Page 90 of No More Heartbreakers

Aric put the car into drive. “Me, too. I’m so psyched we both have tonight off. We could stay up in Athens after our live shots and go out to eat in downtown, maybe catch some live music or something afterwards. Want to?”

“Sounds good,” I replied absentmindedly as my search yielded results. “Nashville. It’s in Nashville. You’re not gonna believe this.”

I turned to Aric. “I had a message on my desk phone from the news director at WKRN in Nashville. I didn’t even send them my reel.”

He beamed at me, then checked traffic before pulling the car out onto the road from the station’s lot.

“Awesome. I knew they’d love you. See? And you thought you weren’t ready,” he chided.

“What?”

His meaning took a minute to register, then my confusion turned to disbelief.

“Yousent them my reel.”

He threw a guilty grin my way as he drove. “Well, you weren’t going to do it. And you’re running out of time to follow that big-market dream.”

Aric glanced at me again, and his smile dropped. “What’s the matter?”

It might have been the aftershock of Janet’s offer and the weight of her heavy secret, or maybe it was the fact that Aric had just unexpectedly stepped into the Dad/Hale role of deciding my future for me, but I was instantly furious.

“I can’t believe you did that. I told you I would contact them when andifI felt ready. He’s probably not even interested. He’s probably only calling as a favor to your friend… Han Solo, or whatever his name is.”

“Sky Walker. Are you mad?” He gave an incredulous laugh. “You got a call from a news director in a top-thirty market. Most people would kill for that.I’dkill for that.”

“Well then maybeyoushould go work there. I never said I wanted the job in the first place. I can’t believe you went behind my back and sent my reel. I never should have showed it to you.”

“I wastryingto help you. We worked on our reels together for a reason, Heidi. Better jobs—that’s what we’ve been doing this whole time. What did you think was going to come of it?”

Aric’s bemused tone and casual dismissal of my feelings on the matter had set my temper on fire, and there wasn’t a ladder truck in sight.

“What did Ithink? What I thought was we were building some kind of relationship here, some kind of trust. I can’t believe you would go and do something so… so huge without even telling me.”

“Because you would’ve said no.”

“You bet I would’ve said no. And you know what? I’m not even going to call that guy back. Maybe Iwillsign a new contract here.”

I folded my arms across my chest and stared out the window. I needed to cool down. I’d reached the point where I’d started saying things I didn’t even mean.

Thank goodness someone chose that moment to call me. The phone was already in my hand, and hearing the ringtone, I looked down at the screen.

It was Hale. That was odd. He never called me during work, but you can bet I was going to answerthiscall.

Ha.Make Mr. Know-it-All Aric sweat it out a little.

I put an extra dose of enthusiasm into my voice as I hit the button to answer. “Hi. How are you, Hale?”

Aric tensed beside me as he continued to drive.

“Hey there.”

Hale’s familiar voice was as comforting as my sheepskin-lined slippers.

“Listen, I know it’s short notice, but I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner tonight? We didn’t really get to finish talking at your parents’ house, and that probably wasn’t the best place anyway to say everything that needs to be said.”

I darted a glance in Aric’s direction. “You’re right, and dinner tonight soundslovely.”

Aric’s hands clenched the steering wheel in a most satisfying way, causing the muscles in his forearms to stand out in sharp relief.

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