“Yep,” she said in answer to his question. “And surprise, surprise, my boss thinks I should take it.”
He blinked and focused abruptly. What left field had that come out of? “Take it? Isn’t he the one who benefits most if you stay?”
“Not if our happy little independent becomes an SBN affiliate.” She bit into her sandwich again. “Which-gee, how did I not know this?-has been his ambition for years. He has big plans for his production company, apparently.”
“Don’t tell me.” Mitch toasted her with his water bottle. “Part of the reason he gave you his support despite all odds was because he knew he was on to a good thing? A show that could get him the attention he wanted from the networks?”
“Bingo.” A sip of the green smoothie and another bite. “You’re a lot quicker off the draw than I was. It took me a good half hour to get it. And then when I did, there was your friend Mackenzie Roussos standing there with a fistful of dollars, waving them in my face like they were supposed to get my attention.” She snorted. “I just won the lottery, for God’s sake. Money is not going to get my attention right now. A really good financial planner, maybe. Not money. I should have known something was up the minute I heard she was meeting with him before she talked to me.”
“I’m glad I didn’t meet with him first, then. Or I’d have been suspect.”
She shot him a glance, and he saw the sunlight flicker on her smooth skin, lighting tiny spangles of auburn in her hair. Did she have any idea that she looked like an elemental goddess, made of crimson and fire, wrapped around with flowers?
Probably not. And he’d better stop thinking about throwing himself on that fire and breathing in the scent of crushed flowers, if he knew what was good for him.
“Suspect?” she repeated. “No. In fact…” Her voice trailed away. “It’s weird. I have no idea why I’m blabbing all this about your competitor. There must be some sort of unfair competition law I’m breaking.”
“I doubt it. But how many people do you know who would understand? Dan Phillips? Your friends?”
“They would sympathize, but there’s a lot to grasp here. The risks. The consequences.”
“Especially when some of them are going to be affected by the results, no matter what your decision is.”
Eve nodded. “I’ve been chasing that in my head, and I’m no closer to a decision than I was when you left my office on Friday.”
“How can that be? You said no.”
“I did. And then I started to think. What if I said yes? What would change? Can I keep my team? What would be best for everyone?”
“Why don’t you call a meeting and ask them?”
She looked at him with a wry expression. “At the rate we’re going, they’ll all have resigned before I can schedule it. It’s this damned lottery.” She waved a hand, as if Atlanta were somehow responsible. “We haven’t seen the money, and we won’t until this lawsuit is settled. Despite that, everyone wants to quit and make huge life changes on the prospect of it alone. I feel like that kid with his finger in the dam. Every time I convince someone to hang in there and stay, I hear someone else is reconsidering the options.”
“That’s got to be tough. It’s hard to make a decision that will benefit everyone if they leave. It becomes moot.”
“See, there’s your strategy.” Another bite of the sandwich. “You can talk my team into resigning, and then you’ll only have me to convince to come to the network. Not that you’ll have any vestige of a show once that happens, of course.”
He watched her finish her sandwich, crumple the wrapper and toss it back in the bag. “You really care about these people, don’t you? You want to make the right decision for them, not yourself.”
She stretched out her legs and crossed her ankles, holding her smoothie loosely in her lap. “Nothing wrong with that. Without them, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. We wouldn’t have the show that we do.”
“What does SBN propose?”
“Oh, they have all kinds of proposals. But the one Ms. Roussos and Dan spent the most time on was the one where I pack up and move to New York.” She paused. “Like that’s going to happen.”
“New York? You mean, even if Dan got his wish and merged into the network, he wouldn’t get to keep you? Isn’t that counterproductive, from his point of view?”
“Maybe. Or maybe he’s dazzled at being invited to swim in the big boys’ pond. But if he gets the affiliation, he can attract some big names. Maybe even a news anchor or two. Big advertising, lots of resources. He wouldn’t need the revenue Just Between Us brings in. Everybody wins.”
“Except you. And the team.”
“Cole Crawford would probably lose his job,” she agreed. “But Zach and Jane and Nicole wouldn’t. Every show needs good freelance production people, and they’re already in place.”
“They could go to New York with you, in that case.”
“I don’t think so. They have people they love, and their plans might not include a big move like that. And that’s as it should be.”
“And what about you?” he asked. “How would you like New York?”
“I’d hate it,” she said flatly.
That pretty much answered that. The bright, fragile hope he’d had burned out.
9
ON WEDNESDAY, Mackenzie Roussos arrived for her seven-thirty meeting with Eve in a towering temper, brought on by the fact that a scout from CBS was waiting in the lobby for his eight o’clock.
“I thought we were scheduled to chat for an hour,” she said, her mouth stretching in a smile that Eve could tell was an effort for her.
“We were, and I’m sorry,” Eve told her. “My assistant is doing the best he can to accommodate everyone.”
“It feels like six-thirty New York time,” the other woman said.
“I’m glad there’s fresh coffee in the kitchen for you, then.”
And Mac the Knife was forced to be satisfied with only twenty-five minutes in which to try to convince Eve to go along with what both the network and Dan Phillips wanted.
The rep from CBS, at least, had a sense of humor and a nice delivery of the same proposal. He’d already met with Dan for dinner the night before.
There seemed to be a pattern developing here, and Eve didn’t like it much. In fact, the more network people who turned up in the lobby, the more she wanted to collar Mitchell Hayes and run away to the country with him. They could find a pretty inn and spend a week straight doing something about her lack of focus-or rather, her inability to focus on much else besides his mouth and his hands-and what he might be able to do with both.
When Dylan again suggested that a walk in the park might clear her head, she fled the station gratefully, and the sight of Mitch relaxing on the bench was like a glass of cold lemonade on a hot day.
“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted her, and slid over to make room. She toed off her sandals and, with a sigh, let her feet rest in the cool grass.
He handed her a wrapped sandwich and a smoothie. “Your guy at Scarlett’s says the watermelon is an experiment. If you like it, he’s going to call it ‘Eve-ning in Paradise.’”
Eve groaned at the pun and took a sip. “Hey, this is good. It ain’t lime, but it’s good.” She glanced at him. “Is there a bug on my feet? Why are you looking at them?”
He settled back on the bench and unwrapped his sandwich. “I have this theory about you and plant life.”
Turkey and cranberry with cream cheese spread. Eve sighed with satisfaction. “I think you need to get out more.”
He ignored her. “You just look good in the great outdoors. As if you belong there. Plants seem to like you.”
“I don’t have my Nana’s green thumb-you should have seen our place in Florida-but I’m most comfortable in the garden. It relaxes me. Plus I can see direct results of what I do. Sometimes in television that’s hard to estimate.”