Page 14 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

The boom mic was turned off since the show was airing, but even with the sound off no one watching could miss the adversarial body language.

Olivia took off her headphones and stood. “I’m not kidding, Matt. You cannot just sit there and stare at me while I’m working.”

“Fine. I’ll read." He yanked his messenger bag off the nearby chair and rifled through it, ultimately taking out a dog-eared copy of theSports IllustratedSwimsuit Edition that he’d brought along just to annoy her. He also pulled out his own headphones, the ones with the cord long enough to allow full range of the living area, plugged them into the control panel, and sat back down on the sofa, raising the magazine up in front of his face with a flourish. When the silence continued, he lowered the magazine and peered over it. Olivia still stood there, headphones in hand, her mouth open in surprise.

She was very cute when she was stunned.

“I believe I hear your cue.”

“What?”

“I said, you’re on the air, Olivia.” He pointed to his headphones. “It’s time to talk to those people who call in and ask you questions. You know... your listeners?”

He gave her a condescending wink. “If you don’t get back to work, you’re going to be trailing so far behind me by the end of the week that you’llhaveto wear that thong.” Confident that he’d offered the perfect incentive, Matt raised the open magazine in front of his face once again.

How he managed to stifle his laughter and feign interest in the magazine for the remainder of her shift, he didn’t know. Olivia pointedly ignored him, which he chose to interpret as an indication of her interest in him. But his musings were cut short by the tremulous tone of Olivia’s final caller.

“Dr. O? I did what you said.”

“What’s that, JoBeth?”

Matt’s ears perked up. JoBeth was the name of Dawg’s girlfriend.

“I told Dawg that I wanted to get married. Again. And he told me I was ruining a perfectly good relationship.”

“Then what?” Olivia’s tone was calm and soothing, in stark contrast to JoBeth’s obvious distress.

“Then he wanted some, um, milk, and I told him he’d have to find himself another cow.”

“Good for you, JoBeth. You did the right thing.”

“It didn’t feel right, or good.”

“What happened then?”

“He said he didn’t understand a word I was saying, and that if I didn’t want to be with him, no one was forcing me to stay.”

Matt turned a page of the magazine, but his attention was riveted on the drama being played out on the air.

Olivia waited out a long pause and then said, “What did you do?”

“I moved out. I left him.” JoBeth’s voice vibrated with regret, and Matt took the opportunity to steal a glance over his magazine at Olivia. She sat very still, and the triumphant smile he’d expected to see on her face was absent.

“I love him, Dr. O. I thought we’d be spending the rest of our lives together.”

"I know, JoBeth. Sometimes doing the right thing hurts.” Olivia closed her eyes briefly, then opened them, her look momentarily far away. “Now you just have to hang tough. And if that Dawg doesn’t come through, then you’ll go out and find someone who can appreciate you enough to commit. That’s my best advice. You stay in touch. I want to know how it’s going, okay?”

“Okay.”

Olivia gathered her notes as she launched into her sign-off. “And for the rest of you out there, keep those food pledges coming. You can post them on the station website at the same time you vote for your favorite host. Or you can call the station and make your pledge. Thanks for tuning in. I’m Dr. Olivia Moore, reminding you to live your life...live."

Olivia removed her headphones, shoved her notes into a folder, and stood up. She knew just how JoBeth felt. It was hard to walk away from someone you loved, and

even harder to walk away from someone you wanted to love you.

Lost in thought, she stepped into the kitchen to search for something to eat and started when she felt Matt’s hand on her wrist.

“Are you happy?”

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