Page 37 of Under the Weatherman
“Well, it might be an acquired taste. You should give him another try.”
Her head jerked up, like she wasn’t sure she’d heard that right. Bas would kill me for interfering like this. Her lips pursed as she regained her cool. “Maybe you should take your own advice.”
As if our situations were remotely similar. I let her have the last word, and with a shrug, moved along the counter to retrieve my cup of hot water with a tea bag steeping in it. I grabbed a seat while Lauren waited for her coffee.
When she joined me, she grimaced and said, “Is it just me or are the servers getting older? This used to be a temporary job for college kids. Now it’s become some kind of career.”
“I guess the economy’s been pretty terrible, huh?”
She shrugged. “I guess. I mean, is it so hard to get a real job?”
I shook my head, recognizing a similar thought I’d had on encountering Kyan tending bar, but it sounded so much grosser spoken aloud. So spoiled. No wonder Elizabeth had gone cold on me. “Maybe. But you never know what someone else has going on. Maybe they’re still in school. Maybe they’re working here because their other job doesn’t pay enough.”
She blew on her coffee. “Whatever. I’d rather die than have to work here.”
I snorted. “You’d ratherdie? Seriously?” Even though I barely knew Chelsea, and even though I held a residual grudge against her for whatever torture Elizabeth had put me through, I felt defensive of her, as though she were a friend of mine, as though I had a right to be irritated at her, but others hadn’t earned that honor.
“It’s just an expression. Geez.” Her face transformed from petulant to upbeat. “Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to get to know you better.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do outside of work.
“So, what do you do in your spare time?” she asked.
“Maybe I work at a coffee shop.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “That’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.” I pushed my untouched tea away. “I’m sorry. Did you want to talk to me about the job, or—?”
“Right.” Maybe I’d pissed her off enough to make her forget about flirting. “I’ve only recently moved to head producer, so I’m still learning.”
That might explain why she was acting like we were mere coworkers with an even power dynamic. “Is there anything you’d like done differently from how Bob is handling things?”
“No, Bob’s been stalwart.” She opened her phone to a multicolored calendar. “In fact, I’d like you to shadow him on the six and eleven o’clock newscast tonight and tomorrow, then take over starting next Monday.”
“That works.”
“We’ll need to get your promo teasers shot sometime today or tomorrow.”
“Yup. I’ve brought a suit in, just in case.”
“Good. Also, there’s a new girl in the associate producer position you’ll meet later, though...” She frowned. “I’m not sure that’s going to work out longterm.”
I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable hearing HR gossip from her.
She returned to professional mode, running over some of the policies, before she dropped some unsolicited opinions about the anchors and mentioned several extracurricular activities I might be interested in. “You should check out the hiking here.”
“Yeah.” I’d been carrying my side of the conversation with variations ofuh-huhorhmmm. I decided to elaborate. “I actually grew up here.”
She tilted her head so her hair fell across her shoulder. “If you’d like, we could get some dinner after the six o’clock. There are some terrific restaurants nearby.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry. I’m already meeting someone.”
“Girlfriend?” She said it so smoothly, like honest curiosity, like she didn’t care one way or the other. I wasn’t fooled.
Maybe that’s why I said, “Boyfriend.”
I felt a little guilty for pretending to be someone I wasn’t, especially after my harsh judgment of Elizabeth, but it had the intended effect.
