Page 21 of About Last Night
He cleared his throat. He hadn’t made much of a plan other than to get rid of Jez as soon as possible, but it was clear he was going to have to step in as a caretaker manager until he could find someone to take over full-time.
‘I’m going to be here taking care of things until I can replace him so I’m going to need your cooperation,’ he said, moving his gaze over the assembly.
The woman who had brought him the bacon sandwich that morning cleared her throat and raised a tentative hand.
He nodded for her to ask her question.
‘Who’s going to take over the Breakfast Show?’
‘Er…’ Tristan searched around wildly, his whole body growing hot with discomfort. ‘Who would normally cover that show if he was ill?’
The woman gave him a steady look. ‘Tallulah Lazenby. She’s the only one with enough experience to pick up such a busy show on short notice.’
Every single person around the table nodded their agreement.
‘That’s going to be a bit tricky,’ Tristan said, smoothing an agitated hand over his hair. ‘Because she doesn’t work here any more.’
There was a stony silence, during which Tristan wondered what he’d done to deserve such an abysmal day.
The same woman spoke again, this time with a determined edge to her voice. ‘Look, I don’t know what Jez told you about Lula, but I can pretty much guarantee it was a pack of lies. She’s the hardest working, most dedicated, mostprofessionalDJ we have at Flash. She should have been presenting the Breakfast Show, but Jez and his ginormous ego couldn’t – or wouldn’t – give it up.’ Her face was flushed and she seemed to be trembling after her outburst, but she didn’t break eye contact.
It was clear she meant every word and the fact the rest of the table was nodding along with her made him wonder whether he’d made a terrible mistake this morning firing Tallulah. Perhaps he’d let his humiliation at losing control of his actions get in the way of his usually dispassionate business thinking?
The sinking feeling in his gut made him think it almost certainly had. How could she have got under his skin in such a short amount of time and caused him to act so out of character?
He had no idea, but clearly she had.
And now it seemed he needed her in order to stop his father’s pet project from crashing down around his ears. He had to find her and make things right.
He’d never been the type of man to run away from a mistake he’d made and he wasn’t about to change that now.
Sighing, he ran a hand over his tired eyes.
Judging by the death stare Tallulah had given him on departing this morning, he suspected he was going to have his work cut out convincing her to come back.
Lula had finished all the ice cream, plus all the chocolate she had stashed in hiding places around the apartment and was just contemplating putting on a pair of sunglasses to visit the local convenience store for more restorative refined sugar products when the buzzer went.
She sat stock-still on the sofa, hoping whoever it was would go away.
The buzzer went again, this time for longer, as if the person on the other side of her door knew she was holed up in there and was determined to speak to her.
Surely Emily wouldn’t have walked out on her filming early to come over and watch TV when she’d made it clear she needed space right now.
No, Em knew her better than that.
So that meant it was someone else. Someone from work perhaps, come to commiserate with her?
Sighing, she levered herself off the sofa and went to check her appearance in the mirror.
She didn’t look good. Her face was puffy after her crying fit and her eyes looked dull and small. Whoever it was would get a real shock when she opened the door to them. Hopefully, her wild appearance would frighten them off so she could go back to her day of mooching and pity eating. She was only giving herself today to get it out of her system though, then she was bouncing back up and moving on. Just like she always did.
The buzzer went again, making her jump. Stumbling over to the door, she yanked it open and stared at the person waiting impatiently on the other side.
It took her a moment to fully comprehend who the tall, fit-looking man filling her doorway was and her stomach did a double somersault as his handsome face registered in her brain.
Tristan.
Inappropriate pleasure at seeing him again surged through her, mixed with a blood-boiling indignation that he would have the gall to bother her at home after the way he’d treated her today. Pulling back her shoulders and tipping up her chin, she fixed him with a contemptuous stare.
