“Hold on, Rob,” Laura Roberts said. “They wouldn’t leave us for money.”
Rob Daley was the Executive Vice President of Content while Laura Roberts oversaw Sports Production for the network. Nicole and Shealyn had been working with them for the past ten years and had been through several contract negotiations at this very table.
“Money talks,” Kate said, taking a seat across the table from them.
“But this isn’t about money,” Nicole added, sitting next to her.
Laura furrowed her brow and held out her hands. “Please, enlighten us. You rarely call a meeting right before the playoffs. Is something wrong?”
“We are coming to you in good faith to make you aware of a situation,” Kate began.
“Situation?” Rob said.
Nicole sighed. “It’s not a situation. I’m in a relationship with Ariana Villa. As you both know she plays for New York.”
“Oh,” Laura said, sitting back in her chair.
“I know you’re not going to fire her,” Shealyn said.
Rob looked over at Laura and cleared his throat. “We wouldn’t want to do that, but Nicole, this is not a good look.”
“We’re about to go into the playoffs,” Laura said. “Attendance and viewership are better than it’s ever been so there’s a lot to consider here.”
“I realize that,” Nicole replied. “But you needed to know.”
“I’m here because Nicole and I are your number one team and to do anything to split us up before the end of the season would lead to a lot of questions that I’m sure the network doesn’t want,” Shealyn said.
“Yes, but if anyone else discovers this relationship can you imagine all the questions then?” Rob said. “Does anyone else know?”
Nicole shook her head.
“Before you question our journalistic integrity or make any kind of decision, I ask that you look back over our broadcasts for the season and you’ll find that Nicole has been neutral when it comes to Ariana and her team,” Shealyn said.
“Are you saying you didn’t know about this?” Laura asked.
“Not until recently,” Shealyn replied. “If I couldn’t tell then our audience certainly couldn’t either.”
“But if anyone were to discover this relationship and that we knew about it…” Rob shook his head.
“You know,” Kate said, holding up her hands. “I think Nicole and Shealyn have been honest and forthcoming so really, the rest of this is up to us.”
“There are several different scenarios that come to mind,” Laura said.
“And we can discuss all of them. Negotiations are what we do. Right?” Kate said.
Nicole and Shealyn got up to leave. Kate had already told them this was her strategy. They did not need to be in the room when they began to talk about steps going forward. This was how Kate had handled her contract negotiations in the past and it had always been beneficial to both sides.
As they walked towards the elevator Shealyn put her arm around Nicole and said, “We still have jobs.”
“For now.”
They went back to Nicole’s apartment to wait for Kate. Ariana was there to greet them and Nicole could see the anticipation and fear on her face. “Well?”
Nicole leaned up, cupped the side of her face, and kissed her. “We told them. Now we wait for Kate.”
“Are you this nervous before a game?” Shealyn chuckled.
“No! This is much bigger than a game,” Ariana replied.
