“HOW COME YOU’VE never gotten married?” I asked Gary Weddle.
“How come you’ve never stayed married?”
“I guess I never found the right person.”
“Me either.”
We were having dinner together. And we were eating in an actual restaurant this time. I’d abandoned the cafeteria idea once I decided I liked him. The question was how much I liked him. Well, I’d already decided I liked him a lot. Sure, I know everyone kept telling me he wasn’t my type. But shouldn’t I be the one who decided what my type of romantic interest should be?
I still wasn’t sure if this was a business dinner or a personal one. I’m not even certain who suggested it first. But it seemed like a good idea to both of us. So here we were.
I’d come up with a plan though to get a reading on exactly how he felt about this dinner. If he saw it as simply a business dinner, he’d say we should put it on our Channel 10 expense accounts. But, if he viewed it as personal—a date or whatever—he’d offer to pay the bill. I, being the liberated woman I am, would then suggest splitting it with him, and we’d be on an official date.
It was a pretty clever plan, if I do say so myself. And I was eagerly looking forward to getting the check at the end of the meal to put it into motion.
We talked as we ate about a lot of stuff at the office, including my upcoming on-air appearance about the Morelli-owned buildings. That was scheduled to lead our newscast the following evening. I told Weddle everything I’d found out about the buildings and also about my sighting of Morelli and Terri Hartwell’s top deputy, Chad Enright.
“Do you think Hartwell is taking payoffs from Morelli?” he asked. “Maybe disguised as campaign contributions from a third person like say this Wincott guy you mentioned?”
“Something’s going on there between them.”
I’d discussed this in detail with Faron earlier after seeing Morelli, Grasso, and Enright together.
“I can’t say there are payoffs. I don’t know what Enright and Morelli were saying to each other or doing together in that garage. But I can point out all the illegal activities going on at the Morelli buildings, without any action being taken by authorities. I can say that Channel 10 has learned exclusively of disturbing communications between Hartwell’s office and the Morelli crime family. And then I can call on Terri Hartwell to come forward and answer all these questions for us. I think that ought to be enough to set off some real fireworks and shake up Terri Hartwell’s political aspirations.”
Weddle said he liked it a lot, that it was the kind of enterprising story that could set us apart from other media in town and help spike our ratings. He also said he was happy so far with the way the newsroom staff at Channel 10 had worked with him to implement his “The News Never Stops” concept into our daily news operation. It was only baby steps so far, he said, but it had been a promising beginning.
“I’ve got you to thank for that, Clare. The way you stood up for me at that first meeting is a big reason this has worked well so far. I generally run into a lot more opposition when I go to a new place with my ideas. But they like you, they respect you. So when you supported me the way you did … well, it made a big difference.”
At some point, I filled him in on some of the office gossip. He wanted to know more about Faron, Maggie, the on-air reporters, and—most of all—he had questions about Brett and Dani.
“What’s the deal going on between those two?” he asked.
“They’re sleeping together. Or at least they were the last time I checked. It’s kind of a fluid situation.”
“Why?”
“Well, for one thing, Brett is married.”
“Ah, I see …”
“He also is”—I made some air quotes with my hands—“‘sort of engaged’ to Dani.”
“Fluid.” Weddle smiled.
“Very fluid.”
“Isn’t that a problem—a situation like that in the office—with all the controversy these days on sexual relationships or affairs in the workplace?”
“They say they’re in love.” I shrugged.
“What exactly is the rule about that for two people working in the same office?”
“I’m not sure what the rules are anymore.”
I wondered if he knew I might be thinking about him and me as well as Brett and Dani.
Weddle had ordered a steak and baked potato. I liked that. I’m not usually into vegetarians or salad eaters. One more indication that this guy could be my type, despite all the naysayers. I’d gone for the chicken alfredo, which was good but pretty much filled up my calorie count for the rest of the week.
“You know, I almost got married once,” he said at one point. “This woman and I lived together for a year. We made plans for a wedding and a life together. But, in the end, things didn’t work out between us.”
“Why not?”
“When I’m working on a big project, like this one at Channel 10, I became obsessed with it. Throw myself into it. I work day and night, almost forgetting everything else—including the woman I’m with. I guess I’ve always put my career priorities first. It’s a character flaw. And it’s cost me a few relationships.”
“It sounds like you and I would be a good fit together,” I blurted out before even realizing what I had said.
“What do you mean?”
“I have the same character flaw. If you and I got together, we could both be obsessed with our jobs and not worry about having to spend time with each other outside the job. My God, it would be the perfect relationship.”
He laughed. I did, too, but it all seemed to be moving in the right direction between the two of us. Then, when the bill came, he offered to pay, as if this were a real date. We wound up splitting it, as I’d planned. As George Peppard used to say on The A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
The real test, though, was going to be the “good night.” Did we go our separate ways after leaving the restaurant or did he escort me home? It turned out he escorted me home. Walked me right to the front door of my building, where he gave me an awkward kind of hug and said, “I’d like to see you again, Clare.”
“You see me every day in the office,”
“No, I mean I’d like to see you … like this … just you and me …”
He was stammering, which I thought was kind of adorable. I impulsively kissed him. It was a quick kiss, but a kiss, nevertheless.
“I’d like to do that, too,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s that easy. Because of all the stuff going on now about sex in the workplace, especially between a boss and an employee. I’m an executive with the station, and we hired you. I’m technically your boss. That could cause real problems.”
“Well, my contract with the station is a temporary one, for a few months. Once that’s done, we could revisit the issue, Clare. I’m willing to wait, if that’s better for the both of us.”
“Let’s leave it like that for now and see what happens.”
“What about another kiss?” he asked. “Is that allowed?”
“I think we could slip one in if we promise to keep it a secret from everyone.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Then he leaned down and kissed me.
For a long time.
It was a nice kiss.
The kind of kiss that promised even better things ahead.
When I got upstairs to my apartment, I called Janet. I told her I needed some advice.
“Legal or personal?” she asked.
“A combination of both.”
I told her about my evening with Gary Weddle. About our decision to hold off on going any further while we worked together. And yes, about the kiss we shared at the end.
“That’s a situation filled with potential downsides for you, Clare. Like you said, you’re his boss. If the relationship breaks up and the station decides to fire him—or even just doesn’t renew his contract—he could say that’s retaliation from you because of a personal relationship. It’s not as common for a woman supervisor to be accused of sexual harassment as a man, but it can happen. You could find yourself in a legal mess. That’s one scenario.”
“What’s another one?”
“He comes up with a plan for the station that doesn’t include you. Based on his consultant advice, the station fires you and gets a new news director. You claim it’s because you refused his advances and wouldn’t sleep with him. Under that scenario, you would have a legitimate sexual harassment lawsuit against him.”
“Uh, Janet, is there any possible scenario here between Weddle and I that doesn’t wind up in a lawsuit?”
“Well, you could live happily ever after.”
“I’m good with that.”
“Doesn’t seem very likely given your track record with men.”
“There’s always a first time for everything.”
“‘Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.’ Winston Churchill said that. But I think it applies to your love life, too.”
Cute.
“So that’s your legal advice for me?”
“Personal, too.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll send you a bill in the morning.”