Just a Girl - Becky Monson Page 0,48

wasn’t scandalous enough to be newsworthy.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Holly says.

“True,” I say even though I’m so curious. I just want to know. I want to understand. Maybe if I did, Henry’s choices would make more sense to me. Maybe I’d believe that it really had nothing to do with me.

“So, what are you going to do?” Holly asks, getting us back on track, as she usually does.

I sigh. “I don’t know; I guess we’ll just have to see.”

“I vote attack Henry in the audio booth,” Bree says, adding a double eyebrow lift for emphasis.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say. And I will. My fantastical brain has already taken that idea and run with it.

Chapter 13

“Henry has decided to do the feature,” Dwayne announces to the room. Everyone erupts into cheers and even some applause.

I don’t join in. In fact, I consider booing, but then think better of it.

It’s Wednesday, and we’re in the big conference room—the morning, midday, and evening teams were all asked to attend an urgent meeting right after my team did our broadcast. So here we are, all together. One big, very dysfunctional family.

Henry is sitting at the head of the large conference table, Dwayne next to him. He looks a little green as he bobs his head after Dwayne’s announcement. I get the idea that he’s not too keen to do this, although he seemed quite determined when he told me yesterday.

“Excellent,” Moriarty’s voice rings out above the noise. She claps her hands loudly, her red lips pulled into a broad smile.

“Well, this is great news,” Jerry says from his seat next to me. He punches me lightly in the arm. I twist my lips to the side as if I’m hiding a smile. When really I’m hiding total yuck face. What would have compelled Henry to do this? It doesn’t seem like something he’d do. But then again, I hardly know the man sitting up in the front of this room. I thought I did, but clearly I was wrong.

“So, we need to start planning,” Dwayne says, his dark-brown eyes intensely scanning the room. “I’ve already got interns building a page and marketing working out details. We want to move on this fast.”

“Well, obviously we’ll need to do it on the evening news,” Moriarty says.

Dwayne nods his head in agreement. “Since we’ll be following Henry on these dates, after they’re picked, the evening is the logical time to do it. Obviously, we’ll need the morning and midday teams to tease the feature.”

Moriarty rubs her hands together. “And since this was my idea, I’m going to assume I’ll be working on this. Right, Dwayne?”

“Now, hold on a second,” Jerry says, and most eyes in the room turn toward him. “This was Quinn’s idea.” He hikes a thumb in my direction. My eyes go wide as I turn to Jerry. Does he have a death wish? He’s never been so blunt before in one of these meetings. Although, Dwayne’s predecessor Tim was totally under Moriarty’s spell. She got anything she wanted from him, so Jerry never tried.

Moriarty snorts out a laugh. “I mean, she may have come up with some of it, but putting Henry on the task was all me.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” Jerry says, leaning forward in his chair, his posture rigid. “That was all Quinn’s idea, and you just threw in that last part that we should go with the new EP,” he says, a hand gesturing toward Henry.

Moriarty folds her arms, her eyes moving toward the ceiling.

Dwayne lets out a breath. “It was Quinn’s idea, but since it’s going to be on the evening news, Stacey will be doing the feature.”

Moriarty shoots a very crap-eating grin in Jerry’s and my direction.

“All due respect—Quinn should be on this,” Jerry says to Dwayne. “She can do the feature on the evening news. Moriarty should stay behind the desk reporting the news like our viewers expect.”

Dwayne looks to be contemplating this. I look over at Henry, who still has a bit of a deer-in-headlights look on his face.

“I believe our viewers will appreciate seeing me do the feature,” Moriarty says. “Hardly anyone watches the midday news anyway.”

A quiet murmur spreads across the room. I dig my fingernails into my palms, reining in some not-so-pretty words I’d like to throw out at Moriarty. But since I’ve already jeopardized my career with one of those words, I hold it in.

“Excuse me?” Jerry says, his loud voice filling the room. A blanket of tension