Page 52 of Born To Be My Baby

"That's going to create a buzz for sure. It brings it all home."

She nodded. "We have an emotional connection to it. But mostly I hope people feel bad for what they've been saying."

Sean chuckled. "You've been in the business a long time, Gloria. You know there are keyboard warriors who won't give a hot damn about what they've said."

"I'm aware, but I also know that karma is real and they'll pay in another way one day."

40

Sean drove Gloria and Mina to their attorney's office in Tampa. He insisted on coming with them even though he also wanted to be at the Barn making music. Both of his passions were warring with each other right now, and he steeled himself to the fact that it might be that way for the rest of his life.

He'd always have split passions, but that was life, wasn't it? Everyone had them.

He turned into the parking lot and found a spot. He helped Mina out of the back seat, mostly he stood there and offered her a solid hand as she managed to get out. She was tough, his little girl.

He walked between the two women in his life, holding both of their hands. Gloria had her laptop with her. They'd spoken over breakfast, what little they both ate, about how they would handle things today, and he was proud. He was so proud of them.

Mina was getting to be her old self again, at least a little bit of her old self he knew of.

She was professional, she was smart, and she was a take-charge kind of woman, a lot like her mom.

As they walked in, the receptionist greeted them, told them there was already a conference room waiting for them, and that they should follow her.

They sat down at a conference table, all of them at one end, directly across from a large screen on the wall. There was a camera system pointing to it, that hung from the ceiling.

The receptionist got them water, and Attorney Timothy Drake entered the conference room and shook all their hands.

Gloria spoke first. "What are your feelings on how today will go based on reading over my contract, Tim?"

Tim replied, "We've already kind of spoken about this. I do believe it can go either way, and I know that's not very comforting, but they would not speak with me until the meeting today. They refused a phone call over the weekend, and so I can only assume that their lack of conversation with me is because they're getting their ducks in a row. So today, no matter what they offer you, I do believe we have to tell them that we will get back to them after we have had some time to speak. They've taken the time they've wanted, so we can do the same. There's nothing in the contract that says anything to the contrary, that you would not get any time to seek counsel on any contract conditions or changes, and we will play that card if we have to."

He glanced at each of them. "How are you each feeling about this?"

Gloria looked at Mina first, and Mina shrugged. "I guess I feel like the network is being pompous about this. I don't believe they have grounds to stand on as to the conduct clause. I do think they may use this to either lower her television presence or reduce her contract amount, and I go with her. So if they are going to let her go, I won't be working with the network either. They don't have a contract with me. I have a contract with my mother as her producer, and I do believe we can find work for her somewhere else. It might not be easy, but I know we can. She's a professional. She's good at her job. She's done nothing wrong, so I think we can find work again."

Timothy nodded.

Sean watched Mina as she spoke. She was clear, and she was concise. He knew she wasn't feeling very well because of her rib. But she looked strong.

He glanced at Gloria and watched her as she spoke. She looked directly at Timothy, and she said, "I mirror Mina's comments. If they fire me, so be it. We'll talk about it after that and decide if we want to sue them for breach of contract or if we want to move on."

Timothy nodded. He looked across the table at him. "Sean, I know this doesn't really affect you too much, but do you have feelings on the matter?"

He shrugged. He looked at Mina, and then Gloria. "I'm actually here for moral support, and for what that's worth, I don't think they have a leg to stand on either, but I'm mostly here to talk with you afterwards about how we want to conduct the PR and anything that we can do further as to suing the reporters for causing the accident."

Timothy nodded. "Okay." He glanced at his watch. "We can go ahead and dial in. They will see us all on screen."

Timothy stood up, walked to a credenza, grabbed a box of tissues, and put them on the table. He looked at Gloria and winked. "Just in case."

Gloria grinned and nodded. She said nothing.

Mina had her hands on the table folded in front of her, and Tim called into the conference call. Two gentlemen appeared on screen, both of them sitting in the same office. They looked stiff and uncomfortable, and Sean felt happy about that.

Timothy introduced himself.

The studio heads introduced themselves. Bob Olson was the president of the network. His counterpart was the network's attorney, Walter Hildebrand.

Bob started the conversation. "First of all, Gloria, Mina, and Mr. West, I hope you're all healing and doing much better."

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