“I’m not doing this alone. I’m a winger. I don’t call the shots.”
Jenna walked up to stand directly across the desk from him. “Gentry, the viewers love you. All you have to do is follow the teleprompters.”
“This doesn’t work with me flying solo.”
She gave an exasperated sigh. “You do it on your channel!”
“No, Polk is there talking behind the camera. Just because you don’t see his face?—”
“One minute!”
Country’s breaths became shallow. He pushed back from the desk and started to stand when Jenna slapped her hands on the desk.
“Gentry Maddox, don’t you dare leave that seat.”
He leaned forward and whispered, “Wouldn’t a disaster for GCBN be appropriate? Given the circumstances?”
Jenna’s eyes widened, then she steeled herself and said, “I don’t punish fans for our lack of respectable leadership.”
“Then what are our options, Jens? Because I’m not sitting at this desk alone.” They had less than thirty seconds by his count before they went live.
Emotions played on Jenna’s face, then she turned toward Liam who was still hanging out of the booth. “Get me a mic! I’m going in!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jenna hid the mic as best she could under the lapel of her button-up and dropped into Glen's chair. There was no time to do a mirror check. She had no idea if her mascara was smudged or her hair in place, but before she could worry about it, the lights on the camera turned red. She waited a beat, wondering if Country would start them out, then jumped into Glen's traditional greeting.
"Welcome, hockey fans. I am not Glen Kessler, as you've probably recognized, I'm Jenna McAllister filling in for Glen, and I'm sitting here with Country Maddox." She swivelled in her chair, her heart punching in her chest. Her hands sat clasped in her lap. "It's been quite the week for hockey, especially here at home."
Country turned his head so his left profile faced the camera and winked with his right eye. "Are we going to dive right into it, then?" He grinned, and the cacophony inside Jenna's head stilled. She could do this.
"What were you expecting? I don't have anything to add that's more interesting than Harrison's goal on Monday night."
Country's smile widened. He dove into an analysis of the Flames’ game even though Glen typically would've started them out. Jenna introduced footage she'd taken of the Snowballs for their highlight story, honing in on Jack and then moving into a couple of his highlights. After a comparison of players out of position to kids blowing dandelions on the soccer field from Country, Jenna segwayed into the game between the Avalanche and Oilers.
"The Avalanche were expected to win this matchup, and they dominated from the start. Their offence was relentless?—"
"Pretty quick to write off the Oilers, eh?"
Jenna set her papers on the desk and turned. "I'm not writing them off, simply stating a fact."
Country raised an eyebrow, and Jenna's pulse quickened. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, but Country's eyes only lit up. Jenna groaned internally. Here they went.
"I think that fact is silver spoon horseshit."
Jenna laughed out loud. "Of course you do. Please, tell me why the team with the highest W/L record in the league shouldn't have blown this game out of the water." She turned to the camera. "Which they did, by the way."
Country held up his hands. "First of all, we all know success in this league isn't determined solely by wins and losses."
"It sure as hell helps."
"What also helps is proper shift management. That was the reason they lost this game."
Jenna's eyes widened. "You're arguing that had they rotated their shifts, they would have won? After a four-to-one loss?"
"Absolutely. The Oilers have the potential to go all the way this year if they stop padding egos and play for a balanced shift."
"Country, they have nobody that can outmatch Camden in centre, and?—"
