Franklin. “Didn’t think I would figure out your real name, did ya?” I said to the troll of a man. “Y’all have a good day. Tell Jamie I wish her good luck.”
I pasted on a smile, gave them a jaunty wave, and twirled on the balls of my feet. My smile didn’t waver, not when I told Sheila that I would no longer work for the station, nor when I said my final goodbye to Greg. Only when I closed the door to my car did I scream.
“Fuck!” I slammed my palm against the steering wheel. I could only pray they’d give me a year’s severance and that I snagged a book contract before the severance ran out. After my hissy fit, I smoothed back my dreads, took a calming breath, and turned the key in the ignition.
* * *
“So?” I paced the floor of Sienna’s living room. Her one-bedroom apartment didn’t give me much space to pace. I bent over and grabbed the vodka tonic Sienna had offered me when I arrived and downed half of it.
Sienna fiddled with the pen cap while she reviewed the NDA. Her legs were crossed, and the heels of her shoes tapped on the bottom of her chaise lounge sofa.
“I’m glad you didn’t sign this.” She flipped to the next page and scribbled something lawyer-y on it. She patted the open seat beside her without looking up. “Sit.”
I slumped into the seat, hands over my face. “Sock it to me.”
She lowered the NDA and pried my fingers from my face. “You have to understand that they ultimately want to protect their rep, their culture, which is fine. But the nondisparage-ment clause in this NDA really ties you up. I mean, you cannot write your book if you sign this. See here.” She pointed to a paragraph and read it out loud. “ ‘You shall not at any time, directly or indirectly, disparage the Company, including making or publishing any statement, written, oral, electronic, or digital, truthful or otherwise, which may adversely affect the business, public image, reputation, or goodwill of the company.’”
“Okay,” I nodded. “So what do I do?”
“Don’t sign it.” She shrugged as if her answer was simple. “You don’t work there anymore.”
“But I want the money. I need the money.”
“Okay then,” Sienna massaged her temples. “Then we’ll modify the language. I can ask them to reword, make it clear that you won’t speak poorly of the station but you will discuss content related to the callers. So nothing that would impact the station’s rep.” She sighed. “It’s gonna be tough because it could be argued that speaking of the listeners’ experiences violates the agreement. They really need to remove the nondispar-agement clause. This isn’t my area of expertise, Keith would’ve been good at this, but—”
“We hate Keith.”
“We sure do.” She gave me a firm nod while the corner of her lips turned into a funny frowny face. “I have a friend, Lorraine, from law school who I can ask. Another thing that’s going to be difficult is the time limit. They’re asking for four years.”
“That’s insane.”
Sienna bobbed her head. “I can probably knock it down to a year. Can you work with that?”
“Yeah, I think so. It takes about a year or more to publish.”
“I hate to do that, but I think it’s the only way we can get you a full year’s severance. But we may need to get creative.”
“Creative?”
“Call their bluff. You haven’t signed an agreement. Outside of money, you have nothing else to lose. They do. They just fired a popular radio host who stuck to her morals. The press would eat this up. Not to mention social media. This could go viral. You’ve got all the power here, Raina.” Sienna squeezed my hand. “Don’t let a few bucks scare you away from standing up for what’s right. I’ll help you, too, if you need the money.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You’ve helped enough.” I nodded down at the legal bullshit the station gave me.
“All right.” She gave me a small smile. “I’ll call up Lorraine, get her feedback. You sit tight.”
A few days later, Sienna met me at the parking lot of the station.
“You ready?” She nudged my shoulder with hers.
“Hell no.” I stuffed my keys into my purse and pulled the strap over my shoulder.
“It’s fine.” Sienna wore a cocksure smile. I hadn’t seen her like this before—her eyes sparking, a Mona Lisa smile on her face. “We’re just going to have a conversation. We’ll say