Page 58 of Ten Rules for Faking It
He smiled. “You know the phone works both ways, right?”
She laughed, and he smiled wider. “I’ve heard it does. How are you, sweetie?”
He sat down at the conference table, scrolling through the station’s website. “I’m good. Busy. The station is doing a unique promotion featuring one of our producers—”
“You’re saying that like I don’t follow what you’re doing,” she interrupted.
Chris stopped scrolling. “You follow the station?” Pride burst in his chest.
“I followyou.I feel like you’ve found your niche. The Facebook posts are fun. I’m looking forward to seeing who Everly chooses.”
His heart constricted. “She’s still got a few dates.”Including one tonight.“She’s amazing. Even though the idea of this blindsided her, she’s handled it with charm and grace. She’s become some sort of media darling, and if you knew her, you’d know she hates it. We were already turning things around here,ratings-wise, but this cinched it. There’s no way we don’t end the year on a positive note.”
“I like the sound of your voice,” his mom said through the phone.
He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that. He could picture her lying by a pool after a morning of coordinating charity events. She kept herself busy giving back to others. Sometimes he wondered how his parents had fallen in love; they were complete opposites.Which is why it didn’t last.
“My voice hasn’t changed since I was twelve, Mom.”
Her laughter floated through the line. “I mean when you talk about the station and Everly. You sound… home.”
Chris leaned too far back in the chair, nearly toppling himself. “I don’t know about that. I’m headinghomein less than six months. I’ve got plans to unite all Dad’s HR departments and communication systems. I’ve got surveys ready to go for each of the companies to find out where they think we’re lacking. I’ve been waiting for this chance. It’s what Dad has promised me.”
“I know that, sweetie. But is it still what you want?”
Mostly.“Of course.”
His mom was quiet, but he didn’t get a chance to ask her what she was thinking because some of his staff started to trickle in. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you soon?”
“Anytime. Just remember, honey, if you’re happy, maybe it’s okay to stand still.”
A smile tugged at his lips. Was she drinking before noon or purposely speaking in riddles? “Sure, Mom. Love you.”
“Love you back.”
Mason sat down across from Chris and grinned. “Chatting with Mom on your break?”
Chris laughed. “Unlike you, I don’t get a break.”
Jane, the receptionist, joined them. She had a pile of files in her arms, and Mari trailed behind her, the two of them finishing a conversation. Mari and Mason exchanged an odd glance, making Chris curious.
Chris turned up the segment as Stacey’s voice cut in. “Well, lovely listeners, that’s our show for today. Remember, our girl Everly has date four tonight. Tonight’s candidate is Andy, a twenty-nine-year-old model. Evs, if you don’t feel well, I’m happy to fill in for you. Hmm. She’s giving me a look, you guys. I think she wants this one for herself.”
Jane and Mason laughed.
Stacey continued, “Log on to our Facebook page tomorrow for the details. In the meantime, I’ll be giving away a gift card for Mocktails to one lucky follower on our Twitter account tomorrow. Just make sure you answer my question of the week and use the hashtag.”
Advertisements started up. They had about forty-five minutes of ads and music before the next deejay would chime in.
A few minutes later, Chris and all his staff, minus the remote deejay, gathered around the conference room table.
They went through the agenda, adding to it. Chris’s eyes drifted more than once toward Everly. Her hair was down again. It looked really good, soft around her delicate features. She’d worn it up so often that seeing her like this still surprised him. Not nearly as much as the events of her birthday party had.
Kitty, their sales manager, spoke up first. “We’re selling more ad time than we ever have, and our reach is growing. We have a couple of national companies that just signed up to work with us.”
All good news. Chris needed to take a closer look at the figures for the subsidiary companies under the radio’s umbrella and see if a steady cash flow through one arm would be enough to keep the others functioning.
“Which means we should be trying new things now while we can pull in more listeners and advertisers,” Mari said, again looking at Mason.
