"Oh, and Jenna? Get Country back for Saturday night, will you?"
_____
Jenna waved as Anne drove off then dropped her gym bag and locked the door behind her. Even kickboxing wasn't enough to draw out all the negative, nervous energy swirling at her core after her conversation with John, though punching things did help. She pulled out a protein shake from the fridge, unscrewed the cap, and leaned over the counter to stare at her phone. She may as well get this over with.
Hey. You were a big hit Saturday night. John wants you to come back again this weekend
She pressed send then watched the screen like she was waiting for water to boil. She didn't know how often Country checked his phone, and she couldn't remember what he'd said about his plans today. Maybe she hadn't asked? It had only come up when she'd realized her car was stuck in the garage.
After a few more minutes of nothing, Jenna put her phone down, finished her shake and hopped in the shower. She stayed in longer than normal and had major giddy-up energy about it. How, in one day, had her entire life plan at the network been thrown into a dryer drum and turned on to high heat?
When her skin was flushed and pruny, she stepped out onto the bath mat, dried off, and pulled on her coziest pajamas. When she checked her phone, she didn't have any new notifications, so she dried her hair, heated up her Thai leftovers from Wednesday night and set up a workstation on the couch. At least at moments like these, she could lose herself in game highlights and her never-ending stream of emails in her inbox.
The sky was deep purple outside her windows when her phone buzzed on the cushion next to her. Her heart sped when she saw the number across her notifications. She already knew it by heart even though she hadn't given him official contact information.
Nice of him to say, but I think I've had my fill of sportscasting
Jenna's stomach flipped. He was saying no? Sure, it wasn't his dream, but he had to have seen how much people loved him online. Especially if his TikTok channel had been tagged in those clips.
You have to recognize this is a massive win for you. Your channel is blowing up
Not my channel, and it was blowing up before I went on HEC
Fine. Polk’s channel. Whatever. Your views are way up
My thumbs hurt
Jenna scoffed. Was he serious? He was going to play the ‘texting takes too long’ card after three sentences? She pressed on his contact and called him, ignoring the warning bells going off in her head. She needed to get this done.
“Good evening.” Country sounded far too pleased with himself.
“Don’t ‘good evening,’ me. Why are you making this difficult?”
“Is that how you talk to all potential special guests?”
Jenna ground her teeth. When she spoke again, her voice was honey-sweet. “I’m sorry, Mr. Maddox. Let me try again. I think it could be beneficial for both our interests for you to reprise your appearance on Hockey Evening in Canada this Saturday night.”
He exhaled, then grunted as if he was lifting something heavy. “Well, Ms. McAllister, I’ve already made it clear I’m not interested in that arrangement.”
“Why the hell not?” He was infuriating. It was already hard enough for her to have to talk to him, and now he was going to be difficult?
Country laughed out loud. “Another strategy? Just bully people into giving you what you want?”
“No, I don’t bully people! I—” Jenna drew a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not trying to bully you. I’m sorry.”
“That’s a better start.”
Jenna dropped onto the couch, her head beginning to throb. “What do you want, Gentry? Do you want me to beg?”
“Is that on the table?”
“Not really, no.” That was a lie. She was barely on step one of her negotiation concessions.
“Unfortunate.”
Jenna’s thoughts spun like a top. She needed Country to show up. The more she could prove to John that she was the key to success at GCBN, the more likely it was that he’d name her as his replacement. But what straw could she grasp to convince Country?
Step two coalesced in her head. If he wouldn’t respond to reason, maybe he’d listen to the truth.
