“Pardon me for asking, Milt, but what does Jeremy know about broadcasting the news?”
“Nothing.” Milt hooted, no doubt at the expression on Brooke’s face. “That’s the beauty of my plan. He’s new. He’s fresh. And no one would dare call him stodgy.” Milt’s face grew serious. “I recognize one very important fact, though. He’ll need some training.”
“I would imagine so.”
“But we have six weeks.”
Brooke started to speak but bit her lip. After a moment she said, “What do you mean ‘we’?”
“That’s why I called you in here, Brooke. Who knows more about the news at WJQC than you do?”
No one. Brooke could agree with that. Who knew more about the news than Jeremy Crockett? Almost anyone, Brooke feared. “What are you suggesting, Milt?” She held her breath.
“I want you to train him, Brooke. Take him under your wing.”
This was not happening. Didn’t Milt watch her run track around the station on a daily basis?
“Teach him everything from a producer’s viewpoint and skills,” Milt continued. “And then go on to camera work, voice modulation. When he’s absolutely perfect, then go into budgetary concerns, legal matters. The whole enchilada, Brooke. I want Jeremy to be a champion here, too.” Again Milt chuckled at his humor. “I’ll bet that’s something the man can understand.”
“Milt, I don’t have the time to tutor your golden boy. I barely get my work done as it is. I’m always under pressure. There seems to be one emergency after another in the newsroom. I couldn’t possibly—”
“Come on, Brooke. I need you to do this. We all do. The future of WJQC could depend on it.”
“Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”
“I wish. We’re facing a financial crisis here. I haven’t told anyone because I don’t want people to panic. If you care for this station and the employees as much as I think you do—”
“That’s not fair, Milt. Of course I care about everyone who works here.”
Milt’s voice dropped. All humor had been sucked out of the room. “You owe me, Brooke.”
She couldn’t help it. Her voice rose in disbelief. “I owe you?”
“You bet you do. You owe me hours of work. It’s either that or you should consider paying the station half of your salary the last few months.”
“What are you talking about?” Brooke worked her butt off for WJQC. Except maybe for those few times she... No. Milt couldn’t know about that. She’d kept her personal business private.
“I’ve seen you at your desk talking on the phone. Didn’t sound like WJQC conversation to me. In fact, I walk by and you immediately hang up. I caught you doing personal internet stuff during WJQC time. You can’t think I haven’t seen your computer screen in the middle of the day while you’re looking up names and dates. Heck, Brooke, you’ve even been canvasing prison records. I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t want to know, but one thing’s for sure. You owe me for time and dollars lost while your mind hasn’t been on your work.”
Brooke couldn’t argue with the truth. But she could plead the obvious. “Has my work suffered?”
“If you mean has the news gone on at five o’clock every day, then yes, it has. Was it the best you could offer our listening audience, then who knows?” Milt crossed his arms, clearly frustrated. “You can’t deny the simple truth that our ratings have dropped. Other stations are getting the jump on us with breaking news. Advertisers have gone elsewhere in alarming numbers. At first I thought it was all Armitage’s fault, but he just reads what you put on the prompter. So whose fault is it really?”
“Milt, you know that a newscast is a combination of many facets. I’m just one. Besides, I didn’t know our stats were so shaky.”
“Now you do, and so does the board of directors. It won’t be long until the lowliest employee is aware of the situation around here. My butt’s been in the fire lately, and major changes are needed.”
“But isn’t hiring an ex-jock going a bit too far?”
Milt’s gaze was fixed on her face, almost pleading with her. “I expect you to be a team player. And right now that means joining forces with Jeremy Crockett. I truly believe that he could be the future of WJQC. He’ll add the spark we need to attract new viewers, ladies especially.” Milt managed a slight smile. “He’s single, you know. And from the way the women are drooling over him, he’s not bad on the eyes.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Brooke said. “And I never thought that putting a has-been jock on the news at dinnertime was the answer to ratings problems.”
“He’s not a has-been. He quit the team this year for personal reasons. Otherwise he’d still be playing. And as for the ratings, I think Jeremy could be the answer to our problems.”
“Or he could be an even bigger problem,” Brooke said.
“Well, sure, we can’t put a buffoon on the air. Not that Jeremy is that. He’s been to college, but he’s raw. He needs training from the ground up, and you’re going to give it to him.”
Brooke had tangled with Milt before. His bluster didn’t scare her, but this time was different. “And if I don’t?”
“Now, Brooke, we’re getting into sticky territory. But I’ll level with you. Along with other changes I’ve been contemplating around here, your position is one of the decisions I’ve been mulling over.”
“You’re thinking of firing me? After ten years?”
“I’m thinking of everything that can help WJQC back to the top. You’ve been slacking off, so you could be a big reason for the ratings slip. I know Armitage is no ball of fire. He’s old. He’s tired. But you should be giving one hundred percent and you’re not. You’re still the best news producer in the business as far as I’m concerned. Or you used to be. So I’m asking you to step up and do the right thing. Make this football player the face of the nightly news.”
“Or you will fire me?” she asked again just to clarify.
Milt nodded. Just a single dip of his head. “Your performance lately gives me just cause. At the end of six weeks we’ll reevaluate your efforts around here. If Jeremy isn’t camera ready and pitch-perfect, I’ll get someone that can make him into a dang news genius.”
She exhaled a deep breath. “You do realize that I could go to almost any station in the country and get another job?”
“Possibly, but not in Charleston. The city you claim to be so fond of.”
He had her there. Charleston had always been her home. She loved the vibrancy of the downtown district. She loved the history, the culture. She definitely didn’t want to leave. She swallowed and said, “And if he is camera ready?”
“Then you’ll go on as producer and even get a nice Christmas bonus this year.”
Not working at WJQC? Brooke had never even considered it. The station was her second home. She loved her job, every frustrating, tense moment of it. She was good at it. “Are we finished?”
“We are.”
She stood.
“Oh, one other thing...” Milt said. “Don’t discuss this conversation with Jeremy. It’s between you and me. He doesn’t need to know about our plans. You just become his friend, offer to tutor him. Don’t let him know there are conditions attached.”
“Heavens no, Milt,” Brooke said. “Conditions that include my continued tenure at WJQC.”
“It’s nothing personal, Brooke. It’s business. Jeremy seems like a nice guy. I don’t want him to know that you’re helping him for any reason other than your willingness to boost WJQC. I want Jeremy to believe from day one that we’re all a big happy family around here. But you can sleep on this, Brooke. Let me know first thing in the morning.”
Milt narrowed his eyes. “And, Brooke, don’t ever underestimate me again. If you’re not giving WJQC your all, don’t think I won’t know it. Because I will. Whatever’s happening in your personal life
, leave it at home.”
Brooke exited his office. Her palms were damp and her knees were wobbly. It’s not like Camryn hadn’t warned her. The twin sisters had always had a secret radar that let them know the other was going off the tracks. And Camryn had told Brooke often enough that her obsession with finding their half brother was going to cost her big-time. And losing this job was definitely big-time.
If only Milt had warned her before, when he’d first suspected she was using company time for a personal matter. Now he was loading her up with extra work, an ultimatum and a project that might never prove successful. And she had no choice but to give in because if Jeremy failed, the loser would be Brooke.
She left early that day, to think, to wander the city she loved so much. She went to the Charleston Art Gallery, where a Lowcountry exhibit was opening that night. The paintings calmed her, made her appreciate all that South Carolina had to offer. When she went home, she knew what she was going to do.
Copyright © 2019 by Cynthia Thomason
ISBN-13: 9781488040023
The Christmas Kiss
Copyright © 2019 by Virginia McCullough
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
The Christmas Kiss Page 24