Until Sarah walked through the door at the radio station on Wednesday after her shift at Wharton’s, Travis hadn’t been totally convinced she’d show up. He figured, based on what Jeanette had told him about some screwy ritual called a Sweet Magnolias margarita night, that Sarah had probably had second and third thoughts by now.
He hadn’t expected his reputation with women to come into play at all, but apparently it had. He’d been tempted a couple of times to tell Sarah he’d put that life behind him, but he doubted she’d believe him, especially since he’d been flirting with her since the day they’d met.
When she stepped into the office at the back of the station, he was overwhelmed by relief. He couldn’t seem to stop the grin that spread across his face.
“Well, look who’s here. It’s our morning deejay,” he said, standing up to move the pile of papers from the seat of the only remaining chair in the cramped space. “Welcome aboard, sugar. Have you met Bill Roberts?”
She shook her head. “I did see you at the press conference, though.”
“Well, Bill’s the one who’s going to make sure we don’t go on the air and make fools out of ourselves,” Travis said.
Sarah gave him a weak smile. “Then you’re probably going to have your work cut out for you. This is all new to me. I’m still not a hundred percent convinced that putting me on the air makes a lick of sense.”
“Travis believes it does, and that’s what counts,” Bill told her. Ever the Southern gentleman, he stood until she’d taken a seat. “He tells me you can charm the socks off anybody. Now instead of doing that one customer at a time, you’ll be charming as many people as this station’s signal can reach all at the same time.”
“Oh, God,” she murmured, turning pale. Her grip on the pen and pad she’d brought along tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Travis regarded her with sympathy. “Maybe you shouldn’t think of it that way just yet. Concentrate on talking to one person. Everybody else, well, they’re just eavesdropping.”
A spark lit her eyes. “You certainly have the knack for that down, don’t you?”
“Hey,” Travis protested, pretending to be wounded. “Let’s not start picking on the boss on your first day on the job.”
“Sorry.” She sounded contrite, but the glint in her eyes suggested she was anything but sorry.
Bill stepped in. “How about we go in the studio so you can see how things work? Once you have a feel for all the monitors and controls, I think you’ll start to feel comfortable in there. I’m going to be around for a couple of weeks acting as your producer, so initially all you’ll really have to do is interview your guests, maybe chat a little between songs. Once you’re both settled in and comfortable on the air, you’ll be able to handle your shows on your own.”
Sarah’s eyes widened with alarm. “You didn’t say anything about me having to do the technical stuff,” she said accusingly to Travis. “Just go on the air and talk. That’s what you said.”
Travis put an arm around her shoulders as he urged her toward the studio. “And that’s all that matters. If ad sales keep going the way they have been for the first month, I’ll be able to hire a producer before too long. First, though, I have to get an afternoon deejay on board.”
“What about you?” she asked, looking vaguely disappointed. “Are you just the big-shot owner, who’s going to disappear once this place is up and running?”
“Come on now, sugar. Didn’t I tell you we were in this together?” he asked.
She gave him a wry look. “Men have lied to me before.”
There was an edge in her voice that told him she didn’t intend to put up with it again. “Those men, whoever they were, were idiots. You can trust me. I’m sticking around for the long haul.”
“We’ll see,” she said skeptically.
“Okay, then, here’s the plan,” Travis began as he settled her into the comfortable chair behind the microphone. “You’ll be on the air in the morning from six until noon. That’s a long shift, but we’re starting on a shoestring budget. I’ll reduce your hours later.” At her look of alarm, he added, “Your pay will stay the same.”
“What on earth am I going to do for six whole hours?”
“You’ll interview a couple of folks, play some music, chat about any subject that appeals to you, take a few calls. The new guy, whoever it turns out to be, will take over at noon and stay on the air until six. I’ll come on then and hang out till midnight.”
She stared at him incredulously. “You’re planning to run a radio station with three people? Not counting Bill, of course.”
“Pretty much,” he admitted. “And Bill’s our ace in the hole. He knows every aspect of running a station. Plus I’ve bought a syndicated music package that will last from midnight until you’re back here in the morning. I’ve picked up some other programming for the weekends. I know that’s a skeleton crew, and for now we’re all going to be working like crazy, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some other people in place in a month or so. I just need to get us up and running as quickly as possible. Then I can start focusing on expanding our staff.”
“You really are nuts,” she said with despair.
“Come on, where’s your spirit of adventure?” he asked.
“You sound like the kid in those old movies—Mickey Rooney, I think—who used to get some neighborhood kids together and suggest they stage a play,” she said.
“Hey, we’re not amateurs,” Travis protested. “I have a degree in broadcasting. And let’s not forget about Bill. He’s been in this business for thirty years or so. He knows what he’s doing.”
“And he’s going to abandon ship,” she said direly. “He just said so.”
“Not until things are running smoothly and you’re all comfortable,” Bill assured her. “And even after I’m officially gone, I’ll only be a half hour away. Travis can get me back over here on just about a moment’s notice, especially if the fish aren’t biting. Right now the idea of sitting out on the lake in a little motor boat with a fishing rod in hand holds a lot of allure, but my wife predicts I’ll be bored to death in a month. She’s probably right, in which case you’re likely to find me hanging around here begging for things to do.”
“And I will hire more people,” Travis promised. “I just want to get this station on the air and then I’ll fill whatever vacancies we have. By then I’ll have a better idea of whether we need more people on-air or selling advertising or what.”
“An afternoon deejay is a pretty big vacancy,” she said. “What if you don’t find someone in time?”
“I will,” Travis said confidently.
“Or I’ll fill in,” Bill said. “No need to panic.”
Sarah sighed. “One of us probably should. And since the two of you seem to be living in a dream world, I suppose it’s going to have to be me.”
Travis hid his desire to chuckle at her resigned expression. At least she hadn’t bolted for the door. He’d known that hiring her was going to be a smart decision and she was already proving it.
“Let’s talk about the scheduling again. That’s not really an eight-hour day,” Sarah said. “The salary you mentioned was for a full day’s work.”
“Because you’ll be using the extra time to book guests and maybe even pitch in to help me sell advertising.”
Her plucky attitude seemed to falter. In fact, she suddenly looked shell-shocked. “I don’t know anything about selling advertising.”
“You go, you schmooze, you sell,” Travis said. “We’re offering something brand new in this town. So far, people have been really receptive.” He thought of one or two very vocal doubters, but shrugged off the encounters. “For the most part, anyway.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Bill said, stepping in when it became obvious that nothing Travis had said had relieved her anxiety. “Right now it’s all unfamiliar, but I guarantee you’ll find your groove in a couple of weeks and it’ll feel like you’ve been doing this all your life. I’m a seasoned pro and you can count on me being here to pick up any slack until this place is running like a well-oiled machine. That’s a promise.”
Sarah turned to him as if he’d just thrown her a lifeline. “Don’t you dare leave me on my own, you hear me!”
Bill chuckled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“What about me?” Travis said. “How come you’re not turning to me?”
“Because something tells me that despite that fancy college degree, you only know a smidgen more than I do, and you’re not even going to be around in the daytime.”
She sounded surprisingly disappointed by that. Travis tucked a finger under her chin. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll be here so much, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without me underfoot.”
His promise seemed to disconcert, rather than reassure her. He grinned. “I told you this was going to be fun, didn’t I?”
“We’ll just see about that,” she said, then turned back to Bill. “Start with the basics and talk real slow,” she told him. “I need to take notes and then I’m going to want about a hundred hours of rehearsal time before we go on the air.” She glanced at Travis. “When is that going to be, by the way?”
“July first,” he said. “I’ll kick things off at midnight that night and then we’ll be rolling.”
Sarah swallowed hard. “That’s less than two weeks away,” she whispered.
Travis winked at her. “Why, yes, I believe it is, but you want to know the good news?”
“Desperately,” she said.
“With the town’s Fourth of July celebration only a few days away, you’ll have plenty of things to talk about.”
She looked as if she couldn’t think of one.
“The fireworks display,” he coached. “What time things are going to be happening on the green. Fireworks safety. You might want to get Grace in here to reminisce about past festivities. And on the Fourth, you’ll be able to see everything from the studio and give those who aren’t here a bird’s-eye view of everything that’s happening from the parade to the festival. I predict that’ll entice even more people to town for the fireworks that night.”
Her expression slowly brightened as he went on. “I can do that,” she said. “I don’t think I missed a single Fourth of July celebration here in town when I was a kid. I loved the parade almost as much as the fireworks.”
“Then you’ll have plenty to talk about, won’t you?” Travis said, loving the bloom of color in her cheeks as she gained confidence in herself. “Keep in mind it’s going to be like a day at Wharton’s, just with a whole lot of people listening in. If you focus on that, you’re all set.”
“This could turn out to be fun, after all,” she said, already scribbling madly in her notebook.
“Isn’t that what I told you?” he said.
She waved him away. “I need to concentrate.”
Bill chuckled at Travis’s disgruntled look. “You wanted a star. I think you’ve got one in the making.” As they left Sarah sitting at the desk in the studio, Bill grinned. “Or were you really hoping she was going to depend on you for every little thing?”
“It might have been nice if she’d done that for maybe five minutes,” Travis grumbled, even though he was ridiculously pleased to see Sarah getting into the spirit of the job so quickly.
“Want a piece of advice from a man who’s been around a lot longer than you have?” Bill asked. “Be thankful when a woman’s independent.”
“Why is that?”
“Because the worst thing in the world is having anyone’s happiness all tied up in what you can offer them,” Bill said. “They need to make their own. Then you come together as equals, and what you find as a couple is just the icing on the cake.”
“Isn’t there a risk, then, that they won’t need you at all?” Travis asked, watching as Sarah bent over her notebook, a line of concentration furrowed in her brow.
“Maybe, but I’ve found it’s more important for someone to be with you because they can’t imagine life without you than because they can’t figure out how to fix a leaky faucet…or put together a radio show.”
What Bill said made sense. Ironically Travis had never felt this yearning to be needed before. He’d never wanted permanency, figured he wasn’t cut out for it, in fact, just like his daddy. After all these years of thinking he knew that much about himself, he supposed it was going to take a little time to determine why the desire for forever had stolen up on him after meeting Sarah.
* * *
“Your muscles are in knots,” Jeanette told Sarah when she stopped by The Corner Spa to use the gift certificate for a massage that Raylene had given her a few days before.
“The station’s going on the air in less than a week and I still don’t have any idea what I’m doing,” Sarah admitted. “Every time I say that to Travis, though, he just tells me everything will be fine, as if that’s magically going to happen.”
“He seems pretty sure of himself,” Jeanette said, as she tried to knead away the tension that had settled in Sarah’s shoulders. “Maybe you should trust him.”
“Oh, he’s sure of himself, all right. He’s not the problem. I’ve heard him in the studio rehearsing and he chats away as if he was born to be on the radio. He’s talking to himself, for goodness’ sake, and he sounds perfectly natural. I try to do that and I sound like an idiot.”
“But your show is supposed to be a talk show, which implies you’ll be conversing with someone else,” Jeanette said. “Isn’t someone rehearsing with you?”
“Who?” Sarah asked. “It’s not as if the station’s exactly swarming with warm bodies. The afternoon guy isn’t even showing up until next week, one day before he goes on the air. He has plenty of experience, according to Travis, but how can he not be hanging around the station every second to get ready? I’d be a wreck.”
“Because you’re new to all this. Why not bring in a couple of people just to get some interviewing practice?” Jeanette suggested. “I’ll stop by and you can interview me. I’ll get Tom to come by, too. And I know Maddie will volunteer. And Dana Sue.”
Sarah propped herself up to meet Jeanette’s gaze. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. You can even tape the interviews, so you’ll have them in case somebody cancels one day and you need a last-second fill-in. You can just pop them into the tape-player or whatever and sit back and relax.”
The idea was amazing. Sarah couldn’t imagine why she hadn’t thought of it herself. Maybe it was because she’d been so focused on filling her notebook with instructions and the calendar on her desk with scheduled guests for the first month. She hadn’t even considered lining up some backup material for a crisis. That it would also give her some experience was a major bonus.
“Could you come by this evening? Or tomorrow morning? Whenever’s convenient.”
“I’ll talk to Maddie and come back with you this afternoon, if you want,” Jeanette offered. “After all, this is going to be free publicity for the spa. I think she can spare me for an hour.”
Sarah’s sigh of relief was heartfelt. “I think you just saved my life.”
“All I did was offer a suggestion,” Jeanette said. “Now in return, why don’t you tell me how things are going between you and Travis?”
Sarah immediately tensed. “Me and Travis?”
“Whoa,” Jeanette protested. “That brought those knots in your shoulders right back. Are you two having problems?”
“You ask that as if there’s supposed to be something between us,” Sarah muttered. “He’s my boss. The only way this is going to work is if we keep that line very clear.”
Jeanette chuckled. “Funny. He pretty much said the same thing when I spoke to him.”
Sarah couldn’t help the faint hint of disappointment she felt at hearing that. It might be for the best, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. “Well, there you go,” she said breezily. “We’re both on the same page.”
“Indeed, you are,” Jeanette said, a funny little smirk on her face. “If denial is a page, you’re both definitely on it.”
“I am not in denial,” Sarah insisted. “Why would you say that?”
“Because even though both of you said exactly the right thing, neither one of you looked one bit happy about it.”
“So?”
“That’s denial, sweetie, and the one thing I know about living in denial is that sooner or later, somebody’s going to ignite a spark and all hell will break loose.”
Sarah frowned at her. “Which just goes to prove that neither one of us can take a chance on playing with fire.”
“Well, for whatever it’s worth, I think you should go for it,” Jeanette told her. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Travis since he got here. He’s a really good guy. And you’re just what he needs.”
“A single mom whose life until recently was a mess,” she replied skeptically. “I doubt that.”
“A strong woman who’s making smart decisions and getting her life on track,” Jeanette corrected.
“You think this radio gig was a smart decision?” Sarah asked. “I’m leaning toward crazy.”
“Let’s have this conversation again after you’ve been on the air for a month. I predict that by then you’re going to think Travis was a genius for hiring you, and that you’ve never had more fun in your life.”
Sarah had her doubts, but she nodded. “Remind me of this in a month and we’ll see which one of us is right.”
In most ways, she really hoped it was Jeanette because she’d never been more excited about anything, ever. She was testing herself, trying on a whole new persona, and despite all of her anxiety and doubts, she felt darn good about it.
* * *
Travis blinked when he read the note on his desk, then started to grin. Sarah had apparently called a staff meeting for the three of them. She’d scheduled it for this morning at ten.
“You got one of these?” he asked Bill.
“I did,” he said, chuckling. “She seems to think somebody needs to take charge.”
Travis shook his head. “What does she think I’ve been doing?”
“Apparently she’s not clear on that. She muttered something about keeping each other informed. She seemed pretty annoyed, to be honest. Have you done something to upset her?”
“I’ve barely seen her for the past week,” Travis replied. “I’ve been out selling ad time during the day and recording spots at night.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Bill suggested. “She misses you.”
“I wish,” Travis said, but he didn’t buy it. Sarah had been strictly professional in their few recent encounters. In fact, her prim and proper demeanor was getting on his nerves, but he hadn’t had time to do anything about it. Probably wasn’t wise to, anyway. There’d be time enough for things like that after the station was up and running in a comfortable groove. That would be soon enough for her to discover he was seriously obsessed with the idea of kissing her.
He glanced up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes before ten. Sarah breezed in the door and beamed at finding them there.
“Good. You’re both here,” she said. “Right on time.”
“Early,” Travis corrected. “You know it’s usually the boss who calls the meetings.”
“Well, our boss hadn’t called one, so I did,” she said cheerily.
Travis leaned back in his chair and studied her. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair was pulling free of a haphazard ponytail to curl around her face, and her blouse looked as if it had a streak of grape jelly on it. She looked so pretty she almost took his breath away. She caught him staring.
“What?” she demanded.
“I was just thinking how beautiful you are.”
The color in her cheeks turned even brighter. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s inappropriate, for one thing, and it’s not true for another.”
“I’ve never been much for propriety,” he said, holding her gaze. “And it’s true if I say it’s true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all.”
“I have half of Libby’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich all over my blouse,” she protested. “And I never got to fix my hair.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“We’re getting off the subject,” she said, clearly flustered.
“Sorry,” Travis said innocently. “What was the subject?”
She blinked hard, then sat down behind her desk. Her prim armor fell into place. “The fact that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing around here,” she said. “That’s the subject.”
Travis frowned at that. “Meaning?”
“Meaning you’ve been running around all over selling ad time and I don’t have a clue where you’ve been, what you’ve sold and who told you to take a flying leap. It’s created some awkward situations.” She leveled a look into his eyes. “I don’t like awkward.”
He nodded. “I get that.”
“Why don’t you create a list of contacts, post it with the name of whoever’s going to make the call, then the outcome?” Bill suggested. Up to now he’d apparently been content to watch the sparks flying between the two of them. “That way you won’t have overlaps or awkward situations.”
“Makes sense to me,” Travis said at once, then looked to Sarah. “Anything else?”
She seemed startled to have the matter resolved so easily. “Well, no. I guess not.”
“Okay, then,” Travis said, standing up. He started from the room, then turned back. “Maybe this staff meeting idea is a good thing. Schedule it once a week, okay?”
“You want me to schedule it?” Sarah asked.
“Why not? It was your idea, after all. And, for the record, will you stop thinking of me as the boss and start thinking of this place as a partnership? We’re all in it together.”
She seemed momentarily taken aback by that, but of course she couldn’t leave it alone. “It’s your money. That makes you the boss.”
“Not if I put you in charge,” he countered with a wink. “Consider yourself the office manager.”
Her mouth gaped as he walked away. He was almost out of the building when he heard her call after him.
“What?” he shouted back.
“Does that mean I get a raise?”
He laughed at her audacity. “If you sell enough advertising, you do.”
Before he could get half a block down the street, she was beside him.
“What if, as your new office manager, I authorize a raise?” she asked.
“You can’t.”
She pinned him with a look. “So, let me get this straight,” she said slowly. “I have more responsibility, but no more money and zero authority?”
“Something like that,” he agreed.
If he’d expected an argument, she surprised him yet again. She simply nodded.
“Just so we’re clear,” she murmured, and walked away.
Something told him, though, that sooner or later he was going to pay for that ready agreement.
* * *
Walter stared at the front-page story in the Serenity newspaper that Raylene had plunked in front of him on the kitchen table. The kids were upstairs napping, but he wasn’t anxious to go back to the motel, so he’d opted for hanging out here. He suspected the scent of the chocolate-chip cookies she was baking had been part of the allure, more so than Raylene’s usually testy company.
“What’s this?” he asked, startled to see a picture of Sarah and a guy he immediately recognized as a former big league baseball player. Some American League team, if he recalled correctly, a team not carried on local cable all that often, but big enough for the networks. Probably the Yankees or the Red Sox. Whoever he was, what the devil was he doing in a place like Serenity?
“You’ve been asking why Sarah’s never around when you’re over here to see the kids,” Raylene told him. “There’s your answer. She has a new job. The station goes on the air day after tomorrow.”
Walter blinked at the news and tried to make sense of it. “Sarah’s working for a radio station? I thought she was working in that diner.”
“She was. That’s where Travis met her. He hired her to work for him.”
“Travis?”
“Travis McDonald.”
Recognition dawned. McDonald had been a hotshot for the Red Sox, at least for a couple of seasons, then he’d been dumped when his batting average had gone down the tubes. How had a man like that hooked up with Sarah?
“Doing what?” he asked. “The woman couldn’t keep our bank statement straight, so it better not be accounting.”
Raylene gave him a look that took him to task for his sarcasm. “Sorry,” he murmured, “but that’s a fact.”
“Look, I just thought you ought to know. Any questions you have, ask Sarah. I’m sure she would have told you herself, but she’s been overwhelmed trying to learn all this new stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Booking guests, interviewing people, working the controls on the air.”
“Hold on a minute! You’re telling me Sarah’s going to be on the radio?”
“With her very own morning show,” Raylene said, tapping a finger on the newspaper. “Carolina Daybreak. You can read all about it in the article. You should be proud of her.”
Walter had no idea what to think. Back in college he’d been able to envision Sarah in front of a classroom of first or second graders, but then he’d seen how much trouble she had keeping up with Tommy and Libby and wondered how she’d manage with twenty or thirty kids. Even though it had annoyed the daylights out of him seeing her working in the local diner, he’d known she was a capable waitress. But this? Some kind of local radio celebrity? It didn’t make sense for a woman who got flustered too easily.
He gave Raylene a questioning look. “You really think she can pull this off? She’s not much for confrontation.”
Raylene slid another tray of cookies into the oven before answering. “I do, as a matter of fact. More important, so does she. And she’s not planning to be Mike Wallace or Morley Safer. There won’t be a lot of on-air confrontations. And, in case you haven’t noticed, Sarah’s changing. She’s not the timid little thing who let you and your parents walk all over her. Like I said, you should be proud. In a way you’re responsible for her discovering just how strong and talented she really is.”
His gaze narrowed. “Somehow I don’t think you meant that as a compliment for me.”
Raylene patted his shoulder. “There you go, demonstrating more insightfulness than I ever expected.”
He frowned at that. “You don’t like me much, do you?”
She didn’t even blink at the direct question. Nor did she hesitate. “How could I? You almost destroyed my friend.”
He sighed at the undeniable accusation. “And no one is sorrier about that than I am,” he said quietly. “I wish Sarah nothing but the best. If this radio thing matters to her, then I hope she’s a huge success.”
“She will be,” Raylene said confidently. “But it might mean a lot to her to hear that from you.”
“She stopped caring what I think a long time ago,” he said candidly, then quickly added, “My own fault.”
“I’m not sure a woman ever stops caring what the man she once married thinks of her,” Raylene said, her expression suddenly sad. “Even when she should.”
Walter studied the woman who was busying herself with a batch of cookies just out of the oven, her back to him. Though his impression of Raylene had been shaped by her bitter attitude, he saw something oddly vulnerable about her now.
“Are we still talking about Sarah?” he asked carefully.
She turned back to him, lifted her chin, her gaze steady. “Who else?” she said in a way meant to forestall any further speculation.
Walter was out of his element. His sensitive side, if he even had such a thing, floundered in the face of her response. Something told him she’d just revealed something important, but he didn’t know if he should pursue it or let it drop. Because it was more comfortable, he let it go.
“I think I’ll take a drive into town, see if maybe I can track Sarah down,” he said, standing up. “Mind if I steal a handful of these cookies to take along?”
She gave him the kind of look she usually reserved for the kids. “Don’t spoil your supper,” she chided.
“Trust me, my appetite won’t be affected. You going to be okay here with the kids? I’ll try to get back before they’re up from their nap.”
“We’ll be fine,” she assured him. “If they wake up, we’ll play inside till you get back.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d hinted at the fact that she didn’t leave the house. He’d never questioned her about it. He hadn’t figured it was his place. Now, though, he wondered.
It was just one more question for the long list he was accumulating for when he saw Sarah. Hopefully he could get through them all without getting into one of their trademark fights, because as determined as he was to stop criticizing and making judgments, his tongue still had a tendency to get away from him before his brain could kick in.