He released her and leaned back to prop his feet on her coffee table, and only her affection for him in that moment kept her from ordering him to take his filthy shoes off first.
“Anyway,” he said, “back to more pressing issues. What are we going to do about the show?”
Mabel took another sip of her mojito as she considered it. “We could intentionally suck. Both of us, separate shows. Tank on purpose.”
Dave was already shaking his head. “No way. We both have too much professional pride for that.”
“Do we?” Easy for Dave to say; he was staying on the morning show. “At the very least, I could play deeply shitty music. Nothing but Nickelback.”
Dave said nothing, just stared levelly at her, and heat crept across her neck as she gave a little growl and slammed her empty glass down on the coffee table. “Fine. I key Brandon’s car then.”
“Pretty sure it’s a rental.”
She leaped to her feet and threw her arms into the air. “Join me in my sociopathy, won’t you?”
“That sociopathy’s all you, darlin’.”
She flopped back down on the couch, exhausted defeat dragging her back to earth. “Okay, best case? That Arrogant Asshole’s plans fail and neither of our shows gets the listeners he’s anticipating, and his world crashes down around him and his failures taste like bitter ash in his mouth. This would have the happy result of moving me back to the morning show, where our ratings will rebound.”
“Worst case,” Dave said, leaning forward and getting into the game, “I utterly fail on the new morning show with Ashley or Jezebel or Bobbi Lynn Sue, but that’s okay because she gets me to leave Ana for her and we live happily ever after above the motorcycle repair shop where she and her five huge brothers work, while you thrive in your afternoon-drive shift, becoming ever more famous until you’re picked up by KIIS FM in LA. You move to California, become a deejay to the stars, marry a closeted Scientologist, and Bobbi Lynn Sue and I never hear from you again.”
Mabel tilted her head back in exaggerated thought. “Yeah, that’s obviously the worst of the worst-case scenarios. You’re right.”
“But seriously,” Dave said, “realistic case is that we have to go along with what Brandon’s asking. Do the best we can and hope that he sees it’s not working and puts us back together. And if he doesn’t, after a certain period of time has passed, then we decide if we want to start looking for a new station that’ll fix what’s obviously a horrible mistake or if we want to keep going on separate shows.”
Mabel nodded, pressing her lips together to keep them from trembling. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she swiped it away. What he said made sense, and shehatedit.
“I don’t know how to do this job without you,” she choked out, resting her head on Dave’s shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her.
“I know. Me either. And by all means, rub that wet hair all over my shirt.”
Once she was all cried out and her chest felt as hollow as a corn husk, Dave stood to leave. She picked up the orchid pot and followed.
At his questioning look, she said, “I can’t keep them here, but they’re too beautiful to suffer because they were paid for by an untrustworthy liar. Think Ana would enjoy them?”
Dave accepted the plant without argument.
“Oh, but wait…” Mabel’s voice trailed off and she heaved a sigh. “Never mind.”
Dave rolled his eyes. “I’ll leave the card, you big diva.” Promising that he’d see her in the morning, he left with Jake’s apology gift.
Alone in her silent house, Mabel set the white envelope on the coffee table, vowing to ignore it for as long as she could.
She lasted four minutes.
Dear Mabel,the card read.I will always regret the role that I played in what happened today. I will never regret that playing that role allowed me to meet you.
Jake
Dammit. She was going to have to forgive him eventually.
Forgive him but keep her distance because she never wanted to feel like this again.
Sixteen
Like the besotted idiot that he was, Jake listened to every last hour of the morning show on Tuesday, feeling sorry for himself and regretting everything. Mabel sounded cheerful, if a little flat, as she discussed the upcoming split with Dave, and relief and disappointment tangled into a knot in his chest. Relief that she’d come through yesterday okay and was performing like a pro. Disappointment that she didn’t sound as gutted by their swift, furious falling-out as he was.
As he listened, he packed up the belongings he’d scattered around his hotel room since July, which took all of six minutes. He kept himself busy for the rest of the show by reading the responses to Dave and Mabel’s announcement as it spread across social media.
