She shouldn’t have replied to his email about the boxers. She’d replied with “Busy, thanks” when he’d sent another note asking how her week was going. Avoidance. She'd gotten good at that over the years. If she was going to stress about something, she'd much rather opt for the situation where she had at least a modicum of control. In this scenario, that was GCBN.
She pushed back from her desk and turned to face Owen after an hour-long training on highlight curation. "Any questions?"
"Yeah. But I don't think I understand enough yet to know which ones to ask." He stretched his arms over his head. "I really appreciate you taking the time to walk me through all this. Back home we'd make an assistant do the grunt work."
Jenna smiled, wishing he could be a little less kind so she could despise him more. "I had extra time on my hands."
"I find that hard to believe. A week before Christmas and this task list?" Owen pointed at the computer screen with the spreadsheet still looming then pulled his jacket from the back of the chair.
"Thankfully, Christmas preparation isn't much of a burden."
"No family to buy for?"
She shrugged. "I'm a plan ahead kind of person. I bought all my gifts in October."
"I'll add that to my notes." He looped his jacket over his arm and grabbed his phone. "Thanks again."
"No problem." She gave a small wave as he exited the room and walked down the hall to John's office, then turned back to her screen. She edited a few email drafts she'd started that morning and sent her research folder to the interns, then scooped up her purse and headed for the door.
One more day. Country would be at the broadcast tomorrow, but then it was smooth sailing until well into the new year. Sean, the captain of the Snowballs had already sent her their game schedule, so she'd go and get some footage and use what she'd already garnered from him in their digital back and forth. There was no time crunch. She didn’t need any of that for their first feature on the Elite League next week, especially with the stats Rylen had already pulled on the league.
It wasn't her best reporting. That thought niggled at her, but she shoved it away. Of course it wasn't her best. She was being forced into a story that held enough emotional baggage to offset the weight balance of an elevator. John won't be impressed.
Jenna sighed and headed to the stairs. She hated that she cared. She hated that she'd been trying to impress people for ten years in this industry once she'd realized that simply showing up and doing excellent work wasn't enough to climb the ladder. When would it end? When she got the executive producing job, that was when. Then she could call the shots and be absolved of this ridiculous hoop jumping.
She left the parking garage and listened to the song by Delia Melise so loud, the guitar strums reverberated against every bone in her spine. On the way home, she stopped at Co-op and bought everything she needed for Friends Christmas dinner. It had been a tradition with Anne and Tina since she moved back, but this year Rhonda was joining them, too. Melissa had her whole family here for the holidays, damn her. Not that Jenna wanted to see her brother Travis, but she wouldn't have minded seeing her parents.
She'd complained about them being gone the first year, but they'd quickly pointed out that she and Travis had abandoned them first. Plus, they were in Calgary from April until October, so they always did Thanksgiving together. Travis and his wife Lea only ever came back from Belgium in the summer, and that was conveniently when she planned her camping trips.
Once she dragged the bags from the grocery store inside, she discovered the refrigerator and the pantry needed cleaning and organizing, which was what she did the rest of the night while listening to a true crime podcast. Because hearing that a doctor had knowingly harmed at least ten patients before getting caught made her feel better about herself as a person. She might not be able to give a man children, but at least she wasn't that guy.
On Saturday, she woke up and went to a spin class at the gym, then got a pedicure and picked up huevos rancheros on the way home. By the time she got into work, she was fueled with chorizo and the special kind of confidence that comes from knowing your heels are soft as a baby’s bottom. It still wasn't enough to prepare her for seeing Country standing in the studio again.
Why did he look so damn good in a shirt and tie? She beelined to the booth to offer her services to the tech team. If she was behind the glass and frantically trying to keep up with Country's inappropriate language, the next six hours would fly by.
"Hey, Jenna." Liam looked up from the screen.
"Hey. I thought I could offer support in here tonight."
Liam grinned. "Is that your way of saying you weren't happy with the results last week?"
"No, that's my way of saying I'd like to be in here instead of out there."
He nodded. "Ah. Problems with Kessler?"
"Something like that." It shouldn't have surprised her that other team members assumed the two of them were an almost thing. Glen was always finding reasons to stop by her office and made a point to seek her out in the studio before and after broadcasts. Plus, it wasn't like she'd tried to shut down the rumours. If anything, she'd helped them along.
"Do you . . .?" Liam started, then shook his head. "Never mind, it's none of my business."
"No, what were you going to ask?"
He ran a hand over his face. "Do you find him attractive? Like, I realize it's not ideal to date your coworkers, but if it was kosher, would you jump in there?"
Jenna grinned. "You seem skeptical."
He chuckled. "I don't know, it just seems like he's—and you're?—"
"Just spit it out, Liam."
