As soon as Dave shut off their mics to hand the show over to Skip, she burst into tears. She gave herself exactly sixty seconds to cry, then she wiped her eyes, blew her nose, offered Skip an apologetic smile, and threw herself onto the couch in the greenroom.
“Skip says the Brick Babe applications are already coming in,” Dave said gloomily, flopping down next to her. “Apparently Brandon’s making Robbie take a photo of each one and printing them out as part of their application packet.”
“Chaaaarming,” she drawled. “How’s he going to pick the on-air candidates?”
Dave shrugged. “That Arrogant Asshole works in mysterious ways. But I’m guessing it’ll be an ineffable combination of hair height and cup size. I do know that they’re going to do some sort of audition at a bar in a couple of weeks.”
Mabel wilted a little at the thought. “Is it too early for a drink?”
Dave checked his watch. “It’s 10:16.”
“So… that’s a yes on the drink?”
He snorted. “That’s ahellyes. The Elephant? We can get burgers to go with the booze.”
“Hear, hear. Let’s drown our sorrows in catsup.”
On their way out the door, Dave told Robbie, “I’m taking this one for some beer and grease therapy.”
“Smart.” They were almost out the door when Robbie’s gravelly voice stopped them. “Oh, Mabel, would you be willing to drop off some station paperwork? It needs to get delivered sometime before Monday morning.”
“Sure.” She reached for the manila envelope. She occasionally ran errands for the ad reps when they were busy, and frankly, she’d welcome any distraction from her job woes. “Where’s it—” Then she read the address and immediately thrust it at Robbie. “No way.”
“Nuh-uh. No take backs.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Besides, Brandon specifically asked for you to do it.”
“Didhe?” She forced the words past her clenched jaw.
Dave peeked over her shoulder and snorted. “Yeah, that’s all you, kitten.”
Mabel groaned and tucked the envelope under her arm, embarrassed at the maneuvering that had just taken place.
“Fine. But you’re buying lunch,” she said, pointing at Dave as they walked to their cars.
Twenty
After the boozy disaster that had been his Wednesday night out with Robbie, Jake decided to lie low in his new apartment for the last two days of the week, feeling miserable and making major inroads on the piles of work that were accumulating as he waited for the furniture to arrive at his new office. As part of his back-on-track mandate, he resolutely kept the radio off for Mabel’s final show. It killed him, but not having her lush voice in his head was imperative to finding his equilibrium again.
On Friday afternoon, he took a break from reviewing a new file for one of his bigger Chicago accounts and laced up his running shoes. After six hard miles of nothing but the burn of his lungs and the slap of his shoes on the cement, he thundered up the five flights of stairs to his door, scoured out and the closest to peace that he’d been all week. Chest heaving and sweat dripping from his drenched hair, the only thing he wanted in that moment was a shower. While he was fitting his key in the lock, the door next to his swung open and Thea emerged in a fluttery, flowery dress.
“Oh hi!”
He collapsed against the door and employed his precious remaining oxygen to gasp out, “Hey. How’s it going?” The smile he offered her was probably more of a grimace, but at least he made the effort.
“I’m great! You?”
“Great,” he panted. He grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and swiped it across his damp face so the sweat would stop stinging his eyes, but when Thea’s gaze zoomed to his exposed stomach, he immediately let the material fall. The person he wanted ogling him had been full of cool indifference the last time he saw her.
So much for his runner’s high.
Thea’s eyes widened, and she blinked a few times before dragging her gaze back up to his with a broad smile. “Hey, so I’m headed to a winery with some friends. Want to come along? Be a chance to meet some people in town.”
God, no.“That’s a nice offer, but I’ll have to pass.” He tried to sound regretful.
“I can wait if you want to get cleaned up first.”
Her eyes flitted down to his chest, then popped back to his face, which needed another wipe-down, but he’d be damned if he’d give her another show. “Thanks, but still no. I’ve got a ton of work.” That even had the benefit of being true.
Her disappointed frown was there and gone in an instant. “Your loss! Oh hey, you’re working with the radio-station people, right? So do I apply to you?”
