KNOWING MILT ARRIVED at the station most mornings by 7:30 a.m., Brooke got up early on Monday and headed in shortly after sunrise herself. She and Jeremy were to hear their fates, and if she was fired, Brooke had some serious planning to do.
As expected, she found Milt in his office. “May I come in?” she asked from the hallway.
“Of course. You’re here early.” He motioned to a chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
Seeing no point in delaying bad news, she sat and said, “So have you made a decision? Do I have to go look for a job?”
“No,” Milt said. “I’m not going to fire you, Brooke. Fact is, I never was going to. It was all a bluff.”
“A bluff?” After talking with him last week, she had expected as much, but still, anger pounded in her temples. She couldn’t let him get away with this. “So this was all a game to you?”
“Not a game. An effort to get you to concentrate on your job and quit using company time for personal matters. Giving you a little extra responsibility and putting a scare in you seemed to be the best way to do that.”
“Why, you conniving… How could you do this? I’ve been on pins and needles for weeks not knowing if I could even keep my condo. I’ve heard of some lousy managerial techniques, but this is definitely the worst.”
“Now, hold on, Brooke.” Milt stood and extended his arms, as if surrendering. “I told you before, and it’s still true. You’re the best producer in the business, the best to train our new anchor. If you’d stopped to think for even one minute why I’d fire the best, you’d have known I wasn’t serious.”
“Don’t you dare turn this around on me.” She blew a long, frustrated breath through her lips. “I know this is petty and childish, but Milt Cramer, right now I’m pretty sure I hate you. Why you think you can toy with people’s futures, with their emotions, is a puzzle I’ll never understand. If you ever do that again, I’ll walk. I mean it, Milt.”
She tried to calm down, but her head was spinning. All these weeks, all this worry. And for what? To satisfy a man’s urge to play a game. She didn’t think she’d ever fully trust Milt again.
“What about Jeremy?” she said. “Are you going to fire him or was that a bluff also?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s got to go. Once Channel Seven did the story I wanted Jeremy to cover, my decision was pretty much a done deal.”
She closed her eyes, letting Milt’s choice sink in. “For one mistake?”
“One major blunder, Brooke, and you know it. It’s not just the incident with Davis, although that would be enough. I just don’t think Jeremy has what it takes to be an anchor. I want somebody stable, uninvolved, determined to deliver the news no matter what the consequences. I don’t want someone who will go all soft when a story hits him hard. I just want someone who’ll tell the news.”
“It was one time, Milt. You can’t overlook one misstep?”
“Come on, Brooke, his delivery is way off. That little tape you ran isn’t the only time I’ve watched recordings of him. I’ve arranged several tapings since the last one, and I’ve been observing his camera presence. He’s got a lot of qualities I like. He’s personable, good-looking. Lord knows he’s got celebrity status, but he’s no newsman, and that’s what it all boils down to.”
Brooke didn’t know what else to say. Milt had obviously made up his mind. This would crush Jeremy. He’d invested so much in this opportunity. He’d changed his entire life to make this work.
On a personal level, Brooke was heartsick. Every moment she’d spent with Jeremy had almost become a gift to her. She found herself thinking more and more about one sad and confused little girl who maybe, with a bit more time, might actually need her. And a little boy who just wanted to laugh and have fun without being reminded of a recent sadness. Jeremy’s kids were good kids. A woman who’d always believed she would never relate to children, especially someone else’s, was discovering that getting close to them wasn’t that hard. All that was required was an open heart and a lot of understanding.
But what about giving up her life in Charleston? Maybe there was a way to compromise. As far as Brooke was concerned, it no longer seemed important that she’d have to travel a few miles just for a quart of milk. Not when those few miles would bring her back to a family she knew she’d never forget. Her eyes had been opened to the fact that deep down she wanted what her sister had. Maybe she always had. And now, what would Jeremy do? Go back to Charlotte and become a broadcaster for the Wildcats? Go to Colorado if that’s what his kids wanted?
“When are you going to tell him?” she asked Milt.
“Today. I haven’t seen him yet, so I’m assuming he’s not as obsessed as you are with the news.”
“Are you trying to make me angry all over again?” she said. “I was worried and for good reason. Who wouldn’t be?”
“You know, Brooke, you should think of that training you gave Jeremy as a positive step for you, too. You can’t deny that boning up on all the essential elements of putting the news out every day hasn’t made you a better producer. I’m pretty sure some of those details had slipped your mind over the years, but now you’ll be even better than before.”
Brooke stood. “I have to get out of here, Milt. I’m pretty sure all that flattery is going straight to my head.”
He chuckled. “Go on, then. You don’t have to tell Jeremy. I’ll give him my decision. As far as I’m concerned your responsibility to my grand scheme has ended. So go produce the news.”
She walked out of Milt’s office feeling as if her world had suddenly crumbled. She hadn’t wanted this tutoring job in the first place, but she’d taken it on with a determination to succeed. And now, as Milt just said, her responsibility had ended. But Milt didn’t know that the door had been shut on so much more than just her responsibility to Jeremy Crockett’s career.
The production meeting wouldn’t start for another hour. So Brooke went into her office, left the blinds closed and locked her door. She needed time to think, to prepare for what her encounter with Jeremy would be like when she saw him later. So much had been riding on Jeremy’s success. Now, everything depended on how he would handle his failure.
* * *
JEREMY ARRIVED AT the station at 9:00 a.m. Even knowing this could be his last day at WJQC, he walked the hallway as if nothing had changed. And it hadn’t. The writers were in a production meeting with Brooke. Technicians were examining the equipment in the studio, as they always did. Computers hummed, phones rang and the coffee room buzzed with Monday-morning catch-up. And Jeremy headed to Milt’s office.
He was stopped in the hallway by a forceful voice. “I need to talk to you.”
He turned and almost bumped into Cissy Littleton. “Okay,” he said. “But aren’t you supposed to be in the production meeting with Brooke?”
“That’s hardly any of your business,” she said.
Jeremy tried to keep his jaw from dropping. What had gotten into her? To his knowledge, she had never had an original idea that hadn’t come from Brooke. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go in the break room and talk.”
They sat at a sterile table in the plain room. Jeremy poured a coffee for himself. He didn’t offer to do the same for Cissy. So far she hadn’t spoken another word.
“What’s on your mind, Cissy?” he asked.
“Somebody at this station needs to give it to you straight, Jeremy. And since no one has the guts, I guess it’ll have to be me.”
He crossed his legs, stared at her. “You have my attention,” he said.
“Do you have any idea what harm your presence at this station has caused?”
He knew what trouble he’d gotten into on Wednesday at city hall, but other than that, he didn’t know he’d been causing harm in other ways. “Actually, yeah, I remember Wednesday wasn’t a red-letter day for me.”
“You really blew that interview,” she said, almost gleefully. “But I’m talking way back. In fact, the first day you strutted into WJQC as if you owned it, or planned to. People thought you were going to be the savior of the station. The men reacted like you were some kind of god. The women were practically swooning.”
Despite Jeremy’s recollection being much different, he didn’t argue with her. Obviously, Cissy had to get something off her chest.
“I’m not quite sure where this is going, Cissy,” he said. “Maybe you should just come out and say what’s on your mind.”
“Oh, I’m going to do that. Maybe you never thought about this, but you should realize that there are several great people who have worked at this station for years and deserved a shot at the job Milt handed to you on a silver platter.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jeremy said. “I guess I assumed that Milt considered all in-house staff before he offered the job to me.”
“You’re wrong. For some inexplicable reason, you came across Milt’s radar, and he zeroed right in on your popularity as a means to raise our ratings. He never gave anyone else a chance to try out for the anchor job. People you know, people you’ve gotten close to, wanted that job.”
“Tell them they may still have a chance. Milt was pretty sore at me for what I did on Wednesday.”
Cissy sputtered a sarcastic laugh. “Like he’s going to fire you! He won’t do that. He still thinks you can walk on water.”
Jeremy knew Cissy was way off-base. He didn’t know what Milt’s decision would be today, but he figured he had about a fifty-fifty chance of remaining employed by WJQC. “Would you mind telling me who these people are who wanted the anchor job?” he asked Cissy. “Especially the ones I’ve gotten close to.”
“I guess it can’t hurt now. After all, you should be aware of the lives you changed when you got here, the dreams you shattered, the goals you destroyed. Success is more than just boosting the ego of the guy in charge. You can only be successful if you don’t step on people on your way up.”
“I’m not aware that I stepped on anyone,” Jeremy said. “I was looking for a job in broadcasting. Milt offered me this one. I accepted. End of story.” He took a deep breath to think about how to phrase his next statement. “Frankly, Cissy, I’m offended by these charges you’re making against me. You make it sound like I’m someone who doesn’t care who he hurts. I’m not. You’re wrong.”
“Really? You want to know who wanted that job?”
“Sure. If you want to tell me.”
“You’re looking at one of them.”
He tried to contain his shock. Even if Jeremy hadn’t been selected as the new anchor, he doubted Milt would have given Cissy a second thought as the successor to Fred. Maybe there were others at WJQC who would have been capable, but not Cissy. “Did you ask Milt for an audition?” he asked.
“No. Brooke talked me out of it. She said if I wanted an on-air job I should look at another station.”
Darn good advice, Jeremy thought.
“Unfortunately, she also talked herself out of trying for the job,” Cissy said.
All at once Cissy had grabbed Jeremy’s attention as if she’d lit a fire underneath him. Brooke wanted the anchor job? No way. She would have told him. “That’s not possible,” he said. “Brooke is happy as a producer. She loves that job.”
“Brooke doesn’t always know what’s good for her. We talked about her becoming the anchor. She’s talented and experienced and gorgeous. She deserves the job more than I do, but we’re friends. If she’d gotten the job she would have taken me with her to be her personal assistant. We would both have gotten promotions and pay raises. But no-o-o…you walked into WJQC with an attitude that told everyone else to take a hike.”
“Did Brooke ask Milt for an audition?”
“She couldn’t. You tied her hands. Maybe you didn’t know it, but she couldn’t tell Milt what she wanted, not once she was forced to make a success of you.”
“Brooke took that assignment freely. Nobody forced her.”
Cissy shook her head as if she couldn’t believe Jeremy’s words. “You may have been good at catching a football, but you are definitely clueless about people.”
“I’ve about had all I can take of your insults, Cissy. I’ve been with Brooke for weeks. We’ve gotten close. I would know if she felt any resentment for helping me.”
“She couldn’t tell you she resented you, Jeremy. Brooke doesn’t keep anything from me. One day she let it slip that Milt said he’d fire her if she didn’t make you into an anchor. So not only did she not get a shot at the on-air job herself, she had to worry about losing the job she had.” Cissy glared at him. “And she might lose that job, anyway, thanks to your incompetent interviewing technique.”
Jeremy experienced a pain greater than any inflicted on him during a football game. His head ached. His stomach roiled. Why hadn’t Brooke told him? He would have stepped down immediately if he thought Brooke wanted the anchor job. He would have done anything she asked him to do. He had done anything she asked him to except for last Wednesday.
He swallowed, not trusting himself to speak. He stood, walked around the table. Finally he said, “Do you swear this is the truth, Cissy? That the whole time Brooke was working with me, she was being forced to do it?”
“Now you’re beginning to see what you’ve done, Jeremy. I don’t know if you can correct any of it now because we all know you’re Milt’s golden boy. And the rest of us are just stepping stones for you to get to the top.”
“I’ve got to get out of here,” he said.
“What are you going to do?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” he said. He left the break room and slammed the door behind him. He hadn’t been honest with Cissy. She didn’t deserve his honesty. The fact was, he knew exactly what he was going to do.
Milt was at his desk when Jeremy opened the door.
Milt looked up from some papers on his blotter, then set down his pen. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said. “Today’s the day we get a lot of things straight.”
If Milt only knew the weird irony of those words. When Jeremy came to work this morning, he had no idea just how things would be straightened out, and just how Milt’s words would come across as anticlimactic.
“You’re right about that, Milt,” Jeremy said. “But before you fire me, just one question. Did you force Brooke to train me under the threat of taking away her job?”
Milt’s eyes rounded. “Who told you that? Did Brooke…?”
“No, not Brooke.” Jeremy clenched his hands at his sides. “Well, did you?”
“Does it matter? You’ve only benefited from Brooke’s guidance, and she learned a valuable lesson, as well. You’ve learned a lot in the last weeks…” Milt’s smile was smug. “Though not enough.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jeremy said. “For what it’s worth, Milt, I’m going to tell you what I think of you. It’s the least I’m entitled to after the bashing I’ve received the last few days.”
Milt leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest. “Take your best shot.”
“You’re a manipulator, Milt. You don’t care how you treat people as long as you get the results you want. I don’t know why Brooke would want to work with you, but apparently she does. That’s her business. But you should know just what a prize you have in that woman. You might try treating her with respect.”
“You don’t need to stand up for Brooke,” Milt said. “She’s got the gumption to stand toe-to-toe with anyone in this station. And, for your information, I do appreciate her. She’s the best in the business, and I tell her so often enough.” Milt raised his hand, pointed his index finger at Jeremy. “And I’ll tell you one other thing. She wouldn’t have pulled that unprofessional stunt you did the other day. She would have done her job.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy said softly. “I’ve learned just how well she does her job.” How her job comes above everything else in her life, he thought.
“So then,” Milt said. “With your brazen analysis of my personality hanging over our heads, let’s move on to the matter at hand. Am I going to fire you?”
“The answer to that is no,” Jeremy stated. “You can’t fire me because I quit.”
“You quit? Are you a darn fool, Crockett? You’re giving up that hefty bit of cash you would have gotten in the buyout if you were let go. If you walk out that door like this, you’ll be leaving with nothing. You should have been hoping all night that I would fire you.”
“We’ll let our lawyers figure out the details, Milt. But I wouldn’t be so sure that I’ll get nothing. Thanks for the memories and giving me a shot. And good luck with everything.”
Jeremy strode to the door, but before leaving, he turned back to Milt. “As for that replacement, you might give Brooke a try.”
“She doesn’t want the job!” Milt bellowed. “And I wouldn’t give it to her because I’d lose the best dang producer I’ve ever known.”
“Here’s another idea, then,” Jeremy said. “Cissy Littleton. She’s a natural. Good luck, Milt. I’ll be watching the news.”
He heard Milt holler through the closed door. “You lost two things today, Jeremy. Your job and your ability to know what’s good for you.”