Page 8 of Yo Ho Ho
Max cursed under her breath. Another round of layoffs? This was going to be the third round in five years. Sure, the newspaper industry was in decline, but at some point, the paper was going to have to find other ways to cut back on costs. It was getting close to a point where they wouldn't even be able to put out a paper if they laid anyone else off.
What was even worse was that the people who had already been laid off were good people. Great writers. People that the leftover writers and editors had to cover for. If there was another round of layoffs, the sports department may ask Max to start writing a second or even third column during the week in addition to all her hockey coverage.
That was assuming that Max would be fine, because of course she would be fine. But her job included a line item in the budget for travel that was as much as an entry-level reporter's salary. Would she be able to justify the cost of her work with the fact that her coverage specifically brought in extra advertising revenue and reader subscriptions?
This was all a mess. All of it. The paper's parent company was asking too much of them to do another round of layoffs. They were going to cut too close to the bone. This was going to hurt. Again.
"Max?"
She shook her head, trying to focus on Amanda's voice. "Sorry, I'm here. I just… My mind wandered a bit."
"It's OK," Amanda said in a reassuring tone. "Listen, I'm going to send you the phone number for the conference call so you can call in tomorrow, and then we'll go from there."
Max rubbed her forehead in frustration. "How bad do you think this is going to be?"
"I think the sports department will be OK," she said wearily. "I just worry about the rest."
Max took a deep breath and stared up at the clear night sky. "Me too."
"Go get some sleep. We'll know more in the morning."
Max said goodbye and hung up the phone, then turned around to look through the front window of the bar. The players and reporters seemed to be having a great time, laughing as Logan told some story with his whole body moving around. He was gorgeous. He had his share of women, just like other young single guys on the team, and Max knew that. But the night she spent with him, the night that neither of them planned, was different. Even if she was just another notch in his bedpost, when she was with him that night, he made her feel like she was the only one. And if his response to Alex's question tonight was any indication, she may have had that same effect on him.
But she was right. It was a mistake. It could never happen again. That was even truer now that her job was once again hanging in the balance. It wouldn't take much for the paper to pounce on an excuse to fire her. Sleeping with someone she covered would be the perfect reason to give her the boot and a big help for the parent company doing whatever they could to slash the paper's budget.
Max looked down at the phone in her hands — her work phone paid for by theDetroit Herald— and took a deep breath, trying to concoct a good excuse that would allow her to sneak back to the hotel without suspicion.
She typed up a quick text to Charlie —Have to head back to hotel. Sports desk had issues— and pressed send.
It was a perfectly plausible excuse for her to not go back in and join them. It wasn't true, of course, but it was believable enough that she could get away for the rest of the night without any questions. She would just deal with them tomorrow.
Chapter 4
The ride to the airport was way too early, but that was the down side to sleeping at the hotel for the night before checking out at six a.m.
Max was sluggish this morning, partially because of the three drinks last night and partially because she couldn't get to sleep once she got back to the hotel. She laid in bed worrying about what the conference call in the morning was really about. How many people were they going to lay off? What was the existing staff going to have to give up? Was her travel budget going to get cut?
She knew the guys got back to the hotel about an hour after she did. She could hear the players laughing in the hallway outside her door as they stumbled back to their rooms. Coach told them the morning practice after they landed in San Francisco would be optional so they didn't have to worry about curfew as long as they made it to the bus for the airport the next morning. They had taken full advantage.
It took Max another hour after their loud return to finally quiet her mind down enough to get some sleep. So waking up this morning was not fun. She just needed to call the office, get on the plane, and take a nap. It would all be fine by that afternoon. At least that's what she was telling herself.
The whole situation was a mess, and it only got worse when she walked out into the hotel lobby. Apparently, some of the media guys had started to hear rumors about theHerald. Someone at the paper hinted about it to someone else, it got on Twitter, and then it spread. Charlie was the first one to approach her as soon as she got there.
"Have you heard about theHerald?" he asked quietly.
Max sighed, her shoulders hunching over. She should have been ready for this. She had all night to think about what she would say when the media guys found out. Better to just be honest and get it over with.
"Yeah, I got a call last night," she said.
"So that wasn't the sports desk, eh?"
"Not the sports desk," she replied grimly.
Some of the players started to file onto the bus to take them to the airport in Burbank. It wouldn't be a bad flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco with plenty of time to hang out before the game tonight. Even with the late night and the early wake-up calls, everyone was in a good mood after the win in Los Angeles. Everyone was happy and ready for the next game.
Everyone except Max. She didn't even know if she would be working the next game for the paper. This layoff nonsense was going to be hanging over her head until she could get that stupid conference call over with. California wasn't the best place to be when something like this was happening in Detroit, but she would be back in the city with the rest of the crew tomorrow morning after catching their chartered red-eye flight. No matter how bad things would be, Max could get a better handle on the whole situation when she returned to Michigan in 24 hours.
Luckily, the players and support staff knew the drill by now. They were road warriors. Moving from hotel to airport to hotel to arena was no big deal to them anymore and rarely was anyone late. The guys were all dressed in game-day suits and ready to go. Max had seen Logan arrive in the lobby earlier with a to-go cup of coffee in his hand and his all-black road-trip suit that usually made her feel things she shouldn't. She wished she could feel that way today, but seeing him did nothing for her. She had other things to worry about than just how nice his tailored dress pants made his hockey ass look.
