I just want you to know that nothing is going to change that. You do really good work and I want you to continue working for us.”
We are still not talking about the elephant in the room.
He is circling, but not quite getting to the point.
“Thank you,” I say and pick out something on the coffee table, just out of sight.
I want to bring up Aurora but I don’t quite know what to say. I don’t want to come straight out and accuse him of an affair because I don’t want to lose my job.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask. He nods. “How long have you been seeing Aurora?”
Franklin takes a pause but doesn’t lose eye contact with me.
“We connected right after you broke up.”
“How soon?”
“Pretty soon,” he says.
I hate the vagueness of his responses.
“But if you think that there was anything going on while you were still together, I’m here to tell you that that’s not true.”
“And now you’re engaged?”
"Well, we had known each other a little bit beforehand. Our families know each other through business. And after we got together, it just felt right. For both of us.”
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
I’m not sure what to say.
I don’t know if I believe him about the cheating since the quickness of the engagement still seems a bit far-fetched.
Deep down in my soul, I know who Aurora is. She’s not the type to make rash decisions, especially given everything that’s been going on with her father.
“I really hope that you don’t let this little hiccup interrupt or get in the middle of our working relationship,” Franklin says. “Maybe if we were other people, we would find it difficult to work with each other, given the fact that you once dated my future wife. But I really hope that we are better people than that.”
“Yes,” I agree, “we shouldn’t let this get in the way.”
It’s good to keep him on my side for now. I have more questions, but I need to get back to New York to find those answers.
He doesn’t bring up my call to Aurora last night and I wonder if she just didn’t tell him or he just didn’t bring it up.
Did she even listen to it? Or did she just delete it without a second thought?
“Well, I really do appreciate you calling me and us clearing the air, so to speak,” I say with a newfound pep in my voice. “And now that I’m done with the project here, I plan on getting on the next flight to New York. I have a lot of good ideas for more stories –”
“Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. There’s a new story that I think that you might be very interested in, but unfortunately it’s not in New York.”
I tighten my fist, until my knuckles get white.
“I really need to get back home,” I say.
“I need to see my mom, I’m sure that there are lots of stories that I can focus on in the tri-state area.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Franklin says. “But this is the story that will make you a real investigative journalist. And I have a feeling that if you do your job right, which I’m sure you will, we can get it submitted for the Pulitzer Prize.”
My mouth nearly drops open.
“What are you talking about?”
“They have created a new category, Audio Reporting, making podcasts eligible for consideration.”
The Pulitzer is the Holy Grail of all journalism and the jury typically consists of distinguished journalists in each category who evaluate the entries and make final decisions.
“But I’m not really a reporter," I insist.
“You’re a good investigator and you’re a good storyteller. You’re a good writer and that makes you a good reporter. Your podcast is top notch and working on this new story will put you at the top,” Franklin says.
I’m not so sure but I keep my doubts to myself.
“This is a very big story, Henry. Do you want to hear about it or not?”
I give him a slight nod.
"It happened in North Dakota and involves the fracking industry. Remember when they had the oil boom there and basically built an economy out of nothing in a few years?
“Hundreds of thousands of young men moved there for jobs. Houses that used to cost twenty grand suddenly cost half a million and rents were similar to what they are in Manhattan. Workers slept in cars wherever they could, just to make the six-figure salaries that they could never make