Traffic & Weather

by Magnolia Robbins

  “Did you talk to Tyler about this?” He asked, and I shook my head. “Does Dawn want to come back?”

  “I wanted to come to you first,” I replied. “And I haven’t talked to Dawn.”

  Jared let out a laugh. “You want me to hire Dawn back, and you don’t even know if she wants to come back? Are you serious?”

  I stared at him calmly, my eyes not wavering. “Please, Jared. I need this.”

  Jared sighed, shaking his head at me. “I’ll think about it.”

  The rest of the week passed like normal. Jenny was fully settled into her role. Rise and Shine’s ratings were staying steady, and we’d passed up two of the other morning shows in the area. Unlike Dawn, Jenny was completely comfortable as a co-host, loving every minute of it. Everything in my life seemed to have settled. Everything except for Dawn.

  On Friday, as I was about to pack up and leave for the day, excited about Dawn’s arrival later that evening, I met Jared in the hall.

  “You tell Dawn, if she wants to come back, it’s on my terms.”

  “Really?” I erupted into a smile, pulling him into a hug. “Oh my God, thank you, Jared!”

  Jared looked skeptical, to say the least, but it was all I wanted to hear from him. I couldn’t wait to tell Dawn. It took me till Sunday to finally tell her the news, and I was surprised how quickly she turned me down. Part of me wondered if she still wasn’t ready to be in a committed relationship. If this was her way of taking the easy way out.

  On Monday, it was as hard as ever to watch her go. After she left, I spent a longer time than usual getting ready, mostly sulking. Marty could tell I was in a somber mood when I arrived and worried Dawn and I had broken up.

  “We’re fine,” I lied as I settled into my usual chair in the production room.

  The morning show went smoothly like normal. The teleprompter messed up during the second broadcast, but Jenny took it like a champ and improvised. When we were nearing the end of the last broadcast, Marty tapped my shoulder as I was listening.

  “There’s one more news segment we need to cover,” Marty said. “I’m gonna need you to cut to off-site feed.”

  “That wasn’t on the schedule,” I replied, looking over at him. I checked my notes, and sure enough, there was nothing about any stories left to cover. “What’s going on Marty?”

  “Just do it,” he nudged me again. When I looked at the connection to the live feed, it looked to be outside of the skyrise. No one was in the shot.

  “I swear..” I started, and Marty nudged me again.

  “Okay Jenny,” I said into the headset. “When we come back from commercial I’m going to have you announce we have one more news story.” I could see her confused look towards the production room, and I shook my head. “I’m as confused as you are, but I need you to do that for me okay?” When she nodded, I settled back into my chair.

  “And we’re back in 5...4...3..2..”

  “So before we leave you this afternoon,” Jenny said, smiling into the camera. “We have one last news story coming to you today. We’re going to send it over now.”

  As soon as the feed was switched, I nearly fell out of my chair. Standing in the shot was Dawn, mic to her mouth. She was standing outside of the studio, looking as beautiful as ever.

  “Good morning, Los Angeles,” Dawn said. “As you can see, I’m standing outside the WATV headquarters in downtown LA. I wanted to take a minute to announce that starting tomorrow, Rise and Shine will have a dedicated field reporter for local, late-breaking news. And I’m happy to say I’ve been offered the position.”

  My head spun, and I found myself unable to hold myself up at the desk. Suddenly the world grew dark, and before I could catch myself, I tumbled to the ground.

  The next thing I recalled was being shaken gently by Marty, sitting beside me. I was in Jenny’s studio, a crowd of people around me. Jenny had gotten me a washcloth for my head. For a minute, I had forgotten what had happened. That was until I saw Dawn breaking through the crowd to come to me.

  “Are you alright?” She asked me worried, squatting down next to the couch. I felt her soft fingers graze the side of my cheek.

  “Had a bit of a fall there,” Marty said. “We were worried about you kid.”

  “I’m okay,” I said, sitting up. The world spun a little when I did, but it eventually settled.

  “Alright, let’s get back to work folks, give Liz a little breathing room. We have promos to shoot.”

  Marty and the rest of the crew cleared out, leaving Dawn and me alone in Jenny’s dressing room. Dawn sat down beside me, a small smile on her lips.

  “Now I’m going to need a dressing room,” Dawn said abruptly when our eyes met. “And I insist on covering at least two major stories each segment.”

  “Wait,” I said, holding up my hand, feeling my heart race in my chest. “Are you serious? You’re coming back to the show?”

  “I’m coming back for you,” Dawn said, placing a hand on my cheek. “But like I said, only if I have my own dressing room.”

  We smiled at one another for a moment. I still was in disbelief. Finally, Dawn reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face. After, she rested it on my cheek, stroking my skin softly. I nuzzled into her, sighing.

  “Oh, and one last thing,” Dawn said, and my head shook.

  “I swear, you are the most high maintenance person--”

  “I love you.”

  Thanks for reading Traffic & Weather!

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