Channel 20 Something (26 page)

“I can drive up tomorrow and come in on Monday if you’d like.”

“That would be perfect. Let me notify my assistant, and she’ll get a room for you here. We’ll have dinner tomorrow night after you get to town, and then we’ll get you on the set with the male anchor on Monday morning for the audition.”

“Great. Looking forward to meeting you.” I meant every word of it.

Okay, two major life decisions handled. Two to go. I dialed Aric’s number. No answer. Well, he
was
at work—maybe he was in the middle of an interview or something. I left a message.

“Hi. Listen, I know you might not be too thrilled to hear from me right now, but I really need to talk to you. Please call when you get a chance.”

Then I called Hale and asked him to come over when he finished work for the day. He agreed, sounding nervous. My fingers wrapped around the phone were itchy and restless. It was too soon to try Aric’s number again—the only thing less attractive than a girl who runs off and gets engaged hours after snogging with you against a live truck, is that same girl stalking you with phone calls every fifteen minutes. He’d get my message and call me back when he was ready.

I showered and cleaned up my place. On the upside, a studio apartment doesn’t require much cleaning. On the downside, cleaning it doesn’t kill much time.

On the kitchen counter my phone rang, and I lunged for it. “Aric?” I was breathless.

There was a pause. “Uh… Heidi—it’s Jane Elaine.”

“Oh… hi.”

“Hi. Nice to talk to you, too.” I could hear her smirk over the phone. “So Mom says you’re
not
engaged? And you’re moving?”

“Correct, and probably.”

“Well, good—I mean about the engagement thing—I thought you were with Aric now. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the video on the news last night.”

As I’d done with Kenley and Mom, I recounted the entire horror of the previous night and was rewarded with my sister’s sympathy, though she had laughed at some parts of my twisted story. I mean, she
was
a big sister, after all.

“I hope Aric will listen to me.”

“Are you sure about him? I mean, is this your forever guy?”

“Um… I think so. I hope so. I want him to be.”

“Then if he doesn’t call you back, show up naked on his doorstep.”

A shocked
gak
noise erupted from my throat. “This is the advice I get from a preacher’s wife?” I laughed.

“Hey, where do you think all those babies in the church nursery come from? Phil’s a man of the cloth, but he’s still a
man
. And men can find a whole lot more understanding in their hearts if they find a warm and willing woman in their bed.”

“Okay, I’m going to try very hard to put that lovely mental image of you and Pastor Phil getting it on
out
of my head. Thanks for that, sis.”

She laughed loudly. “Well, I do have some good news on the home front—the church is getting sued.”

“Sued? How is this good news?”

“Some guy attending a memorial service there
says
he slipped on some spilled punch in the fellowship hall. And I offered to represent the church. Pro bono, of course.”

“That’s great, Jane Elaine. So you’ve finally found something you can do for them that doesn’t involve wiping runny noses in the nursery or attempting to carry a tune.”

“Exactly. The church council is so grateful they told me not to even bother baking cookies for the annual cookie share next week.”

“Good news for you
and
those with whom your cookies might have been shared.” My sister was a kick-ass attorney. Baker? Not so much.

“All right. Well, I’ve got to get back to work. Have a good trip to Nashville and good luck in your interview. We’ll be praying for you. And go get your man.”

I waited a few hours and tried Aric again. No answer. Again.

By six o’clock, he still hadn’t called me back. Too busy with work. Or with hating me. I took off my clothes and stood in front of my bathroom mirror, imagining following my sister’s advice. I’d ring his doorbell, and Aric would answer. He’d look me up and down, checking out the peace offering… and close the door. Ugh. Or worse, he’d open the door, shirtless and still wearing his suit pants from work, and Colleen would come down the stairs right after him, every bit as naked as me, but pulling it off a whole lot better. I shuddered. No doorstep nudity.

I put my clothes back on and turned on the news while I waited for Hale to arrive. Colleen looked beautiful, of course, but her Valley-girl inflection bugged me as usual. I muted the sound and waited for the sportscast. Colleen and Aric made happy-talk on a two shot then the camera went to a tight shot on Aric. He looked a little rough—and
exactly
like a guy who’d spent the previous night drinking heavily and boinking a beauty queen. His clothes and hair were perfect, of course, but dark smudges underlined his eyes, and his usual compelling energy was noticeably absent.

I did call one more time after the news ended, but again he didn’t pick up. Okay, he didn’t want to talk to me. How obvious did he have to make it?

Well, he wouldn’t be able to avoid me on Wednesday when I got back from Nashville and we both went back to work. Then we’d no doubt have a reversal of our original positions, with me begging
him
to get together and talk, and him blowing me off. The thought of it sent a twisting pain through my heart. Too bad, I’d find a way to talk to him anyway. I wasn’t going to give up on us until I’d really given it my best try.
No more fear.

And then my doorbell rang.

I think Hale knew as soon as he saw my face. He gave me a tight smile and stepped inside, looking especially nice in a light blue sweater and dark pants. His eyes went immediately to my left hand, which was bare. He registered that fact with a flare of his eyelids, and his gaze dropped to the floor between us.

“Come on in and sit down. Would you like a drink?”

“No thanks. I’d really just like to go ahead and talk. I haven’t been able to think all day. I didn’t sleep last night.”

A twinge caught at my heart. Not of regret over letting him go, but of dread over the pain I was about to cause him. There was no getting around it. There never had been.

“I know what you mean,” I told him honestly. “I didn’t get much sleep either.” I took Hale’s hand. It was time to say it all—everything I’d been afraid to say before. I’d called it being nice, saving his feelings, when the truth was I’d been a coward and probably hurt him more as a result.

“So, I thought about the things you said last night. You were right, Hale. We do get along great, and we never fought. Things between us
were
good. But I’ve been learning lately that maybe that’s not such a good thing. Maybe the absence of any sort of conflict at all, being with someone who never makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, maybe that’s not the way love is supposed to be. It’s safe and
good
, but I’m beginning to think there’s something more out there, something better than good… for
both
of us.”

Hale’s expression took on a new cast, something less hurt and more angry. “This is about him, isn’t it? The sports guy, Aric.”

Courage, Heidi
. I’d already found out where trying to take the easy road had gotten me. If I’d been brave enough to be more up-front with Hale in the first place, we wouldn’t be here right now, both embarrassed and hurting. “Not entirely,” I said. “But yes, partially—I do have feelings for him. It really has more to do with me, though. I’m coming to terms with some things that happened in my past, things I’ve been running from that I’ve never discussed with you, unfortunately. It wasn’t fair to you, and I wish I’d been more of a grown-up and better able to explain to you where I was coming from all along. Maybe then you wouldn’t have wasted so much time on me.”

I pulled the gorgeous ring from my pocket and pressed it into Hale’s hand, then wrapped my fingers around his. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, staring at our hands. “I never meant to lead you on, and I want you to know that in many ways you saved me. You were there for me when I really needed someone, and you helped me to heal from the worst damage of my life. I’ll always be grateful to you, and even if you hate me now, I’ll always love you for that.” I glanced up to see his reaction.

He was looking at me with tears in his eyes. “You were never a waste of time, Heidi.” He swallowed loudly. “And I don’t hate you.” He opened his hand, looking down at the glittering ring. “I just wish—I definitely should have done something sooner—as soon as you mentioned Aric. I was too sure of myself, too nice about it. I should have fought for you.”

“Don’t you think it’s significant that you didn’t? One of these days you’re going to meet someone, and you’ll know that
nothing
could stop you from being with her. Someone who’s just right for you, who wants to stay, to share your life—exactly as it is—more than anything in the world.” I swallowed back a sob, realizing this was likely the last time I’d ever see him. “That girl is out there. And when you meet her, you’ll be very, very glad things happened this way.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Hale’s hand closed over the ring again, hiding it from my view. He nodded and stood up, his flushed face betraying a struggle for control. “Be happy, Heidi,” he said in a choked voice and walked to my front door and out of my life.

When I arrived at work Wednesday afternoon, the station looked different to me, smaller and more dear. I had a heightened appreciation for WPLM and all I’d learned here over the past year. I might not have much longer to spend in this crappy little underfunded, outdated, wonderful old TV station, and the thought was surprisingly bittersweet.

I didn’t have an official offer from Nashville, but the interview and audition had gone extremely well, and the news director had sent me home with a bag-f of WKRN promotional material—a t-shirt, hat, pens, notepads, magnets. He’d also called to make sure I’d gotten home safely yesterday and told me again how much he hoped I’d enjoyed my experience there. Things were looking good.

I entered the newsroom and went straight back to the sports corner to find Aric. He could avoid my phone calls, but he couldn’t avoid me if I was standing right in front of him. I stopped short when I rounded the corner of the last partition, because Aric was there, but not alone. A middle-aged man was with him, tall, fit, olive-skinned and handsome with a head full of thick black hair (maybe a shade too black).

He must have caught motion out of the corner of his eye or either was reacting to Aric’s notice of me, because he turned toward me and broke out in a beautiful, friendly (and a bit lecherous, if I’m being honest) smile.

“Hi.” I raised my hand in a weak wave.

“Well, hello,” his smooth voice greeted me. He turned to Aric. “Son, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

Oh—it was Aric’s dad. Now I could see it, not in the coloring, but in the graceful way he moved, the fabulous smile, the incredible facial bone structure. Aric looked extremely uncomfortable, and of course the situation was beyond awkward. We hadn’t seen each other since that mind-scrambling kiss Friday evening before my disastrous date with Hale.

“Uh, Peter, this is Heidi, my… co-anchor. Heidi, this is my father, Peter Serrano.”

Peter was already moving toward me, taking my outstretched hand between both of his in an engulfing embrace too intimate to call a handshake. “Wonderful to meet you, Heidi. Are you one of those Southern peaches I’ve heard so much about?” He winked.

It took me a minute to respond to the odd question. “Oh, uh, well, I think you’re referring to a Georgia Peach, which is what, um, people sometimes call girls from that state. But yes, I am a Southerner. I’m from Mississippi. Welcome. How long are you here visiting?”

“I’m sorry to say I’ll be leaving tomorrow. I flew in on Monday, and I have to get back to New York for work. That’s why I’m here checking out Aric’s new job situation today. It’s too bad we won’t get to spend more time together.” The way he was looking at me, I wasn’t sure if the “we” referred to Aric or to me. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you join Aric and me tonight for a drink after work?”

Aric scowled at the back of his father’s head in a murderous way. Seeing clearly what Aric thought of the ill-timed invitation, I declined and wished Mr. Serrano a wonderful remainder of his visit and a safe trip home. Well, talking to Aric today was out. But tomorrow, he wouldn’t have a horny older man around to scare me off.

I didn’t see Aric at all on Thursday until the news meeting. He slipped in late, earning a hard glare from an unexpected visitor to the newsroom, Mr. Aubrey.

I assumed Janet had decided today was the day to make her announcement, and he was there to offer some sort of support or kind words, or maybe to assure the troops we’d be okay and the search was on for a new fearless leader. Boy, was I wrong.

“It has come to my attention,” Mr. Aubrey croaked, straightening his outdated tie and holding up an age-spotted hand, “that we have a very serious problem here at WPLM.”

A
problem? Understaffing, low pay, obsolete and broken equipment. How did he pick just one?

“I have learned… there has been
fraternization
within my newsroom staff.” He swept his hand boldly over the room as if he was Moses scattering a plague. Some people actually ducked. His tone suggested the crime was something worse than embezzlement or even plagiarism of the local newspaper, which would get any of us fired on the spot.

Mara turned to me wide-eyed, no doubt afraid he’d found out about Aric and me.

Colleen jumped out of her seat. “It wasn’t me. Nothing happened, I swear. I was only helping
him,
” She pointed an accusatory finger at Aric. “I was getting him out of the public eye, so he’d stop embarrassing the station. He was the one who was
drunk
. In public.” If the Starkville Community Theater players could have seen Colleen’s dramatic expression of disdain in that moment, they’d have recruited her immediately for their next production.
Taming of the Shrew
seemed like a good vehicle for her talents.