Page 45 of Breaking News

“It’s just my back-up plan, though, in case the whole DJ thing doesn’t take off,” Richie said, crunching on another plain chip.

I met Olivia’s eyes across the table, and hers widened like she was begging me not to say something mean. I took a sip of my beer, giving myself a few seconds before I responded. I had to work myself up to ask the follow-up question I knew he was waiting for. “What DJ thing?”

He perked up. “I’ve been doing a few DJing gigs for parties. I’m working my way up to youth group lock-ins, and then I might see if I can book a wedding reception.”

“He’s really talented,” Olivia said with a nod.

“Wow.” What else was there to say?

“I love shaking things up. Like, I’ll mash a popular song with something really unexpected, like a sitcom theme song from the nineteen-hundreds.”

I could almost feel a new gray hair sprouting from my head. “The nineteen-hundreds? Ancient times, you mean.”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

By the time the food arrived at the table, I’d learned a few more things about Richie, like that he was the middle child ina family with five boys, and his mom ran a daycare in their home. The way Olivia continuously chimed in to point out how responsible, talented, and smart he was didn’t go unnoticed. It was clear she wanted me to see what she saw in him.

But as I assembled my fajitas, I wanted to shift the focus back to my daughter. “Olivia,” I started. “What do you think about this job so far? Do you see yourself having a future in journalism?”

She took a bite out of a nacho weighed down with toppings. “Don’t get all excited when I tell you this, but maybe.”

I froze, my hands hovering over the foil-wrapped tortillas beside me. “Really? I’ve been trying to get you interested in journalism since you were old enough to hold a pen, but it only took Jillian Taylor three days.” I shook my head, grinning down at my plate. “She worked her magic on you, huh?”

“I love every minute of it,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “We’re covering a press conference at the mayor’s office tomorrow. It’s going to be my first time helping her on an assignment outside the studio.”

“I hope you have fun. Do you like working with Jill?”

“Yeah, she’s so sweet. It honestly doesn’t even feel like work, even when she assigns me these random tasks. I’m learning a lot, but Jill makes it fun.” She paused to take a sip of her Pepsi. “She’s kind of like the cool older sister I never had.”

I choked.

I literally choked on my beer, coughing so hard Richie paused mid-bite to look at me in alarm. “Sorry,” I rasped, pounding my chest with my fist. “Went down the wrong way.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow. “Are you good?”

“Peachy,” I said, taking a long sip of water to recover from hearing my daughter saythosewords about Jill.

Cool older sister.

That’s what I got for fooling around with a woman more than a decade younger than me. Not just any woman—the woman mentoring my daughter. I hadn’t stopped to think about how this might upset her if she knew. She’d be mortified.

I changed the subject, asking Richie how the reconstruction of the school gym was coming along. He talked about ripping out the warped gym flooring and installing new bleachers; it at least sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

“Sounds like you could have a promising career in construction,” I said, keeping my tone neutral. “Construction worker by day, DJ by night.”

“Dude,” he said with a chuckle, turning to Olivia. “I’m putting that in my bio.”

The rest of the meal went by without any more panic-inducing remarks about Jill, and after I paid the server, we stepped outside into the warm, sticky air. On the sidewalk, I shook Richie’s hand before hugging Olivia. “See you in the studio on Monday, kid.”

Richie stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Hey Liv, can you go ahead and get in the car? I wanna talk to your dad real quick.”

Ah, fuck.

Olivia blinked at him in surprise. “You do? About what?”

Richie just grinned, putting a stick of gum in his mouth. “Don’t worry about it, ‘kay? Just go get in the car. I’ll be right there.” He winked at her.

Olivia looked from me to her boyfriend, a wary smile forming on her face. “Okay, but don’t say anything that’s going to make me mad later.”

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