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  Hopefully, not too ugly.

  I managed to smile as we joined everyone in the darkened control room.

  “Overall, strong.” Drew began, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Rick, stellar performance. Smooth. Great to have you back.”

  I winced at the smooth comment. My turn was next.

  “Melissa, don’t rush the script. Relax and have a little fun with it. You’re over-thinking it,” Drew added. “Overall, though, the two of you look great on set. Viewers like the new team, right?” He looked around for verification.

  The girl in master control spoke up. “That’s what one lady said.” She paused, blew a huge pink bubble, then popped it. “But, the sexy video. No one liked it,” she concluded, a wry look on her face. “We had a few calls about that, too.”

  A few muffled snickers filtered through the room. I fanned my face with my script, suddenly warm all over again. Rick elbowed Joe and grinned in my direction.

  Drew sighed and shrugged. “Can’t win ’em all.”

  As Drew’s footsteps faded down the hallway, I made my way the opposite direction.

  I pushed against the heavy steel door in the back of the building, juggling my purse in one hand and cell phone in the other. I needed quiet. Some fresh air.

  Chris had left a voicemail. He left a lengthy message about Mother and Frank Sinatra. She’d evidently called the house after I’d hung up at the station. Sharice managed to get her calmed down. The nurses gave her something to sleep.

  I was thankful Chris dealt with it, but I needed to talk to Sharice and the nursing home administrator soon. Mother’s memory was deteriorating and it scared me. I slid out of my suit jacket, and told myself to breathe. Candace’s number flashed up on the screen next.

  “Hi there—”

  “Melissa’s Secret,” she answered in a deep, throaty voice. “How may I help you?”

  “Funny. Very funny.” I folded my jacket and laid it on a bench outside the building.

  “Nice promo for the series. Will you be donning Frederick’s of Hollywood attire for next week?” Candace giggled. “I can let you borrow my best—”

  “Hey, time out. Stop. Enough.”

  “Fine, fine. What happened?”

  “Wrong promo. Drew forgot to pull it,” I let out a giggle. “It was pretty awful, wasn’t it?”

  “At least you still have your sense of humor. That’s my girl!” Candace exclaimed. “Anyway, I called to compliment you on the show…and you looked beautiful!

  “You’re a gem. I owe it all to you.”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Candace chided. “I helped, but I am not the person up there on camera. You are. And that takes guts. I’m proud of you.”

  I started to add that WSGA would find another anchor soon, but then closed my mouth. It was time I learned to take a compliment gracefully.

  “Thank you, that means a lot,” I said simply. And it did.

  “You’re welcome,” Candace replied, followed by a thoughtful pause. “Melissa, all you have to do is believe in yourself. Then everyone else will, too.”

  Chapter 25

  The next morning, I found Sunshine the weather cat on my desk. She was sleeping, paws stretched across my keyboard, notebooks, and Sharpies. When I set down my bag, she opened one eye lazily. We stared at each other.

  Her tail, flicking back and forth, brushed across three DVDs. They were rubber-banded together and topped with a Post-it from Drew. “No!” was scrawled across the yellow square.

  Clearly, he didn’t like the anchor demos I’d chosen. I could get to the next stack of DVDs, if Sunshine would move away from my inbox.

  “Nice kitty,” I cooed. “Can you go find Stanley? I’ll give you extra tuna…”

  Sunshine refused to budge. I glanced around for our weatherman, the only person in the building the cat actually liked.

  When I reached for the drawer, with the object of getting a spare can of Albacore, her claws shot out and missed my finger my a millimeter.

  “Wow, now that was uncalled for,” I scolded her.

  In response, Sunshine rolled off, started licking her fur, began purring, and ignored me.

  “Stan-ley McManaman!” I bellowed. “Can you please help me? Sunshine’s on my desk. She won’t move. And that means I can’t work. Which means Drew won’t be happy—”

  “Melissa,” Stanley hurried from around the corner with one finger held to his lips. “Don’t raise your voice around Sunshine. It scares her.”

  “Sorry,” I waved my arms around and clenched my teeth into a smile. “I just…”

  Stanley gathered Sunshine in his arms and rubbed her head. “Poor kitty. Did Melissa frighten you, my little sweetie?” He stalked away, murmuring into the cat’s fur.

  I sank into my chair in relief. Just in time to see our sports anchor, Judd, take a swig from a two-liter bottle and then hide it behind his desk.

  “Um, how’s sports shaping up for the six?” I called over.

  Judd swallowed, a telltale fizz of Coke left on his lips. “Great. Good.” He belched.

  “That’s not Coke, is it?”

  Judd shrank down in his seat.

  “Come on, buddy. You know what Drew said,” I pleaded. A few of the reporters looked over, worried.

  Red-faced, he plopped the half-empty bottle on his desk. “Fine.”

  I walked over, plucked it out of his reach, and poured it down the sink in the break room. The brown liquid chugged and splattered on the edge of my sleeve.

  “Ugh,” I said, making a face.

  Thankfully, Judd left to cover a baseball game and Sunshine was keeping her distance. Maybe I could get some work done.

  Except my computer screen decided to freeze when I sat down to actually work. “Sugar!” I muttered.

  As I rebooted, I propped an elbow on my desk and scribbled out a few news promos until the pen ran out of ink. “Great, just great,” I exclaimed. Taking aim at the trashcan across the room, I lobbed the now good-for-nothing Paper Mate into the air.

  There, I felt better. Until Rick Roberts stepped out of nowhere. Right into the path of the flying pen.

  Plunk!

  The pen hit the wall three inches from Rick’s jaw and clattered to the floor several feet away from the trashcan.

  He jumped and whirled around. I shrieked.

  “Oh!” I clapped both hands over my mouth.

  “That was close,” he remarked, glancing from me to the pen. “Were you targeting me or the wall?”

  “The trash can, actually,” I admitted sheepishly. “Bad aim. I didn’t mean to almost hit you.”

  With a quick motion and a sharp grin, Rick swept the pen from the floor and tossed it into the metal container. “There. Now it won’t hurt anyone.” He walked over to a desk near mine and sat on the edge.

  How long had he been standing around the corner? All of a sudden, my mind went blank. The way he locked his eyes on mine…well, let’s just say, for a moment I couldn’t string a sentence together.

  My computer bleeped at me. I broke his gaze and turned to bring up tonight’s six o’clock rundown. Rick didn’t move. He was still staring at me. I felt my neck and face get hot.

  “Just what exactly are you doing?” I said, unable to concentrate.

  “Hovering over your shoulder,” Rick said.

  We both started to laugh.

  “I was just coming to tell you that I made some calls and have three more guests lined up for the Ask Anything taping next week. The PR manager from the Atlanta Braves is coming down, we’ve got a neurosurgeon coming to talk about back surgery options, and a woman agreed to talk about a new summer camp for at-risk children and teens.” He handed me a brochure. “You want to handle the kids’ camp piece? That seems right up your alley.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “You have a daughter, don’t you?” Rick asked. “Did I hear she’s in college?”

  I smiled. “Kelly just started Berkeley.” I shook my head. “Doesn’t seem p
ossible.”

  “I’m sure you’re a great mom. And you’re way too young to have a kid in college, by the way.” Rick grinned and eyeballed me up and down.

  “Why thank you,” I said, fluttering my eyelashes. Now that was something I liked to hear, whether Rick meant it or not. “That was very kind.”

  “Not kind,” he argued. “It’s the truth.”

  The phone rang and it was back to business. Rick answered it, grabbing a notepad. He listened and jotted while I worked. Every now and then, I would sneak a glance.

  Rick was so professional, so patient. His clothes weren’t rumpled or wrinkled; yet, he didn’t have the buttoned-up stuffiness some anchors take on after they’ve been in the business too long. Don’t touch me. How dare you look in my direction? My word is final.

  Rick was different. He laughed into the phone. The sound was contagious. He smiled and his face lit up.

  I needed to pinch myself. What was I going on about? He was a married co-worker. Not to mention Chris. I could never hurt him.

  Rick hung up the phone, his attention back on me. “Some crazy guy outside of town has stolen a riding lawn mower, a gun, and a twelve pack of beer.”

  “Sounds interesting so far,” I raised an eyebrow and glanced up.

  “He’s only wearing boxers and a cowboy hat,” Rick winked. “The police have him cornered, but they can’t get close because he’s throwing empty beer bottles at them.”

  I laughed. “He’ll run out of bottles eventually. But you said he has a gun?”

  “That’s right,” said Rick. “If it’s okay by you, I’m going to send one of the reporters.” He glanced at the list of numbers on the wall and started dialing the phone. “Apparently, the same guy’s wanted in three states on drug charges. Meth labs, that sort of thing.”

  Even better. I slugged the story “stolen lawn mower” and entered one minute and thirty seconds for a time. Without thinking, I heaved a huge sigh.

  “Melissa. Everything okay?” Rick looked up.

  I forced my lips into a smile. “Sure. If this pans out, I’ll have my missing ninety seconds covered. Other than that, I have a stack of sound bites to re-edit and beat calls to make. Then I’ll go back and double-check everything.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of those perfectionist types,” Rick joked.

  “I just like everything to work out,” I answered lightly, dancing around his statement.

  Rick paused and gave me a thoughtful look, the kind that said he wasn’t convinced.

  “Okay,” I admitted. “I’m a bit obsessive. I hate it when things don’t work out like I plan.”

  “Personally or professionally?” Rick asked.

  “Both.” My mother, my husband, my career…

  Rick grinned. “That’s life, sweetheart. Just do the best you can. Of course, I’m one to talk. My wife complains I don’t listen. Sometimes you have to beat us over the head. Get a big stick.” He pretended to lift a tree trunk and hoist it over his shoulder.

  “I’ve considered it,” I teased back. “You have no idea.”

  Except he probably did, with a nasty divorce, the reportedly huge settlement he paid out, and an ex-wife who might like nothing better than to see him six feet under. That very thought made me realize I didn’t need to be sharing personal information with Rick. Or even joking about it.

  But here we were, bantering like best friends. More than best friends. What was I thinking? Someone needed to read me my Miranda rights. Anything you say or do can be used against you…

  A rumble of stomping feet and laughter floated in from the hallway. Thank goodness for interruptions. In seconds, the newsroom went from happy twosome to crowded locker room of loud men. All we needed were wet towels and water bottles.

  The phones started ringing. Ten different conversations rumbled in time to the copy machine. Drew walked in and shouted something about the drunk guy on a motorcycle.

  “It’s a lawn mower,” Rick corrected him.

  “Whatever, Roberts. We’ll have VO in time for the six? Who’s on it?” Drew demanded.

  Rick nodded in my direction. “Rob Glass. We’ve got it covered.”

  Drew crossed his arms in satisfaction. “Excellent. You two make a good team.”

  As he walked away, Rick’s eyes began to twinkle. He raised his water bottle in mock salute and lowered his voice. “Melissa, we do make a good team. Don’t you think?”

  I smiled. Absolutely .

  Chapter 26

  The next day, I tracked down Sharice at the nursing home.

  “I’m worried,” I said and told her about the Frank Sinatra phone call. “What can we do?”

  Sharice listened and patted my hand. We checked Mother’s next doctor’s visit, which was scheduled for the following week, then looked over her medications. Sharice would watch out for her, she promised, and would call if anything strange happened.

  Then, Sharice gave me strict advice. “She her old self today, Lawd chile, you watch out,” she warned with both hands on her hips. “An’ try an’ fine out what she scribbling about in those notebooks ah hers. She won’t let me touch ’em. She been hidin’ ’em under her mattress.”

  I hugged Sharice, asked about her son Darius, and thanked her again. Then, I knocked on Mother’s door and let myself into her room.

  My mother sat in silence as pictures of the war-torn Middle East flashed across the TV screen. She turned and looked when the light from the hallway fell across her face.

  Today, she recognized me right away. “Melissa, when are they ever going to bring those boys home?” Even my mother, a staunch conservative, was growing weary of the conflict. “I wonder about the futility of war. Losing so many young people in a fight we may never be able to win.” The skin around her eyes crinkled as she squinted at the violence.

  Sharice was right. The real Mother was back—for now. Her dementia was hidden, like the camouflage pattern of a soldier’s uniform against brown sand and rough landscape.

  Mother’s eyes flickered to the images of men shooting innocent people in the streets. People dying, sickness, disease. I’d seen the pictures so much, I was numb.

  On Fox News, a reporter told of another soldier’s body being flown home. Two rows of somber military officers carried the coffin, draped in stars and stripes.

  “I’m not sure,” I finally answered.

  Mother fluttered a hand in my direction, clearly disturbed by the video. “The families of those soldiers, how do they bear it? All of that death. It’s devastating. Are we really helping anyone by being over there?”

  I searched my mother’s face, examining the lines and curves that had accumulated over the years. She had such compassion for strangers, victims of crime, people with lives torn apart, and movie stars murdered by scorned lovers. Yet, when it came to her own family, it was a concerted effort for her to express emotion.

  Then, for some reason, it hit me. Mother had a buffer. The television, the movie screen. Her books. They were a dividing line, a cushion between her life and everyone else’s, where her feelings were absorbed. She could pour her heart and thoughts into everyone else’s problems because it was easier than facing her own. Maybe there wasn’t anything left over for me. I frowned at the thought. That was ridiculous. People didn’t run out of emotions.

  I bit my lip. Unless they chose to.

  Fox News went to commercial. Those, Mother disregarded. She refused to pay attention. My mother turned her gaze out the window instead and her eyes followed two birds chasing each other across the lawn. They squawked at each other, beaks open, wings flapping. I imagined they were loud, but through the glass, we might as well have been watching a silent movie.

  Funny. It was the same way when I tried to get Mother’s attention. She might see me talk, look at my lips moving, but I never felt like she listened or understood.

  “Sharice says you might be writing again. Are you keeping a journal? I’d love to see it.”

  Mother hesitated, then closed
her mouth firmly. Her fingers climbed out of sight, buried under the afghan covering her lap. She wasn’t going to discuss it.

  I changed tactics. “Mother, did you see the news last night?” My voice shook the slightest bit when I said the words.

  “Of course,” she replied in a matter-of-fact tone, still staring out the window.

  What would it take to make her care? To make her proud of me?

  I fought with my doubts. Of course, Mother cared. She had provided for me, dressed me, paid for a good education.

  Did I just need to ask? If I mattered? If she loved me? Was it that simple?

  I pressed on. “If you watch WSGA tonight I’ll be on. Both the six and ten o’clock shows.” I tinged the sentences with feigned nonchalance, but one sidelong glance confirmed Mother was indeed paying attention. “I’ll be anchoring with Rick Roberts. Just for a few weeks, until they find someone else,” I prompted. “What do you think about that?”

  Mother crinkled her forehead and shifted in her chair. Her watch jingled against her bracelet. “Rick Roberts. I like him. Handsome, that one. Professional. He does a nice job.”

  What about me? I wanted to ask. What…do you think…about me?

  She turned her attention back to CNN.

  If anyone was to blame for my obsession with the news business, it was my mother. The television remained on during my entire childhood and teenage years, for fear Mother would miss something important. A celebrity breakup, marriage, divorces. Anything that had to do with the rich and powerful was Mother’s business. Some or all of it might end up in her next book.

  When the evening news came on, there were certain rules. Better not make a sound or my mother would fuss. Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t ever change the channel. Even my father tiptoed around her for those thirty minutes.

  Her attention on the screen was rapt; more than once she’d let dinner burn in the stove or the phone go unanswered. During the news, she’d often ignore a knock at the door.

  Through her celebrity interviews, by writing her books, Mother communicated with the rest of the world. She even talked in sound bites, at the grocery store, at church, at dinner parties.

  “…more Kennedy family items to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s.”