by Mari Madison
I found the live truck where we’d left it and I turned the key to open it up and step into the driver’s seat. Once inside, I dared take a look back at Mac’s house. There, I watched a pretty, young redheaded woman climb out of the driver’s seat—Mac’s sister, I presumed. She walked to the side of the minivan and pulled open the sliding door. A small blond girl popped out of the van, making a beeline for the house. Mac, who I hadn’t realized had come outside, intercepted her halfway, swinging her into a huge hug and twirling her around.
I smiled at the scene, something tugging at my heart as I watched him set her back down and kiss the top of her head. She was clearly trying to tell him something, her arms gesticulating earnestly while her legs bounced her up and down like Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh tales. I looked back up at Mac, taking in his face as he dropped to give his daughter a bow, before going over to hug his sister. No longer haggard, no longer stressed or worried. But relaxed, happy, smiling.
As Ashley and his sister walked into the house, Mac remained outside for a moment. I watched as he scanned the neighborhood, his eyes zeroing in on the live truck. I blushed, realizing I’d been caught spying. I gave a sheepish wave. He nodded slowly, then lifted up his hand in a salute before turning and walking back inside.
twenty-one
MAC
Daddy! Daddy! We’re back, Daddy!”
“Hey, baby girl!” I cried, intercepting my daughter as she jumped out of the minivan and ran down the driveway to meet me. Scooping her up in my arms, I swung her around, planting a giant kiss on her cheek before returning her to earth, my heart swelling as I gazed down at her shining face. She’d only been away one night, but damn if I hadn’t missed the little munchkin like crazy. “And how’s my favorite princess this fine morning?”
“I’m not a princess, Daddy,” Ashley declared in a voice that would make any teenager proud. “I’m a queen.”
I snorted. “Of course you are, your majesty.” I gave her a mock bow, then turned to give my sister a hug and a kiss on each cheek. “Let me guess,” I said wryly. “Frozen marathon.”
Sadie held up her hands in mock innocence. “I swear she only watched it twice.” At my skeptical look, she added, “Okay, maybe two and a half times. But she went to bed like a good girl and besides one teensy, eensy chocolate cupcake sharing incident, she was a model citizen the entire visit.”
I shook my head. Princesses movies, chocolate cupcakes—going to Sadie’s house was like a trip to Disney World. Ashley was going to be sorry to be back home.
I smiled at my sister. “Thanks again for taking her overnight. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime. Did you get a lot of unpacking done?”
I grimaced. With all that had happened, I’d almost forgotten that was the reason she’d taken Ashley to begin with. I’d hoped to have half the boxes gone by now. But instead, I hadn’t cracked a single one.
“Not exactly,” I confessed. When she raised her eyebrows in question, I glanced down at my daughter. “Go inside and get your uniform on,” I told her. “We leave for school in five minutes.”
“Aw,” Ashley moaned, stamping her foot. “Queens don’t have to go to school.”
“They do if they want pizza for dinner . . .”
Her brown eyes widened. “Pizza?” she cried. “Pizza for dinner? Really?”
“Only if you’re a good queen who does what her daddy tells her to.”
“I’m a good queen!” she cried. She turned and dashed to the front door, hopefully to prove this fact by following my instructions. Laughing, Sadie followed her inside.
I started to join them, then stopped, scanning the neighborhood to see if Beth had made it to the truck okay. I felt like such an ass, sending her away like that. But at the same time, what choice had I had? I hadn’t been exaggerating when I told her it would confuse Ashley to find another woman in the house. A woman who was not her mom.
And yet, at the same time, I wished Beth could have stayed.
My eyes locked on the live truck and I saw Beth was inside. Watching us, I guess. Probably desperate with curiosity about the whole situation. I’d have time to come clean later—and to apologize for my sins of omission. I watched as she waved at me and I gave her a small salute back. To thank her, best I could, for being a good sport even if the situation was totally unfair to her.
Sighing, I walked into the house to find my sister. She turned to look at me, then gestured questioningly to where Beth’s homemade breakfast was still laid out on the table. I’d eaten a few bites, then put the plate down, feeling too guilty to properly enjoy any of it. She’d worked so hard to make it all. And in my haste to get her out, I’d acted like an ungrateful bastard.
This is why I needed to stay away from women.
Sadie surveyed the kitchen. “Well, I’m beginning to get a sense of why you didn’t unpack,” she said with a slow smile.
“Got time for a long story?”
She grabbed a piece of toast. “Any excuse to get out of CrossFit.”
And so I told her everything. About meeting Beth at the club and going home with her. About our one night of passion and the not-so-good morning after. About finding out she was not only my new coworker, but also my new partner. And about what had possessed me to take her home last night after our shift was done.
As I paused for breath, my sister gave a low whistle. “That’s some crazy story.”
“And you wondered why I didn’t want to take Joe up on the whole clubbing thing.”
“Please.” Sadie shook her head. “You can so not put this on Joe. This is straight up ‘I did something horrible in a previous life and am now being punished for it’ shit.”
I groaned. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure you’re wrong.”
“Still, you did the right thing,” she added. “The poor girl. I can’t imagine what that must have been like, having all her stuff thrown out on the front lawn like that. She was lucky you were there to save the day.”
“I don’t know if she thinks that. At least not after this morning.” I continued the story, explaining the whole breakfast thing. “I pushed her out the back door like she was some dirty secret I needed to get rid of.”
Sadie waved me off. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I’m sure she understands you were only looking out for Ashley.”
“If I was truly looking out for Ashley, I would have never invited her here in the first place. Or hooked up with her that first night.” I sighed. “Seriously, sis, when did I become such a weak-willed bastard?”
“When you came out of the womb with a Y chromosome,” she teased. “Come on, Mac. You’re making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be. So you met a girl. A pretty girl, from what I’ve seen on TV. You liked her, you did what nature intended guys who like girls to do. What’s the big deal?”
“I’m a father,” I protested. “I don’t have time to do what nature intended anymore. I have responsibilities. I mean, what if things end badly between us and she goes and tries to get me fired? Do you know how hard it was to get a TV job here in San Diego near you guys?” I scowled. “I made a promise. To always put Ashley first. And I’ll be damned if I break that promise over a pretty face.”
Sadie gave me a sympathetic look. “Putting Ashley first is a good thing,” she agreed. “But putting yourself last isn’t doing her any favors. You keep saying you want her to be happy. But trust me, she’ll never be truly happy unless Daddy’s happy, too.”
I sighed, hating that she was making sense. I slung an arm around her. “Oh Sadie, when did you get so wise?”
“When I came out of the womb with two X chromosomes,” she replied with a grin. “Now come on, bro. Let’s not let this kick-ass breakfast go to waste.”
twenty-two
BETH
Three hours later and I was back at News 9, ready to start my shift, after what would henceforth be known as the apartment hunt from hell. I’d trudged all over America’s finest city all morning long, only to discove
r that every place up for rent was either too far, too expensive, or too roach-infested to call my own and desperation was starting to set in.
San Diego was one of the most expensive cities in the country and I was beginning to realize the only way I would be able to swing a new place on my salary was to find someone who needed a roommate. Which wasn’t going to be easy on such short notice. I had found one potential on Craigslist, but they hadn’t been able to meet up until tomorrow. Which meant I’d need to find another place to crash tonight, at the very least.
A place that was definitely not Mac’s house.
“Well, well, there she is. The woman of the hour.”
I startled, crashing back to the present at the sound of a familiar voice behind me.
Whirling around, my eyes widened as they fell upon none other than News 9’s main anchor herself. Joy Justice was leaning against a nearby desk, giving me an elegant looking slow clap.
“Excuse me?” I stammered, cocking my head in question, my pulse kicking up a notch. What was she talking about?
A smile creased the anchor’s otherwise smooth face. She gestured for me to approach, then held out a perfectly manicured hand. I took it, still a little uncertain.
“I understand congratulations are in order,” she exclaimed. When I looked at her blankly, she added, “Your recent promotion? Sounds like you’re the one to watch here at News 9,” she added, then laughed softly. “No pun intended, of course.”
“Oh. Right!” I cried, my face flushing. Of course. So much had happened, I’d almost forgotten the whole promotion thing. But I guess the news had spread around the station since yesterday.
A warmth crept through my stomach. Up until now I hadn’t been sure Joy Justice had even been aware of my existence on the planet, never mind her newsroom, even though she’d been my personal idol since I’d first arrived at the station two years ago. But now, here she was, congratulating me and shaking my hand. Literally calling me “one to watch.” How freaking cool was that? It was as if, after all this time, I had finally arrived.
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s a really big honor.”
“One that I’m sure is well deserved,” she said, giving me a long-lashed wink. “Who knows, maybe you’ll end up taking over for me someday.”
I laughed before I could stop myself. “Yeah, right. That’ll be the day.” After all, it was one thing to get a promotion to dayside. Quite another to be admitted to the ranks of someone like Joy Justice. The woman had at least twenty-five Emmys to her name and a long-standing reputation as being the face “San Diego Trusted Most” to bring them the important news. While the majority of San Diego’s population wouldn’t be able to pick me out in a lineup if their lives depended on it, Joy had her own official fan club and about a million followers on Twitter.
Joy gave me a motherly smile. “Reach for the stars, kid. You’ll never know unless you try.”
And with that, she turned, sauntering back to her private office at the far end of the newsroom, her hips swaying with each step. For someone clocking in closer to sixty than fifty these days, she still had the presence of a supermodel and the body to boot. If I could look half as hot as Joy when I approached her age, I’d be pretty happy, to say the least.
I turned back to my own desk, pretty sure my face was glowing at this point. But any warmth quickly vanished as I suddenly felt an icy stare bite into my back. I glanced over, only to find Stephanie standing at the back of the newsroom surrounded by her new news-writer coworkers, who were all currently glaring at me with narrow eyes. I sighed, attempting to give my former roommate an apologetic smile—a vain attempt to thaw the hatred I saw on her face. But it only made her frown deepen. And I watched, uneasily, as she leaned over and whispered something to Jessica, the five o’clock producer. And from the look on Jessica’s face, I could tell that something wasn’t all that complimentary.
Ignore them, I scolded myself as I switched on my computer. They’re just jealous. The fact that Joy Justice herself had come over to talk to me probably didn’t help things either. That said, I couldn’t help feeling just a bit of immature satisfaction that the anchor had chosen a time Stephanie was watching to single me out.
I’m not going to let you ruin this for me, I thought, giving Stephanie one last look before returning to my desk. I had one month to prove myself and I wasn’t about to let some high school mean girl drama detract me from realizing my dreams. What was it Joy had just said? Reach for the stars. No one was going to stop me from doing my best.
I squared my shoulders. Screw them anyway. I had more important things to worry about. Like going down to the Lemon Grove city hall this afternoon to go through those call records and reports—to prove the city had failed to respond to the family’s repeated requests to investigate the abandoned house. And to see if any other gas leaks had been reported and ignored.
Grabbing my notes, I headed down the hall to Richard’s office. When I reached the door, I sucked in a breath, trying to mask my nervousness with a confident smile. After all, what did I have to be afraid about? I’d rocked my first assignment and parlayed it into a major investigation. Not bad for a first day on the job.
“Hi, Richard,” I said, sauntering into his office. “How’s it going?”
He looked up from his papers and grinned. “There she is,” he cried. “My burgeoning star.”
He motioned for me to sit down and I complied, barely able to control the urge to beam from ear to ear. Burgeoning star. I liked the sound of that. And surely a burgeoning star would be pretty secure in her new position, right? No one would want to see a burgeoning star sent packing, after all.
“So how does it feel, kid?” Richard asked. At my questioning look, he added, “You single-handedly won the newscast last night. None of the other stations had anything like it. They were too busy trying to get that family to boo-hoo on camera to look at the bigger picture.”
“Thanks,” I said, allowing myself to grin widely now. “And that’s just the beginning of the story—I’m sure. I’m planning to head down to Lemon Grove city hall today and comb through all the records. Maybe we can find a pattern—other instances. I think it could be a big deal.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s a great story,” he agreed. “But don’t worry, we’re on it.”
“Wait, what?” I stared at him, confusion clawing at my gut.
“I sent Jodi down first thing this morning,” he added, referring to one of News 9’s investigative producers. “She’s going to take things from here.”
“But I was the one who discovered this!” I protested, horrified. “It’s my story.”
He gave me a patronizing smile. “No offense, sweetie, but stumbling upon a tip is not the same as conducting a full investigation. That’s why we have an I-Team—to take these stories and run with them.”
My heart sank in my chest. They weren’t going to let me do the story? My story? The one I had uncovered. That wasn’t fair!
“Besides,” Richard added. “We need you on the dayside rotation. I’m sure Jessica’s already got you slotted for something in her show. We can’t just pull you and leave her with no one to cover breaking news.”
“Right,” I said, staring down at my hands, trying to stanch the disappointment in my stomach. “Of course not.”
“Look,” Richard’s voice softened. “You did good, okay? In fact, you did great. But we’re a team here. We work together. You hand over your notes to Jodi and she will do you proud, I promise. And hey, maybe we can even give you a little producer credit or something when the piece finally airs.”
“Thank you. That’d be great,” I said flatly. I rose from my seat. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I better go get my assignment.”
Richard nodded, looking relieved. “You do that,” he said. “I’m expecting nothing less than another home run today.” He grinned. “Congrats again, Beth. I’m proud of you.”
I walked out of the office, shutting the door behind me, before heading back to the newsroom
.
It’s no big deal, I scolded myself as I made my way over to the assignment desk. You got the credit. He knows you did good. What more do you want? Heck, you just got promoted yesterday—do you suddenly expect to be running the station twenty-four hours later? Besides, they need you for breaking news. That’s just as important—maybe even more so. Maybe you’ll cover a hostage crisis. Or a high-speed chase. A political scandal, perhaps. Or maybe a—
“Water safety demo.”
Wait, what?
I cocked my head, staring at the producer who had just stepped into my path, shoving a packet of papers into my hands. It was Jessica, I realized in dismay. The same producer who had been talking to Stephanie earlier.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Jessica gave me a smug smile. She spoke slowly, deliberately, as if addressing a young child. “Down at Fiesta Island. They’re doing a water safety demo for underprivileged kids. I want a package at five.”
“You want me to spend the day at the beach?” I asked incredulously, the words spilling from my lips before I had a chance to check myself. Fiesta Island was a small piece of land in the Mission Bay area of San Diego. People would go there on weekends to race Jet Skis and practice water skiing tricks. Kids could splash in wave-free waters and parents could barbecue in designated fire pits. It was a fun place to hang out, but not exactly what breaking news stories were made of.
“Isn’t there something . . .” I searched for the right words. “More . . . important to cover?” Being taken off my story for breaking news was one thing. But wasting my time on something like this? That was so not cool.
“Sure, there are plenty of important stories,” Jessica sneered. “And I’ve already assigned them to important reporters.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Looks like you’re beach bound, Beth. Unless you want me to go talk to Richard on your behalf . . .”
“No!” I blurted, fear slamming through me at the mere suggestion. Richard already thought I was trying to step beyond my station. I had to prove to him that I could handle anything they threw at me, whether death defying breaking news or pointless fluff.