Jenna was grateful when a call came in and interrupted her vulvar train of thought. "Hey, John."
"Jenna! How’s your Sunday so far?"
"Restful." Jenna sat up, hoping the change in position would help her voice sound less like she was still lying in bed.
"Did you see the report I forwarded to your email?"
Jenna stood and walked to her desk, then flipped open her laptop. "No, I haven't looked yet this morning. Is everything?—"
"Fantastic. I had to call and make sure you saw the numbers. The ratings last night outshone every HEC for the last six months, and . . ." John prattled on as Jenna waited for her email to refresh. When it finally loaded, she pulled up the spreadsheet and scanned the numbers, then read through the socials report Rylen had included.
"Hot damn. Sixteen hundred comments?" Jenna re-read the columns to make sure she wasn’t making it up.
John chuckled. "That's only on Facebook. The TikTok stuff is blowing up."
"We have a TikTok channel? Since when?”
"Had one of the interns start it. They posted clips from the broadcast and tagged Country's channel."
Jenna stepped back and sat on the end of the bed. Recent then. Very enterprising. She had to admit, tech-illiterate John Allen had made the most of that broadcast, and the results were impressive.
But, while he was obviously excited and wanted to share the good news, John never called her to talk about things that were going right at the network. She solved problems. Analyzed data and prepped content. If John was calling her now . . . "What do you want, John?"
He laughed. "You think I'd only call you on a Sunday morning if I wanted something?"
"Absolutely."
"It's not something I want, per se. It's something we should all want given the information we just discussed."
"You want Country back on the broadcast, and Archer's already on board."
John exhaled. "It's nice that you're quick. That's one of the reasons you were promoted, you know that, right?"
He was pandering. Which meant she hadn't gotten to the heart of what he was asking, and that scared her. Jenna was already taking on more than was in her job description, and John knew how much she wanted his job. He’d also discovered at drinks the other night that she and Country had a personal connection.
Because of that, it had already taken an inordinate amount of cajoling to lead him to water where the spotlight story on the Snowballs was concerned. John had originally wanted Jenna to go along with their reporter to games and practices, and she'd said an unequivocal no. Those hadn’t been her exact words, but she’d said it through her perseverance to get Walters on the story. She had a sinking feeling that John was circling in on something Country related, and she didn’t want to get jaws to the jugular.
"John, if you're going to ask that I?—"
"Since you’re opposed to overseeing the spotlight, I thought Owen could do it,” he said crisply, and blood rushed in Jenna's ears. "I was hoping you'd show him the ropes."
Owen? Jenna swallowed hard, searching for a response, a question, anything but utter silence.
John continued, "Could be a bit of a problem, though. I got a call from the Snowballs captain, Sean Thompson. He said they'd rather have someone they know doing the story since talking to the media is a new thing for them. A couple of the guys on the team requested you specifically. Sounds like you have more than just a casual connection with Country?"
Jenna bit the inside of her cheek. The fact that she knew she was being manipulated did nothing to minimize the effect of John’s tactics. Now that she knew John was happy to replace her with Owen and the network had its single largest boost because of Country's appearance on the channel, how could she stick to her guns? It was reasonable to have someone else take point on this story, but how much mileage would she get out of being the one to spearhead the project versus following through?
Her insides felt like one continuous line of bubbling mud pots. The last week hadn't been sustainable. The only way she'd gotten through seeing Country twice a week was knowing there was an endpoint.
Jenna dropped her head back and closed her eyes. She shouldn’t have gone to drinks with him. The more she infused him into her life, the more her heart reached out to Country with both arms like a kindergartner hopping off the school bus.
And now? If John wanted Country on the network regularly? If he wanted Jenna to report on the Snowballs this season? She'd not only have to see him at work twice a week, she'd have to watch Country play again. She’d have to see him after the games with his hair mussed and damp. Listen to him joke with his teammates, and then curate content about him and his team and edit it to win over viewers across the country.
It wouldn’t be hard. Everyone who met Gentry fell for him eventually. He was funny and captivating and maddening, and Jenna didn't know how to be in his orbit without loving him. She didn't know how to love him without wanting him for herself.
She couldn't be his friend like he wanted. When she'd quoted When Harry Met Sally, it hadn't been because she didn't think he could be her friend. He seemed to be doing just fine with the whole proposition. It was she who couldn't be his, because she was the reason they couldn't be together in the first place. Her nonexistent ovaries were the reason she couldn't ever be what he wanted, regardless of whether they both wished she could be.
Jenna swiped at her eyes. "Sure, John. I'll get right on that."
