Page 54 of Dirty News
“Hmm,” Lila remarked, “I wonder maybe if all the women banded together to talk to Artimus Wolfe, then maybe he’d see things our way. I know he’s trying to protect all of us, but I think it’s the women he’s trying to protect the most. And that’s admirable, but it’s also too much. We need to let him know that we can watch out for predators and will be sure to report them. We also need to let him know that we’re more than capable of knowing the difference between being harassed and having a mutual attraction that we’d like to seethrough.”
Nina sounded chipper, “Do you think we could actually pull that off? Because that would be the best thingever.”
“We’d probably need every female who works there to give her support. If even one doesn’t, then I foresee Artimus shooting us down. We’ll need to do a bit of networking to test the waters with our female coworkers before we go after what we want,” Lilaplanned.
“I get it,” Nina said. “We have small conversations with the other women we work with, and then we see how they feel about the rules. As soon as we find any one of them saying they think it’s too much, then we let them in on our plan.Right?”
“Right,” Lila assuredher.
“That sounds great. I know nothing is going to happen overnight, but at least we have a plan.” Nina sounded happy. A lot happier than she’d been when she’d first come into Lila’s room, moaning about having the hots forAshton.
I already knew I’d be talking to him to see what he had to say about Nina. I hoped he’d tell me the truth—I did consider us to be good friends, afterall.
The girls wrapped it up, and I heard the door close. Soon enough, Lila was opening the closet door. “The coast is clear,Romeo.”
Taking her in my arms, I pulled her close, kissed her sweet lips, and said, “You’re agenius.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lila
Monday morning came, and the excited energy flowed like a river through the studio. Duke and I sat in high-backed burgundy leather chairs on either side of a small table where cups of coffee sat, steam coming off them. It was a cozy set, meant to emulate the feeling of having a light breakfast with afriend.
Fresh crescent rolls, some bagels, and assorted fruit were also sitting on the table. The whole set looked inviting, complete with a fireplace blazing in the background, as if we were someone’shome.
I found it ironic that Artimus would create such an intimate set, what with his rules being what they were. But I had to admit that I’d never seen anything like it on morning television, and the whole premise was new. I thought it was just what morning television desperatelyneeded.
When the red light came on, we went live. Duke gave me a wide smile, “Good morning,Lila.”
I smiled right back at him just as we’d rehearsed. “Good morning,Duke.”
Then we looked at the camera and said together, “Good morning, New York, and welcome toWOLF.”
The news wasn’t read the way most stations would do it. Instead, we talked about the news as if we were having a conversation about it. Duke picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip before asking, “So, Lila, did you happen to hear about the situation at the intersection of Broadway and 86thStreet?”
I picked up a bagel as I shook my head. “No, what’s happened therenow?”
“A bus hit a car, and while thankfully no serious injuries were sustained, it has shut down traffic there for the foreseeable future.” Duke picked up a fresh strawberry. “But any New Yorker knows that intersection is to be avoided at all costs anyway, so I’m sure the locals won’t be heading thatway.”
We went on like that for the entire two-hour morning show. We delivered the weather that way and talked about last night’s sports scores that way too. It was a blast, and when it was all said and done, our show got high ratings, making everyone happy and hopeful for the shows coming up throughout theday.
I adjourned to my office to see if I had any new emails, Twitter followers, or other social media notifications from the airing of the firstshow.
“Wow,” I whispered in awe as I saw that my Twitter account had over a thousand new followers. Moving on, I found the same thing had happened to my other social media accounts. When I opened my email, I lost it. “Oh,shit!”
A knock on my door made me jerk my head up and away from my computer screen. I pushed a button on the bottom of the desk to unlock thedoor.
Artimus strode in, followed by Duke. Artimus wore a broad smile as he said, “It was a great success,Lila.”
“Yes, it was.” I turned the laptop around to show them my emails, and they bothlaughed.
Duke nodded as he said, “Yeah, I’ve got that little problem too. And I went to Artimus for asolution.”
“I’ve rounded up a few staff members who don’t have much to do between newscasts,” Artimus told me. “So, they’ll take care of all the social media and emails for the news team. I put Nina on yours, Lila. If that’s okay withyou?”
“Sure, it is. I hope she doesn’t get overwhelmed with it all.” I was happy she had more to do and hoped that meant a raise in her pay too. “You are paying them more for this extra work,right?”
Artimus laughed. “Of course I am. But I have to tell you that I like how you’re watching out for yourcoworkers.”
