Under Further Review

by Xyla Turner

  “Damn, she sounds like a keeper,” he nodded.

  “Yeah, she ain’t going nowhere. Not if I have anything to do with it.” They laughed.

  They played the Buffalo Bills and won by fourteen points. His mom, Mindy, Sandra and her husband came to the game. Shane was excited about that and he hoped that Diamond would stick around, so she could meet his older sister. She was apprehensive, but said she would think about it, when he spoke with her earlier. The press conference was five minutes away and he wanted to steal a few minutes of her time, before he had to go on. She had a press pass, so she could actually go in the locker room, but he quickly showered and met her at the side locker room where the guys that had to get ice and go to the saunas were located.

  Her cameraman was not with her, so she must have kept him at the conference to maintain her spot. He spotted her standing there in her white pencil skirt, fuchsia pink button up shirt with three-quarter length sleeves and her hair was curled. This was a first, because he’d never seen it like that. He wondered if there was a special occasion. As she neared him, he reached out and pulled her into one of the closets in the old room. She gasped when Shane snapped her to him in the closet and murmured against her lips, “Missed you, love.”

  “Missed you too.”

  “What are you doing after this?”

  “I just want to go home and go to sleep. I’ve been traveling most of the day. I know you want to hang, but I can’t. I’d leave here now, if I didn’t think LeAnne was watching.”

  Shane looked into her tired eyes and assessed that she’d probably been working overtime, to ensure that she could do everything else besides the exclusive. He had the plan to help, but he wasn’t sure how she would receive it. He would find out tomorrow.

  “Okay, love. Get some rest and I’ll call you tomorrow to check on you. You still coming out with us to shoot pool?”

  “Okay, will do. Yeah, I’ll be there. Can you text me the address?”

  “Yeah. Need someone to tuck you in tonight? I can ditch this.” Shane inquired.

  “No, no. Have fun with your family. Plus, if you come over there will be no resting.” She smiled.

  Shane kissed her on the lips and lingered enough that she wrapped her arms around his waist. He did not want to let her go, but the press conference was about to start at any minute. He needed to go in with Matt and Keith who were probably looking for him at that moment. He tapped her hip twice and said, “Alright. I gotta go.”

  “Okay, see you in there.” She pulled back and turned to leave.

  He wanted to pull her back and stay there with her. She was tired and he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be bothered. He might bother her, but the look in her eyes said, she was not just physically exhausted, but mentally as well.

  The press conference went over without any major incidents. Nobody addressed Shane, his lack of talking or his woman. Diamond was quiet, barely raised her hand and definitely was gone before the announcer said, there would be no more questions. Afterward his family and friends came over to watch a movie that he actually enjoyed, yet was not completely settled because Diamond wasn’t there.

  His mom, Mindy and Sandra asked where she was, but when he told them, they thought he ran her off. Shane tried to assure them that she was simply tired due to a lot of things happening at work. They all smirked and said she better be there after the next home game.

  The next couple of weeks they had three away games in a row, meaning he would be out of town for at least a week, which he did not appreciate because he would be away from Diamond for an extended amount of time.

  The next evening at the pool hall, Shane had been awaiting Diamond’s arrival. When they spoke earlier, he told her to be there at seven o’clock, but he noted it was seven-thirty and she still was not there. Matt and his wife had joined them this time, specifically so he could meet Diamond and give his assessment about her. Keith and another female friend, Kamal was with his high school sweetheart and even Ralph tagged along, but he was by himself. He was about to call Diamond, when she walked in wearing skinny jeans, a light pink flirty blouse and multi-colored high heel pumps. Some of the guys grunted and made low whistling noises. Shane turned around to them with his eyebrows pushed together in a glare. They quieted down, while the women smiled at each other knowingly.

  “Hey,” Shane called, then wrapped his arm around Diamond’s waist, bringing her body into his.

  “Hey.” She smiled back at him.

  “Why are you so late?” he asked.

  “I was at work late, then I had to run home and take a shower and change clothes. I should have called, but thought it was laid back. I didn’t know I had to be here on time.”

  “No, you didn’t. I just expected you at a certain time that was all.” Shane kissed her temple.

  “Oh okay. What did I miss?” Diamond wrapped her arm around his back.

  “Nothing, just people that want to meet you,” Shane said as he led her to the crowd.

  “Matt, this is my Diamond.” Shane extended his hand towards the quarterback.

  “Hey, Diamond. Nice to finally meet you in person.” Matt extended his hand towards her. “This here is my wife, Sheryl.”

  “Matthew Cunningham, nice to meet you too.” Diamond smiled and shook his hand.

  Then she smiled at his wife and shook her hand. Shane continued to introduce her to the guys and their women plus Ralph, who was alone. She graciously shook their hands, smiled and said all the right things. Keith immediately gathered her up and asked, “SO, how did you and my man Shane hook up? He hates reporters.”

  “Yeah, that’s a long story,” Diamond laughed.

  “Keith, man. Come on,” Shane warned.

  Everybody laughed.

  “Yeah, Diamond. You have to tell us the story. For real. This man hates reporters. Almost decked a couple,” Ralph chimed in.

  “Oh, she knows.” Shane pulled her closer to him.

  “You can’t hog her all evening, Shane,” Sheryl chimed as she pulled Diamond away from Shane.

  “Yeah, I can.” Shane frowned as Diamond was taken from his grasp.

  As the night progressed, Diamond mingled with the ladies and even the guys were talking with her. He overheard Keith asking her to do an exclusive for him. She turned him away, but promised to get someone else to do it for him. A more seasoned reporter is what she kept saying. He could not understand her deal. She would not take him up on his offer and would not even allow others to do this as well. Shane was a little perturbed by her actions, since that meant she would no longer have a job.

  Matt had pulled her to the side and as they were talking. Diamond looked up in confusion and found Shane’s eyes with hers. She put up one finger to Matt and marched over towards Shane. He looked in Matt’s direction, who stood with his hands up in the air and shaking his head.

  “A word,” she gritted through her teeth.

  “Uh, yeah. What’s up?”

  “You know about the situation with my job?” Diamond turned so her back was to his friends.

  “Yes.”

  “So you set this up?” Her voice remained low. “Having your friends ask for exclusives?”

  Shane did not respond, because the way she said it communicated that she felt it was done in a deceiving, conniving sort of way. That was not his intention, but he did not want it to come across in that way. He just wanted her to do what she loved to do without feeling put upon or handed something.

  “I’ll take your silence as a yes,” she continued. “So, I’m going to leave now, because I’m thoroughly embarrassed. I cannot believe you knew about it and didn’t tell me and you’ve been offering me deals, exclusives, and now you have your friends treating me like some sort of charity case.”

  She moved in, so she was close and so they could not hear.

  “Diamond,” Shane said in a low tone.

  She kept talking, like he had not said one word. “You will never and I do mean, never, accuse me of trying to use you o
r get a leg up by monopolizing on our relationship. I will get my own promotions and my advancement will happen on my own merit, not from knowing you.”

  Shane’d had enough. He angrily growled, “Then you’re a fool. You’ll never get anywhere in life with that attitude and you damn sure won’t get anywhere in this profession. You’re a damn sports reporter, so if you wanted to report on penguins, change your profession. In this industry, it’s about who you know. Reporters are vultures, they’ll jump on anything newsworthy. So, why are you trying to make a statement?”

  Diamond slammed down the cue stick on the table next to him and said, “You are one to talk. Mr. I don’t speak to reporters because this is all a game to them. So, why are you trying to make a statement?”

  She walked towards the bathroom, so he did not go after her, he went to Matt and asked, “What the hell, man?”

  “Nothing, man. I asked her about an exclusive like you said and she just stopped mid-sentence and stormed over to you. I figured she caught on, since that was the talk, all of us asking for exclusives and using those words. Man, I don’t know.”

  After ten minutes, Diamond hadn’t returned, so Sheryl went to the restroom, but returned empty handed. He noted the exit sign near the back of the hallway, so he figured she'd left. When he texted her, she responded that she did leave and she was not in the mood to talk with him now. He was about to get his stuff, when Matt pulled him around his shoulders and said, “You know we leave in five hours, right. You miss the flight and that will be your ass.”

  “Shoot,” Shane growled.

  He was going to be away for a week and he did not want to leave things unsettled. Shane nodded at Matt, grabbed his sport’s bag and went to her place. After banging on the door for a short while, he started talking to the door. He was not sure if she was home or not, but if by any chance she was, she needed to hear him out.

  “Love, please open the door.” He waited. “Look, I’m leaving in a few hours and we need to talk because I don’t want to leave things like this. Diamond?”

  Shane sighed and placed his cheek on the door along with his palms.

  “Look, I know. Yes, I know. Yes, I want you to do an exclusive on me. Yes, my boys said without hesitation that they’d have you do an exclusive on them. Yes, to all of your questions. No, I don’t want you to lose your job. No I don’t want you to leave because of our relationship. No, I was not trying to embarrass you. I was attempting to help. If I have the resources to give you what you need, you damn well better believe that I will. You love this job. You love being on the front lines and a part of the action. You love it, I love it. So I want to make sure you’re happy. So yeah, I did it and Diamond, I’d do it again. If you hear me, I wish you’d see me. I’m going to be gone for a week. You know the schedule, love. I won’t see you for over a week. Talk to me,” Shane bargained.

  There was no sound, just deafening silence. She probably was not even home and he did not want to risk waking the neighbors and having the police called after his coach just reamed him out about the choices he’d made in regards to leadership. The last thing he needed was being ‘asked’ to leave the property of reporter Diamond Reeves for a domestic dispute.

  “Love, open up.” He knocked one last time.

  Shane pulled his face from the door, then his hands. He slowly walked towards the elevator and sent her a text.

  Love, I’ll call you tomorrow

  He drove straight to the airport with nothing to fix what he had broken. This was not how he intended the night to go. He planned to have her stay with him, fool around for a bit, and then drive him to the airport. Everything backfired and he was going to be away for a week with no way to make sure that the issue was rectified.

  16

  The Right Question

  Diamond sat with her back against the wall near her front door and listened to every word Shane had to say. She could not bring herself to open it, but she heard him. She almost broke down, but then she remembered that his friends were in on the charity case. Cliff’s words kept repeating in her head.

  “You wouldn’t have shit without me. You are what you are, because I said it was so. You have that job because of me, that house because of me. Your big break was because of me,” he barked at her in his drunken state.

  Cliff never drank, but that night he tied one on and he let everything rip. The next week he gave her divorce papers. Even after he degraded her, she still was going to stay with him. After he had told her about the infidelity with a few women, then he called her a cow, because she put on some extra weight. She suggested marriage counseling and the worst case scenario, was to be separated for a few months and then regroup. Cliff had another thing in mind, he wanted her to be gone and he made sure she stayed gone. A few months after their divorce, he announced his engagement to a younger and more vibrant woman.

  It was supposed to be the wedding of the century, because their wedding only fourteen months ago, was the union of the month. Diamond thought it was the most beautiful ceremony she’d ever attended. Her father did not show, but the people that mattered did. Then within a year, she received a letter in the mail because Cliff had gone away on a business trip. That letter contained the ending of their marriage with a stroke of a pen. She had failed and it was all her fault.

  She should have spoken up. She should have conceded to the signs that were given. She should not have been a doormat for a control freak. Her mom warned her about those ‘type’ of men. Politicians who wanted the perfect wife in public, but ignored them behind closed doors. The type of men that put on airs and worried more about image than reality. The type of men who cared more about what others said about them, than what their spouse did. She did not listen and it was her fault. Cliff was a jerk from the door, but he was interested in her, made her life easier and she appreciated and loved him for that. Now, she wouldn’t even let someone buy her lunch. Cliff taught her that. She did an exclusive on him, which put her name on the map, but hell would freeze over before she would ever do one for Shane. Since she would simply move to Antarctica, if he ever turned on her and even insinuated that her success was based on him.

  Therefore, she sat and listened to his words, but did not move a muscle. If she lost her job because of this, then so be it. She’d apply to more stations in the area starting tomorrow.

  Over the next few days, Shane continued to call and leave messages, but Diamond would not answer the phone or return his calls. Every day he had flowers, edible arrangements and chocolates delivered to her house and her job. She figured he didn’t care anymore about keeping it a secret that he was interested in her, because he signed Love, Shane Sinclair on every one of his notes that accompanied his gifts. When she was at work, she would immediately throw the card away since she did not want to ‘tease’ LeAnne with the fact that she had not done what she was instructed to do. Even though she had an exclusive interview with Randall Jefferson the very next day.

  Diamond was more than nervous; she was scared to death. She had done two exclusives in her life and they were both politicians and one of them she was dating at the time and the other one was a friend of her ex-husbands. She had spoken to Randall’s agent and did enough research on each topic to discuss. She even had lunch with another sports writer and reporter that focused on basketball and was more experienced and followed Randall throughout his college career.

  When the time came for the interview, Diamond felt like something clicked for her. It was almost like she was not operating but the super Diamond button had been turned on. Everything seemed to be second-nature even when his answers had the ability to throw her off. She was able to use wit and counter-questioning on the fly. Randall was great, as he laughed, was able to be serious and really gave the viewers an in-depth look at his life, his process and what he hoped for him and his camp.

  Afterward, Randall asked if he could speak to her privately.

  She agreed and he started the conversation off by asking, “Are you still with that NFL guy
?”

  Her face went blank as she was shocked by his candor.

  He interrupted her thoughts and said, “I’ll take that as a yes. So, in that case, thanks for doing the interview. I really enjoyed myself as it’s very easy to talk to you. You’re real unlike most and that is not something you find too often in this industry. Yours and mine. So, I know we’ll cross paths again and if you ever dump that guy, I’m only a phone call away.”

  Randall's smile showed all of his beautiful teeth and Diamond had to mentally shake herself. She laughed off his comment and replied, “Thanks so much for making this enjoyable. If you weren’t so personable, it would have been awkward.”

  He laughed and said, “Until next time.”

  They both parted ways with the promise from the station that it would air in a couple of days. Diamond hoped this would keep LeAnne and the executives off her back for a while, until she could land some more legit opportunities.

  Internally Diamond was counting down on the day that Shane would return back to DC. She missed him terribly, but also did not want to at the same time. It was only Thursday and he wouldn't report back until Monday, so she tried to occupy her time with friends, family and work. For the most part she was successful, but when she went out with Eddie and Regina, all they wanted to talk about was Shane. After explaining that she was not interested in discussing the man that was not supposed to be named, Eddie said, “But you’re crazy.”

  “How am I crazy? Because I refuse to get handouts from a man I just met. No, that actually makes me sane,” Diamond retorted.

  “No, that makes you a fool. I’m the one that told him, because he should know. But seriously, you should have told him,” Regina emphasized. “You are about to lose your job, because you refuse to do what the entire world is doing. I get the moral code and everything, but you are taking this independence a little too far.”