Page 40 of Drop Pass

“Well, you did such a great job with the Fury we figured it would be a good fit,” Jordan reassured her.

Shawn nodded. “It was between you and Tyson, and frankly he doesn’t have the personality to interview people.”

I smiled, grateful they believed in me so much already. “Well, I’ll try my best. What’s up first?”

They ran through highlights from last night’s basketball game—that I hadn’t even known about—while I pretended to understand. I wasn’t completely ignorant of the basics of most sports, but I was never invested in any particular sport or team to care about the rules. Or players. Or stats.

I was in over my head, but I had no choice. My boss told me I was on sports, so that was my job until Dean came back. Maybe I should go check on him and see if there was anything I could do to speed up his recovery.

Shawn slid me a paper and smiled. “Don’t worry. Most of the time the screen will showcase highlights or the points or standings. You’re only on for the very beginning and end.”

“Oh, that’s not too bad.”

He nodded. “You’ll see the light go off and then you just have to read. The newsroom changes the footage as you talk.”

“That’s it?” I balked. “Maybe I should look into a permanent change.”

He laughed while I smiled. I’d never leave the weather, but this job seemed like a breeze in comparison.

“You’re on in five,” Jordan warned.

“Thanks.” I read over the notes and made sure I understood everything before taking my position in front of the sports backdrop. I kept my smile in place and recited the intro before relaxing when the red light when off. I continued reading off the prompter and watched the live feed of the rotating video clips.

This was actually kind of fun.

The camera cut back to me and I closed before sending it back to the anchors.

“Well done.” Jordan held up a hand and I gave him a high five before sitting down.

Shawn nodded as well. “Very good. We’ll record the radio clips now and then we’ll prep for your interviews tonight between the live segments.”

I froze. “What interviews?”

If I’d been paying a tiny bit more attention, I probably would have known the answer but the information they’d dumped on me all at once was overwhelming.

“The Fury game,” Jordan said as he typed.

I looked between them. “I’m interviewing the Fury players?” Dread washed over me. I was fine talking to ninety-nine percent of the team, but the one percent was getting an award tonight and I had a feeling he would be a focus.

“Yeah, we have allotted time during the first intermission.”

Shawn met my gaze with questioning eyes. “Is that a problem?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Of course not.”

“Yeah, should be a breeze after the lake,” Jordan said with a teasing smile.

Oh good. I’m glad we can all laugh about that now.

“Right. Do you have a list of players or is it just anyone I can grab?” Like Reese or Olli or Erik. They would be fine.

“Yeah, we have to send over the questions to the team management and the players’ agents first for approval, so they know if they’re being interviewed.”

I nodded. That made sense. It would also give me time to prepare. “Do you have the list?”

Jordan nodded in the direction of my computer. “I just emailed it to you.”

“Thanks.” I turned and opened the unread email. I scanned it for names and cringed when I read over them. Colin Brassard, Erik Schultz, Noah Malkin, and Nikolay Kozlov.