I didn’t know how Mason did this every day. How he faced people and walked away with exactly what he wanted. He wasn’t just good at it. He was amazing.
“Last week you mentioned that you thought there was a possibility I could change over to straight features.” I twisted my hands in my lap. I was using weak words. I knew it. “And anyway, I thought we could make that transition start a little sooner.”
Alice looked puzzled. “Sooner? How so?”
“Yes. See I need to remove myself from any stories pertaining to Mason Lachlan. And it seems like maybe the timing is right to go ahead over to features.”
“And why do you have to come off the Lachlan stories?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “I just do, but I have a story I thought I could give the reporter you assign to the resort.” My words sounded ridiculous. I couldn’t string together one impressive sentence.
“You haven’t answered my question. And if you have a story, why isn’t it already written?”
“Ok. That’s a good question.” We didn’t analyze enough of Alice’s reactions. Mason was used to overcoming negotiation obstacles. I didn’t even know how to barter in a flea market.
“Look, Paige, we all get assignments we don’t particularly like. That’s the news business. This happens to be a business journal. We serve the southern half of Texas. So, we don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing what we report. We have a readership that depends on us. We have an obligation to those readers.”
“I’m sleeping with him.” I blurted it out before she could finish.
I had worked there three months, and in those three months I had seen Alice angry, happy, pleased with a well-written story. This morning I saw what she looked like when she was surprised.
“With-with?”
I could barely look at her. “With Mason Lachlan.”
The tiny office erupted with her laughter. “You can’t be serious.”
I nodded. “I am. We started dating after the interview.” I blurred the timeline a bit.
“You realize he’s a complete womanizer. He’s nothing short of the business equivalent to George Clooney.”
“But he got married last year to that amazing attorney.”
She rolled her eyes. “You understand what I’m saying. He’s Clooney-esque. You’re willing to sacrifice your career for a man like that?”
I shook my head. “No. Not sacrifice. That’s why I’m here. I don’t want to cause any problems for the Record. I can’t report on him any longer. I’m telling you it would be unethical. I’m here to be open and transparent about it.”
Alice sighed. “But you were hired as the business beat reporter for South Padre and Port Isabel. I don’t have anywhere else to put you, Sydney.”
Oh, God. It wasn’t a good sign she used my first name. “But you said I could do features.”
“You have to prove yourself first and on top of that I would have to move Cecelia somewhere. She’s on features now. There’s nowhere else for her to go.”
I shook my head. This could not be happening. “But you made it sound like it would be soon. Like there was a position now for me to slide into.”
Alice folded her hands together and laid them on the desk. “I’m sorry if that was how you interpreted it. I didn’t promise you a different job.”
“No, you didn’t,” I admitted.
“I guess this puts us both in a pickle.”
I wondered if there was some way I could untangle myself from the information I had deposited on her desk. If only I hadn’t thought being ethical was so damn important.
“I can report on anything else, Alice. Anything. I’ll switch to advertising or sales. Or maybe I could help out with editing. I used to edit at the Daily for the other reporters.”
Her cheeks filled with air, and then she expelled it into the room. “I’m going to have to think about this.”
“So, I’m not fired?” I asked timidly.
“I’m going to have to consider all of the options and consult with HR. I was going to send you to the Rodriguez meeting this morning, but I clearly can’t do that. Shit.” Her pen rolled on the floor.
“Alice, really I’ll cover whatever the Record needs.”
“I hear you. But the Record needed you on the resort. I needed you to write another piece like the one on the mom and daughter. I needed someone who could write about the politics of the resort, but that person is no longer you.” Her eyes softened with disappointment. It was worse than any look my mother had given me. “Now head home for the day. If something non-Lachlan related comes up, we’ll call you in, but that man is all over the island.”