Page 60 of Dirty News
“I’ll see that you do get more to work with then, for next time.” I had to smile—the coffee was just so good. “You’ve got hidden talents, myfriend.”
“I know, there’re a few more up my sleeve. But back to the Inquisition.” She tapped her chin while she thought up her next question. “If you weren’t bitchy to him, what wereyou?”
I had to think about that myself. “I suppose you could say that he was more concerned about the state of our relationship than I was. And that’s what got in our way. He couldn’t take the way things had to be betweenus.”
“And why did things have to be a certain way?” she asked me. “Because of your new schedule or something like that? Was he mad about the time you’ve been spending at work? Because you’re better off without him if he wanted to monopolize your time. You’ve got work to do—you can’t be at some man’s beck and call all thetime.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No, that wasn’t it. He just wanted to have something we couldn’t right now. And he grew impatient. Especially when he thought we were close to getting what we wanted, until I backed out of the plan I’d come upwith.”
“This is all so mysterious.” She picked up her coffee and took a sip. “Okay, so you both wanted the same thing, but then you changed your mind about it, and he got mad. Was it having a baby? Did you guys want to have a baby, but you got the anchor position and thought that might be a bad idea since you just started the job and all? Because you could tell him that you’re just not ready to get pregnant right now, but in like a year or so you might think about it again. That should make him kind of happy. Happy enough to get back together. Don’t you thinkso?”
“Well, it’s not about a baby at all, so no, that won’t work.” Holding the warm cup in my hands, I wondered what I could possibly do, short of going to all the women at our station and organizing aprotest.
Lila stood up and went to grab the coffee pot to refill our cups. She’d finished hers. Mine was half full, and she topped it off. “And for some reason, you don’t want to let me in on all the details. Hmm. Is this about a man who workshere?”
Her question had my hackles rising for fear of being found out. Even if Nina and I were friends, I didn’t want anyone to know our secret. “No.”
She gave me a sideways glance that was more than a little bit knowing. “Okay. Well, let me say this.” She took her seat once again, crossing her long legs and swinging the top one as she pondered my situation. “You’ve been nothing but cheerful and optimistic since I first met you, Lila. You’ve had a genuine smile on your face every day. So, you must’ve been happy with thisman.”
“Yes, he made me the happiest I’ve ever been,” Iagreed.
“Happiness isn’t exactly easy to find. If you want my advice, it would be to talk to this guy and work together to get whatever it is you both wanted in the first place.” She nodded at me then took a drink of thecoffee.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.” I rested my elbows on the desk and put my head in my hands. Things were truly hopeless, and I knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. “I don’t know how to make things the way they need to be so he and I can have what wewant.”
We looked at one another as that sank into both our minds. Things sometimes just couldn’t be fixed, and that wasthat.
Chapter Thirty
Duke
A week went by and Lila didn’t change the shade of her nail polish. That might not be something a dude would normally notice, but I did. I did because it was Lila, and because that was something she was normally meticulous about. And that told me that she might not be having such an easy time with ourbreakup.
And I certainly wasn’t having any easy time over losingher.
I could barely eat, hadn’t slept for shit, and never stopped thinking about her. The time had come to fix this situation and get my girl back. However that had tohappen.
Lila had left the station after our morning newscast. I watched her walk out the glass doors. Later I saw Nina and asked why Lila had left so early, and she told me that Lila was feeling sick and had even asked the afternoon weather person to take over for her on the nightly news. It was Friday, so she’d have all weekend to getbetter.
But I knew better, because I’d been with Lila just that morning doing the show with her. She wasn’t sick; she was justupset.
I’d been giving her the cold shoulder. I didn’t know what else to do. It hurt too much to even look at her, knowing I couldn’t have heranymore.
With the knowledge that I was hurting her and myself, I made a decision. One that might just cost me my job. But at that point, I didn’t care anymore. I only cared about Lila and me, and getting backtogether.
So I marched into Artimus’s office. His new assistant was there, trying to learn the ropes. Artimus was quick to introduce us. “Hey there, Duke. This is my new assistant, JuliaBengal.”
The young woman was striking, with long dark hair and big brown eyes. I thought to myself that Artimus might have a hard time keeping his eyes off this woman. “Nice to meet you, Julia.” I shook herhand.
“You too, Duke. You’re part of the morning anchor team, and you do the sports on the evening news, right? I’ve seen you. You’re great. A real natural. WOLF is lucky to have found you.” She smiled at me then turned away. “If you guys will excuse me, I have to snoop around and find out where everything is so I can actually start helping theboss.”
“Take a seat, Duke,” Artimus said as he gestured to the chair on the other side of his large desk. “What has you dropping bytoday?”
“Love.” There, I’d said it. My heart was pounding, but I’d put it outthere.
“Love?” he asked with raised brows. “So you’ve metsomeone?”
“I have,” I said, then placed my palms on top of his desk as I sat up. “Okay, let me just get the rest out there for you. Lila and I are inlove.”
