Not surprisingly, hurting the two guys I cared about most in the world made me feel quite depressed. Arthur was the first one to notice.
“I believe that the receptionist is supposed to smile,” he said one morning. “Are you having boy trouble?”
I shook my head. More like no trouble. Since I was trying to avoid Phil, my social life was non-existent. The only event on this week’s calendar was an invitation to dinner—from my parents.
“Where are your two hunks anyway? I haven’t seen flowers or chocolates around the reception desk for ages.”
I lowered my voice. “I’m not dating either of them anymore. But I’d appreciate if you kept that to yourself.” The only positive effect of the dating game was that nobody hit on me anymore.
“Kelly! You don’t throw away the keepers.” Arthur shook his head. I just added him to the list of people who disapproved.
Even April didn’t understand, and she had lectured me. “I don’t get it. One minute you’re saying how Phil and Jimmy were the two best guys you ever dated, and the next minute you’re dumping both of them. Phil is not a happy camper, you know.”
“Really? I hope he’s okay.” I felt a ton of guilt already, and hearing this made me feel worse.
April looked closely at me and then said, “He’s a big boy and he can handle it. It’s about time someone broke up with him.”
Also I was going have to find a new hockey team in the fall. Because I broke up with him, I decided that Phil had custody of our hockey team and our high school friends. Which didn’t leave me a hell of a lot to do. I focused on work and working out. And in the meantime, I was saving a ton of money by not going out.
One day at work, Ruby asked me to come for a chat in the small boardroom during my lunch break.
“Whew, it’s nice to get the weight off,” she said, lowering herself into the chair. Ruby was pregnant, and she had ballooned up lately. Instead of her usual hummingbird pace, she had slowed to human speed.
“Yeah, I’m sure. When is your due date, anyway?”
“I’m due on Labour Day. I know, what a joke, right?” She exhaled audibly. “Anyway, I want to talk to you about something. We need someone to replace me while I’m on mat leave for six months.”
“I thought Ravi was going to do that.” He had the internship I was hoping to get next year.
“He was, but he’s decided to go back to school instead. I think he’s doing an MBA. Thanks for wasting our training, nimrod. ” Ruby’s curled lip expressed her disgust with Ravi, especially since he had left her in the lurch. “Anyway, I was talking to Cheryl, and we think you could do the job.”
“Me?” I didn’t need to tell Ruby that I had no technical experience or education. Her job was one I had targeted already, but I thought I’d need a lot more experience.
“Yes, it’s a stretch, but you’re smart and you learn fast. The two main qualities you need are creativity and the ability to think on your feet.”
“Creativity? I’m not really creative—despite all my mom’s efforts with art classes.”
“I don’t mean artistic ability. What I’m talking about is thinking up ideas—like new ways to cover the same old stories. Everyone contributes, but the producer should be the one bringing a fresh angle to the show meetings.”
I nodded. “Sure, I think I could do that.” It was something I’d thought about for years—all the extra parts of sports stories I wished I could hear. I was interested in motivation, background, and development aspects.
She looked at her organizer. “If you can come in early mornings until Cheryl finds your replacement, we can start your training right away. Hopefully, you’ll get to work fulltime with me before I leave. Which could be any day based on how I’m feeling.” She rubbed the small of her back and winced.
I must have looked panicked, because she laughed. “Don’t worry, first babies are often late. Oh, there’s one thing I have to make clear—once I’m back there are no guarantees. I mean, you can probably get the receptionist job back, but you’re not going to start being a fulltime producer or anything. Still, getting any experience will be good for you.”
I nodded. “This is incredible. Thank you so much.” This was probably why I was getting the morning gig. Nobody wanted to leave their jobs if they’d only get bumped in a few months.
Ruby smiled. “No problem. We women have to stick together right? Now that I’ve talked to you, I’ll tell the boys.”
Randall Blewett and Andrew Zimmerman were the morning duo on C2C Sports Radio, better known to their mostly male listeners as Randy and Andy. They tried to be controversial all the time but mainly sounded dated and sexist. But that was only my opinion, and a twenty-something woman was not their target audience. They were both nice, but I didn’t think they saw me as a potential producer.
“Do you think they’ll be okay with this?”
She made a little face. “Let’s be blunt, since you’re going to find this out soon enough. They prefer to hang out with guys like Ravi, who suck up and make them feel young and connected. But they also know who really gets the work done around here, which is how I got my job. I’ll explain that I’m supporting you, and the transition will be seamless. They might squeal a little, but they’ll come around.” Ruby was so confident and sure of her opinions. Could I be half as self-assured?
But this was just the kind of break I’d been hoping for. When I turned down both guys, it was also a decision to focus on myself and my career. And now, at least I’d have a real career. It was temporary, but who knew what it could lead to? For the first time in over a month, I felt optimistic.
For the rest of August, I worked hard with Ruby early every morning. After two weeks of working from 5:00am to 5:00pm, Cheryl finally found a replacement for me, and I could focus on my new job. Ruby was straightforward and extremely generous in sharing her contact lists and advice.
“I don’t want you calling me once I’m off work,” she joked.
“I’m sure something will come up that I’ll have no clue about,” I said.
“Use your common sense,” Ruby said. Then she rubbed her huge tummy. “You know, Kelly, I think this baby will be soon. Mother’s intuition.”
I felt alarmed. What was I supposed to do if her water broke here in the control room?
But luckily for me, Ruby’s baby was born on a weekend. Specifically, the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. She sent me a text letting me know I’d be on my own—the start of my new career.
“Well, it’s good to be back in the saddle again,” Andy declared on our first show after Labour Day. “Everything’s back to normal—except one thing, right?”
Randy laughed. “Yes. Regular listeners will know that our usual dominatrix, er, producer, Mistress Ruby just had a baby.” He nodded at us through the window. Salty, the board operator, cued the crying baby sound. That was the other reason I could do this job: the morning show used more complicated musical and sound effects, so there a specialist to handle the technical aspects. “Yes, it’s a boy! Congratulations to Ruby and Derek.”
Andy’s eyes flickered over me. “Well, we’ve got a new producer now. And I have to say, Mistress Ruby’s been very kind to us, wouldn’t you say, Randy?”
“Oh my yes. We now have the station’s hottest producer.” Randy smirked at me. It wasn’t tough to be the station’s hottest producer since I was the only woman. “Too bad this is not TV, folks, because Kelly is very easy on the eyes.”
I rested my forehead on the control board. This was so not the way I wanted to begin my radio career. It also wasn’t something we went through in the show meeting yesterday.
“Why don’t you grab a headset and say hi to our lovely listeners, Kelly?”
I shook my head, but Randy nodded vigourously at me. I switched my mike on and said only, “Hello.”
“Well, she’s a little shy, but a few days with us should take care of that. And we’ll be sure to get a full-frontal photo of Kelly up on the C2C Sports Radio website today.” Only if it were of my dead body. No, actually, I would post one of me—in full hockey gear.
“Coming up after the break, an interview with the head coach of the B.C. Lions. Also, what Canucks draft pick might be ready for the big team this season?”
They checked their laptops and got ready for the next segment. Then they both looked over at me.
“You need to loosen up a little,” Andy suggested. “When we’re having fun, you gotta go with the flow.”
I tried to channel my inner Ruby. “You guys need to behave. I’m the producer, not a prop.”
Randy grinned at me. “Kelly, Kelly, Kelly. We’re in the entertainment business. Our listeners like to be entertained, and you need to take the great big stick out of your—”
I signalled him that we were going back on air.
“Back again! With some very interesting news from the Canucks rookie camp—”