She briefly allowed herself the thought of throwing a good old-fashioned temper tantrum on the air. A good ol’ bout of cursing, shouting histrionics. Then she looked across the board at Dave, crossed her eyes, and saluted him. “Good soldier, reporting for duty.” No sense spending the rest of their time together wallowing in depression.
This resolve carried her through the next few hours on air. Dave made the announcements at the bottom of every hour, and Mabel was quick to jump in with her excitement about the Babes helping the station grow in an exciting direction and the joy of new opportunities and finally she’d get to sleep in and blah blah blah. Her stomach hurt the whole time, but she kept her energy up and a smile on her face. Her freshman-year audio prod professor had drilled it into her head that audiences could hear if a deejay was smiling, and that lesson had stuck with her for going on a decade now.
The studio’s voicemail had filled up the day before following their initial announcement, and the volume of calls didn’t let up on the second day. Twenty-four hours later and the callers were still incredulous, sad, or affronted on their behalf. Dave and Mabel took turns answering them off air and checking the voicemails.
Lies, lies, and more lies wallpapered the studio that morning, and a part of Mabel’s soul shriveled with each “No, no, it’s fine! I’m excited!” she delivered.
The morning rolled on, and the calls kept coming. One woman wept as she told Mabel that she and Dave were the best, most loving couple she knew. “Oh, but we’re not…” Mabel started to explain, but the woman’s sobs drowned out her words.
“It’s all going to change!” the caller cried before hanging up.
Mabel held the receiver away from her ear to stare at it for a moment before setting it back on its cradle. “Hey. Let’s have alittlefun and play some of these on the air.”
Dave’s thin lips twisted into a slow grin. “Let Brandon know that the listener reaction isn’t dying down after all?”
“Exactly,” she said primly. And they still kept it professional, selecting voicemails from callers who weren’ttooangry or upset. They even played one message from a man who drawled, “Thank God. Now that dumb chick won’t hold Dave back no more.”
Mabel strapped on her Valley Girl tones immediately. “Ohmigod, dumb? That’s thenicest!Most people just call me ugly, which is, like, soobvious. But this guy noticed that I have no brains to go with my no talent, which makes him thebest! Call me back and give me your number, dude. I think we should date!”
While she was speaking, Dave held up the memo and pointed to the Brick Babes paragraph, raising his eyebrows at her. She gave him the go-ahead sign and a massive eye roll.
“And bad news, guy who’s never gotten laid: I may be losing my smart, beautiful, talented partner to the afternoon show, but I’ll be joined very soon by a new feature here at 105.5: the Brick Babes. Ladies, have you ever wanted to get up close with the sweaty lumps of humanity who are your favorite deejays? Do you like the thought of free T-shirts and mingling with crowds in loud bars during public appearances? Well, do we have the opportunity for you!”
Dave ran down the pitch for women to represent the station at its public events and even join him on the morning show. And although he kept his voice upbeat, his expression was resigned. Mabel made monster faces at him the whole time.
When ten o’clock came and they finally handed the show off to Skip, they agreed that those four hours were even harder than the ones they’d done the day before.
“Best not to think of it as a countdown. Just enjoy the rest of the week.” Dave pulled her into a one-armed hug that she allowed herself to sag into.
Talking about her departure from the show for two days straight had taxed her more than she’d expected, and she was weary down to the roots of her hair despite all the sleep the night before.
Dave gave her one more squeeze and then released her. “Oh hey, would you mind reviewing some of the cuts that came in last week? Brandon wants something good for New Music Wednesday, but I’ve been super backed up.”
“Sure.” Mabel pulled back to look at him. “Everything okay?”
“Hope so, yeah. Just been busy with family doctor appointments. It should be fine.” Dave squeezed her one more time and then slid out of the room before she could ask any more questions.
Alone, Mabel shifted her weight from foot to foot in the greenroom, looking at the new furniture. Brandon hadn’t seemedcompletelyunreasonable over the past few weeks. She nibbled on the edge of her thumbnail as she considered. Would it be possible to bargain with him? She could offer to do both shows while they found someone else for afternoons. Or they might let her stay on mornings if she took a pay cut. No, she couldn’t slash her already meager salary. Maybe she could take on even more advertising work if she stayed on mornings so Lowell would get their money’s worth out of her?
Options about what she could offer in exchange for leaving her work schedule unchanged dogged her steps as she walked down the hall toward the main office. But when she stopped in front of the closed door, she couldn’t bring herself to knock.
Begging Brandon to help her? No. Never. Her temper surged as she revisited the memory of Monday’s conference-room meeting. She’d rather die of thirst in the desert than take even one sip from Brandon’s flask.
Maybe she could talk to Jake instead.
Fuck. No, that wouldn’t work either. She shouldn’t have anything to do with him until she wasn’t torn between lunging for his eyes and licking his neck.
She’d better give it another day. Or ten.
Eighteen
“It’s not the hot girl I was hoping for, but I kind of love the bouncer vibe.” Brandon folded his arms and gave Robbie a once-over while the new receptionist answered the calls that rolled in over the noon hour on Wednesday. He’d dressed for his first day in a button-up shirt and suspenders, which upped the station’s cool quotient by a few degrees at least.
“He’ll be great,” Jake said. For all he knew, Robbie’d be a train wreck on the phones, but it felt good to take a leap of faith and give someone the benefit of the doubt. The benefit that Mabel hadn’t offered him. It wasn’t that he was angry with her. He was just bitterly disappointed at how it all turned out.
“Already better than furniture,” Robbie said after he ended the call and leaned his elbows on the reception desk that was three sizes too small for him. “That’s a low bar though.”
“Keep it up.” Brandon flashed a distracted thumbs-up. “Can you show him around? I’ve got calls.”
