Page 100 of It’s The Dawg In Him For Me

When we got to the news station, my heart started to beat in my ears. It was crazy to me that I was walking into a place I used to love, feeling like it was about to tear me down.

I moved through the building with my black sunglasses on and a smile on my face, speaking to everybody in passing and just getting stares in return.

Once we got in the elevator and Courtney hit the button for the top floor, I let out my first breath since I set foot inside the building.

“It is going to be okay,” Courtney said softly. “You got this.”

I nodded just as the doors opened and exhaled.

“If you say so.”

We stepped off the elevator, and I took a seat in the waiting area while Courtney went and told them I was there. A few minutes passed before she came to get me. When she did, I said a little prayer, stood up, and followed her down what felt like the longest hallway in my life to the conference room.

Once we reached the closed door, Courtney placed her hand on the knob.

“Are you ready?”

I exhaled. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

She opened the door, and I walked in and turned up my bullshit.

“Good morning, you all. I hope you haven’t been waiting here long for me,” I said as I pulled the chair out to have a seat.

“We have been waiting here for you for some days now,” my boss, Mr. Green, stated.

I looked down the long table, with executives on each side staring me down as if I had taken their money or something.

“I am sorry. I have had a lot going on.”

“From what we have heard,” one of the executives said, “you have had a lot going on for some time now, and even shared some of this on the floor.”

I nodded. “Yes…I did have a tiny outburst, but Shyheim brought personal issues to work.”

“And so did you,” my boss said.

I leaned my arms on the table. “Listen, I know I have not been here the way I should have or needed to be, but I promise moving forward I am 100% committed to my job, and I will be back on air full time.”

The room went silent for a bit.

“Mariah,” my boss said. “I don’t think that we can move forward with you here.”

“What?!” I shouted. “Is this because of what Shyheim said? Because if it is⁠—”

“Shyheim had concerns about you being at work for a while now, way before our last meeting with him. In all honesty, you haven’t been here. He has been building on-air chemistry with the standby, and the viewers are asking for you a lot less and her a lot more.”

I shook my head, thinking to myself that Shyheim knew what he was doing and had been planning since that day he asked me to lunch.

“I understand. I haven’t been at work. I was going through things in my marriage, and it messed me up mentally, but now I am better.

“From what we have gathered,” the executive chimed in again, “things with your marriage have not changed, and that is the reason for your most recent break from work, along with the outburst from you and Shyheim. At the end of the day, Mariah, we come here to work, not get paid for our marriage issues, not to sleep with our co-chair, then air personal business on the floor. We come here to work, and that’s something you haven’t been doing, and that is why right now we are deciding to move forward and end our relationship with you.”

“But,” I said, low through tears. “Can I just be moved to a different time slot and not work with Shyheim?”

They all shook their heads.

“No,” my boss said. “Because you haven’t been showing up to work. Now we have instructed Courtney to clean out your dressing room, and your things are waiting for you in the limo to take you back home. I am so sorry, Mariah, and we wish you the best.”

At the same time, they all stood up and walked out of the conference room, leaving me sitting there alone with my tears.