we GET along. She’s very lovely.” My tone softened.
“I know.” His tone was positively mushy.
“Look, is there anything else you need, or are you done warning me to play nice with your girlfriend?”
“Now that you mention it, what was up Saturday with your Ken-doll date?” he began.
“Bye. Love you.” I cut him off.
Gathering up my belongings, I glanced at my watch and prepared to go to work. Was it only 9:30? I felt like I had been through an entire day!
23
I took a deep breath before I entered the office. Mentally preparing myself for anything, I pasted a smile on my face and greeted Rachel at the front desk.
“Mathis is looking for you,” she said without so much as a “hello” or “good morning.”
Great. What could possibly be going on that couldn’t wait for the staff meeting? What had I done? What—
Wait a minute. Why did I automatically think this was a summons for a negative reason? I had not committed any errors that I knew of. And now that Addison and I were BFFs (so to speak), she would have given me some sort of head’s up, right?
Calling once again on my father’s axiom that bad news doesn’t get better by delaying it, I didn’t even bother going to my desk to drop off my gear. I strode down to Mathis’s office and, noting that his door was slightly ajar, I rapped lightly on it.
“Mathis?” I called into the room with a combination of questioning and false bravado.
“Valenti, is that you? Get in here!” I couldn’t read anything by his tone.
He was on the phone, so it seemed like an eternity while I stood in front of his desk. Thankfully, his head bobbed up, and he gestured for me to sit.
As I waited, clutching my backpack and purse tightly, it occurred to me once again that, no, I knew I hadn’t committed some egregious error. I dropped my gear on the floor, captured and pushed errant wisps of hair from my choppy bob to fit behind my ears, and crossed my legs, happy that I had chosen to wear one of my more conventional outfits. Well, the oversize poet’s blouse in stark black-and-white print over leggings with over-the-knee black boots seemed more conventional to me, at least. Hey, look who I was meeting with—a man who never met a Hawaiian shirt he didn’t like.
“Maisie, Maisie, Maisie,” said the man himself as he hung up the phone, sporting a particularly jazzy print that day.
“Yes, Mathis?”
“I have an assignment for you, if you are up to it.”
How does one respond to that? A person doesn’t tell a boss, “Oh, well, no, I’m just not up to it. Pass. Give it to someone else.” I rolled my eyes inwardly—at least I hoped it was inwardly.
“You bet, boss. What is it?”
“That’s what I like about you, Valenti. Always up for a challenge.”
Uh-oh. Challenge. Was this going to be another chessboxing tournament? Gulp.
“Do you know where Sterling, Colorado, is?”
“Sure, Mathis. It’s over on the east side of the state on the way to Nebraska. What’s going on in Sterling?” Please, please, please. Don’t let it be Extreme Ironing. Please, please, please.
“They are bringing in a new minor league baseball team.”
I sat up.
“They’re going to be in the Pioneer League, you know, the one that the Grand Junction Rockies play in.” Mathis searched his hodgepodge of a desktop, pulled out a press packet, and tossed it over to me. I reviewed the glossy green and gold front cover that promoted the arrival of the Sterling Aggies.
“How does this affect me?” Sure, I could connect the dots, but I needed him to confirm his plans.
“According to that press material, their grand opening and hoopla is this Saturday. I need you to go and cover it.”
I managed to swallow back my natural question as to why I was just learning about the assignment and instead be happy that the assignment was a plum.
“You bet, Mathis! Happy to do it.”
I was pretty well prepped for all the remaining lacrosse games on the schedule, so that wouldn’t cause a problem. I pulled the documentation from the packet, noting that press registration was past due so I’d probably have to go into overdrive to get us into the event. Of course. No need to point that out. Mathis wouldn’t want to be bothered with such a “small” detail. He just wanted the job done.
“Good, good, good. Calliope said you would be the best person for the job. It was her assignment, but she had to cancel out at the last minute because of some family thing.”
A last-minute family thing that caused her to miss the registration deadline two weeks ago? Who was she kidding. I was sure that she had either forgotten it and was bailing out at the last minute because she wasn’t prepared, or she deliberately procrastinated knowing she could shuffle it off to me to cause difficulties for me.
Count to ten, Maisie.
I also couldn’t begin to process my thoughts on the fact that Mathis didn’t notice the discrepancy in timing.
“So will you finalize that, Maisie?” I heard that last phrase and had to quickly rewind Mathis’s sentence.
“Got it. I’ll finalize Markovich as camera and any other crew I need.”
“I knew I could count on you.” With that tone, I knew our meeting was done. I collected my belongings and, exiting the door, I passed Daniel Sofer on the way in.
“Valenti.” Hmm. Wasn’t he standing just a shade too close?
“Good morning.”
“Mathis says you’re covering the Sterling baseball gig?”
“Whatever you need me to do.”
“You know that’s what we count on around here.” His hooded eyes narrowed as he smiled.
I hustled to my desk and plopped down in my chair. The rest of the bullpen was empty, but I really didn’t care where the guys were. I had to play catch-up to prep for this assignment, so I had no time to lose with idle chitchat. Before dialing Alek’s number, I wavered between hope that he would be there to take my call and hope that I could just leave a message for him. No, it would definitely be better to have the ability to leave a message and deal with a conversation later. I no sooner finished my last sentence on his voicemail when he popped up behind me.
“Aack! Don’t scare me like that! How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to hear you leave a mysterious message for me about an exciting new assignment. I’m not buying it, by the way, by the tone of your voice. What’s the real deal, Mais?” He sat on my desk, grabbed a handful of my candy, and chewed noisily awaiting my answer.
“Since when have you started eating Swedish Fish, Alek? You hated them in college.” I grabbed my canister away from him and moved it to the other side of the desk. I was beginning to think he had a weird kleptomania streak that only involved my snack foods. This was the first time we had seen each other since Saturday’s dinner fiasco, and it seemed that Alek was choosing to play it casual. Fine. I was happy to do so.
“Since that’s the only snack food you seem to keep around here. Have you never heard of pretzels? Sprees? Gummy bears? And I thought all females loved M&Ms.”
“Seriously? Pretzels are not for casual snacking. Sprees are sickeningly sweet, and the green ones are positively vile. Gummies are pale imitations of the Fish, and M&Ms are meant for an entirely different snacking situation. The Fish—now there is the perfect blend of sweet, chewy, and delicious.” I popped a couple in my mouth and chewed forcefully to emphasize my point.
Alek lunged over me in an attempt to swipe a couple more. Come on now. Why always my snacks? My fries. My Swedish Fish. I wondered if he kept his mitts off of prissy Calliope’s snack foods—wait, her VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE snack foods. Yuck. Was that even a thing?
My thoughts landed me back to earth with a thud. Right. Alek and Calliope. No matter how casual he was acting, I couldn’t forget that they might be—what?—an item?
“Maisie, what on earth is up with you? The color of your face just matched the color of the candy.”
I spun around in my chair to avoid his gaze in the hopes that my bright-red cheeks would calm down.
“Nothing, Markovich. I don’t have time for your shenanigans. We have to get ready to cover this baseball game.”
“Not even one itty-bitty shenanigan?” He kicked my chair.
I counted to ten and took a deep breath. If he was going to be bright and breezy, I guess I should be as well. I mean, we were pals, after all.
Spinning back around, I tried to come up with an amusing comment.
“I guess you would be in a good mood, what with your new girlfriend and all.”
Of all his reactions possible, I didn’t expect confused.
“What?” He stood up.
“You know. You and Calliope. Saturday night. Are you sweethearts now? Do you loooooove her?” I drew out the word in my best junior high tone.
Alek paused a minute, then answered in a curiously measured tone.
“You know, Maisie. You were right a minute ago. We need to get on this baseball project.”
Wow. Icy.
“Um. Yeah. Well, pull up a chair and let’s look at the paperwork.” I glanced at him sidewise. What the heck.
We dived into the planning, but our usual banter was nonexistent. I couldn’t fathom what I had done wrong.
The day could not get any weirder.
“Maisie?”
Nope. I was wrong. For the second time in about an hour, I found myself counting to ten and spinning around.
“Hey Campbell, how’s it going?”
Arrgh. That. Right there is why you should NEVER fraternize with anyone in the office. They are always there. How would I duck out of a lunch invitation or anything else? I braced myself.
“Oh. Everything is great. I wondered if you had a minute.”
He looked from me to Alek, who was unsuccessfully attempting to act as though he was not paying attention. Ha.
“What’s up, Campbell?”
Again he glanced from me to Alek without responding. Alek caught on that Campbell did not want him there, shoved his chair back abruptly, and stood.
“Well. I guess you two have … things … to discuss. I’ll be at my desk when you want to finalize plans for Saturday, Maisie.”
“Wait, Alek.” I also stood and looked into his eyes, pleading with him to be the Alek I always knew, the smiling laughing buddy of my college days.
No such luck. He wheeled around and exited. I slumped back into my chair.
“Maisie?”
Oh. Campbell. I gestured for him to sit. I do have to admit that my heart still fluttered just a teeny bit when he smiled and those bling-y, sparkly teeth were on view along with those ocean-blue eyes.
“How can I help you?”
“Well, I needed some copy edited, and I wondered if you would be so kind …?”
Huh?
“Campbell, I have to be honest with you. I don’t have the time. I have my own work to do.”
“Really? What is that?”
I grabbed the arms of my chair, otherwise I would have bodychecked him. NO ONE could be that self-absorbed.
There weren’t enough numbers for me to count to.
“Campbell, I’m kind of in the middle of something here. You might want to check with someone else.”
“I understand.” He leaned forward and amped up his smile. Oh, he was good. How had I never seen through his act before?
“You know, Maisie, I might be able to get you camera time.”
I didn’t even let him finish. What a dolt! Had he really never seen me on camera?
“So you’ve missed me on the sidelines of the lacrosse games, then?” I asked sweetly. “Little old me does more than just edit other people’s copy. If you’ll excuse me, I have to prep to broadcast the Aggies game this weekend—on camera.”
I pulled him to his feet and pushed him away. Well, maybe I also kind of added a swift, neat check with my elbow. It was a signature move of mine when I played lacrosse, but it came in handy in the real world.
“Hey!” He looked bewildered.
“Sorry!” I blinked my own big eyes.
24
“Did you … did he just … I can’t believe …”
“Maisie, use complete sentences,” soothed Alek. “Or do you have a job where you don’t need to know how to use words?”
“Aaack!” I pounded on him, and he laughed. His cheerful laugh made me realize the silliness of the situation, and I started laughing as well.
After Campbell had left my desk, I hightailed it to Alek to fill him in on what had happened.
“Alek, thank you for being here to allow me to escape to safety.”
“Saving YOU? I would have had more fear for Campbell’s life!”
“Ha.”
“So. He wasn’t there to ask you for a lunch date?”
“No. Why would you even think so?”
“Well, you guys seemed pretty tight at the dinner party.” He avoided my eye.
I reflected on the events of Saturday night. Nothing I could recall would have indicated that we were in any way “tight.” I shrugged.
“Alek, you always were horrible at sorting out the guys who had crushes on me in school. Pathetic.”
I spun round and round on the stool near his desk.
“Stop it. You are making me dizzy.” He put his hands on my shoulders to end my whirling. I stuck my tongue out at him as I came to a stop, but he wasn’t smiling.
“Yeah, Maisie, I guess I never got that right.” He turned back to his desk.
What was with him? Did he think I wouldn’t be happy that he had a girlfriend, even if it was Copper Top Calliope? Rats. I guess I’d have to stop calling her that if they would be a couple.
“Hey, Alek. Let’s stop talking about random stuff. We need to plan for the baseball game.”
“You’re right. But one more random thing … I guess not so random since it is associated with game day. Well sort of.”
“Oooh. Sounds mysterious. What?”
He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk.
“Well, you know I’m from Nebraska.”
I rolled my eyes.
“How could I not know? Go Big Red. Husker Power. Blah, blah, blah.”
Even though we had graduated from Villanova, Alek had not lost his love for the University of Nebraska Cornhusker football team. I can’t recall the number of times he pointed out that the reason his blood is red is because of the Huskers.
He threw a pen at me.
“Hey! You could have put my eye out.”
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