AFTER A LOT of trial and error over the past couple of weeks, Cameron could find the temporary production room assigned to the PSN production staff without a GPS. Logan was lounging against the hallway wall outside the room, which also helped.
“Hey, nice to see you. Where were you this morning?” he asked her.
“I had no idea you all were starting so early. Why didn’t you tell me?”
He avoided her eyes, glancing at the floor. “I got the call at 5:30 am myself.”
“Who was doing the on-air stuff, then?”
Logan had added foot-shuffling and lip-licking to his repertoire. He still wasn’t looking directly at her. Something was wrong. “Ben said we’d fill that in later.”
“What? Someone else was there with you. Who was it?”
“Kevin and a new on-air personality.”
“Who might that be?” she blurted out. Ben chose that moment to walk into the hallway with them.
“Great job,” he said over his shoulder into the room. “I can’t wait to see the tape. I’ll be right back.” He shut the door behind him and gave Cameron a less-than-sincere smile. “Good to see you, Ms. Ondine.”
“It’s nice to see you as well, Ben. Why wasn’t I aware of this morning’s assignment?”
“We’re trying out a new on-air person. She’s already working on the voice overs. I wonder where she’s been all my life. She’s amazingly talented.” Ben raised one eyebrow and strode away.
Cameron ran after him. “Excuse me?”
“Concentrate on your romance, Ms. Ondine. Leave the sports reporting to the rest of us.”
“Really?” Her mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you firing me? I have a contract.”
“You think you’re going to manipulate me and PSN’s owner by running to your daddy and complaining that I’m exploiting you and your private life? You’ve got another thing coming.”
It was a good thing Cameron hadn’t finished her plate of food that morning; it felt like it was ready to come right back up. Zach had talked to her father. Ben was trying to replace her, and he had also talked to her father. She really didn’t like what this added up to.
“I haven’t spoken to my father without several witnesses present for two weeks now. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Plus, how are you going to explain to those currently happy with my ratings that you’ve replaced me for no apparent reason?”
“Maybe you texted him,” Ben spat. “Why the hell should I care? My new sideline reporter is more than happy to handle whatever I throw at her.”
The door behind them opened, and the television-ready Kacee stepped through it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
* * *
CAMERON HEARD THE door into the Sharks’ lobby slam shut behind Ben.
Kacee pointedly ignored Cameron, strolled up to Logan and said, “Are you ready? We can get that interview before practice starts, if Drew’s done with his lifting.”
Logan’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah.” He picked up the camera resting on the floor at his feet and didn’t meet Cameron’s eyes.
“I fired you, Kacee. Why are you still here?” Cameron said.
Kacee spun on her heel to face Cameron. “Ben says you don’t have the authority to fire me.” Her expression turned calculating. “I’m going to love scooping up all of your player interviews, too.” She gave Cameron a little wave as she flounced away. “Buh-bye now.”
“I’ve already interviewed Drew this week,” Cameron called out.
Kacee laughed. “You’ve never asked him these questions.”
“I still have time later,” Logan said to Cameron.
“How nice,” she said. “See you then.” She didn’t know if she still had a job at PSN, so it really didn’t matter if he was around to film with her or not.
“I don’t think so,” Kacee sang out as she hit the metal bar that opened the door onto the practice field. “He’ll be busy with me.”
Cameron let out a long sigh as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, sent three texts, and left the building through the door Kacee and Logan had just vanished through. She darted behind one of the wooden pillars that held up the front of the building. Logan had his camera up on his shoulder filming, and she wanted to see what was happening without being seen.
A few seconds later Drew emerged from the weight room’s open garage-style door. He sauntered onto the cement walkway in front of the practice field and dumped a bottle of water over his head to cool off. He was probably getting ready to run a few laps or do some stretching in the grass.
He either didn’t see or didn’t care that Kacee and Logan were less than two feet away from him as he bent from the waist, flipping his long hair back and spraying water everywhere. Kacee’s professional hair style, TV make-up, designer dress and heels got the brunt of the shower. Cameron resisted the impulse to laugh as her former assistant let out a screech. Kacee had abandoned any attempt at professionalism; she stamped her foot like a child as she shouted at Drew.
“Why did you do that? Now I’m a mess! Didn’t you see me?”
Drew glanced over at a dripping and sputtering Kacee. “I didn’t realize you were standing there. Sorry about that.” His expression was less than penitent. “It’s a warm one already, isn’t it?”
Cameron could see Logan’s shoulders shaking with laughter as he tried to steady his camera. Logan got a little water, too, but she knew that wouldn’t scare him off. She wondered how long it would be before the footage of Kacee’s meltdown was uploaded to YouTube. In the meantime, Kacee was still ranting at Drew.
“Now I’m going to have to change. It’s all your fault,” she wailed.
“Again, I’m sorry. I’ll have to be a little more careful next time.” He glanced over at Logan. “Where’s Cameron? I need to talk to her about something.”
“She’s in the building,” Logan said to him. “She should be out here pretty soon. If I see her first, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”
“I’m right here. You can talk to me right now,” Kacee insisted.
“Is that so? Well, then.” Drew’s voice was deceptively soft as he turned toward Kacee. He didn’t smile. “Tell whoever it is that submitted those interview questions to me last night that there’s no way in hell I’m discussing what I look for in a potential date, or my ‘turn-ons’ and ‘turn-offs.’ I’m not a Playboy centerfold. If you want to talk about football, I’m happy to do that, but my personal life’s off-limits.”
“What do you mean?” Kacee wailed. “They’re just fun questions. What’s the problem?”
“If you have to ask that question, you’re already wasting my time,” Drew said. He glanced over Kacee’s shoulder and caught Cameron’s eye. Cameron put a finger over her lips and hoped he wouldn’t call attention to her temporary hiding place. “If that’s what you consider an interview, you’re going to have the same problem talking with every other guy in this facility,” he said.
“Those are Cameron’s questions,” Kacee said. “She told me she wanted to try something different for her next show.”
Drew laughed in her face. “I don’t think so. Cameron wouldn’t ask those questions. Thanks for trying, Kacee. I have to go.” He turned and walked back toward the weight room, giving Cameron the barest wink as he passed.
“But I have questions for you! I really need an interview. What can we work out?” Seconds later, Cameron heard loud voices from the weight room.
“Get that camera out of here!”
“What the hell are you doing? Stop filming!”
“Media isn’t allowed in here!”
The last voice she heard she’d recognize anywhere: Zach’s. “What do you think you’re doing, Kacee?”
Cameron hurried back into the building through another door. The items on her mental to-do list had just tripled.
JUST LIKE A lot of guys in the building, Cameron was hearing footsteps, too. If Zach’s encounter with Kacee and Logan in the team’s weight room was any in
dicator, Kacee was attempting to take Cameron’s job.
After a rough few days when she first came to camp, the guys had decided they liked and trusted Cameron. She’d already passed up reporting on more than a few incidents that could have been pretty embarrassing to guys on the team or to the Sharks front office. She was professional. She was friendly, but not too friendly. He realized he was biased, but he liked the fact the guys had already closed ranks around Cameron.
Kacee had chased five different Sharks around the facility today. All five refused an interview with her, especially when McCoy filled them in on the list of questions he’d gotten via text from Kacee’s phone last night. Kacee wasn’t interested in actual sports content. There wasn’t a guy in the league that would answer questions about his love life; they’d be laughed out of the locker room.
Drew also told him that Kacee had bragged to Drew about how both the owner of PSN and Cameron’s boss were none too happy that Cameron’s father called to let them have it right after Zach spoke to him. According to Kacee, this would benefit her efforts to move in on Cameron’s job. She was also stupid enough to tell Drew that she was the source of all the leaks about Cameron and Zach, starting with the interview tape that just happened to get uploaded to YouTube.
Zach had a few things to say to Kacee. It might be smart for her to stay away from him until he settled down. Zach also realized that there was a pretty good chance that Cameron was now so pissed at him she wasn’t talking to him at all. He’d thought he was helping her by spilling the beans to her dad about her boss’s being such a dick to her. He should have realized her dad would make things worse. He would be infuriated if she did the same thing to him, too: Nobody messed with his career. Why did he think she’d welcome it?
He texted Cameron again: I NEED TO TALK WITH YOU. I SCREWED UP. FORGIVE ME? He waited impatiently for an answer. Five minutes later, he still hadn’t heard from her. She must be tied up somewhere. He’d talk with her later.
THE ONLY PLACE these days where Cameron could have any expectation of privacy to make a phone call was her dorm room. She had about half an hour before she needed to be downstairs to cover today’s practice. She’d have to talk fast. She locked the dorm room door behind her, and moved across the room so her voice wouldn’t carry into the hallway.
She hit “dial” on her agent’s cell number. Laurie picked up on the third ring.
“It’s Cameron. I need to talk with you.”
“This isn’t a great time,” Laurie said. “How about calling me back in an hour?”
“I have to cover practice in an hour. Do you have five minutes?”
“Five minutes will work. By the way, PSN is thrilled with the ratings for Third and Long. The ratings for NFL Confidential have gone through the roof, too. Good job. Maybe they’ll show their appreciation with a bonus. How about it? Want me to start the negotiations?”
Cameron allowed herself an epic eyeroll. “Laurie, question. Remember when you told me FOX Sports wanted to make me an offer?”
“Yes. Why? Is there a problem there?”
“You could say that.”
Laurie let out a sigh. “They love you right now.”
“Well, Laurie, they sure have one hell of a way of showing it. They’re using a new on-air personality as of this morning.” Cameron heard Laurie gasp. “Will you call FOX Sports at your earliest convenience and ask them if that offer is still on the table at all?”
“Are you sure?” Laurie asked. “You’ll have to observe your non-compete if you go anywhere else. I’m not sure it would be a good career move, either.”
Hmm. Moving from a cable network to a Big Four job was always a good move, but Laurie seemed willing to overlook that. “I’d like to know if they are an option for me at all. Please call me back right away when you hear from them.”
“I will do that, but Cameron, again, do you really want to go there? I’d like to talk more about this.”
“I’m positive. Please make the call. I’ll be happy to talk with you about why I’m exploring the option when you have a little more time. Thanks for doing this for me, and I hope you’re having a good day.”
“Sure. I’ll talk with you when I hear from them.”
“Great. See you later. Bye.”
Cameron ended the call and let out the breath she’d been holding. The next call was going to be even riskier, if that was possible. She scrolled through her contacts list, clicked on the number, and listened to it ring. She heard her father’s voice.
“Ondine.”
IT DIDN’T TAKE long to figure out why Zach hadn’t been especially eager to talk with her about what he’d said to her dad, especially when her dad told her he’d put Walter Doyle, owner of PSN, on blast over the phone shortly afterward.
“Dad, that wasn’t a great thing to do.”
“Cameron Bennett Ondine, nobody treats my daughter like that,” he boomed into the phone.
“Okay, Dad. Thanks. I think. I’ll talk with you later.”
She expected her father to act like he had, but she was pretty upset with Zach, too. She understood why he’d done what he did, but she was hurt that he didn’t think more of her ability to take care of herself. She wouldn’t interfere in his professional life. Why did he think he could do the same to her?
Cameron ended the call and pulled up an airline site on her iPad. She wasn’t going to be able to fix these problems remotely, and she needed to take control of her life and her career. The only way to do that was to go back to New York for a couple of days. She also dialed Zach’s number on her cell. He was getting ready for practice. He wouldn’t hear the message for quite some time afterward, but she’d leave one anyway. “Zach, there’s some things I need to take care of. I’ll be back in a couple of days. I think we need to talk.”
She ended the call. She booked a flight to New York, texted her producer that she’d be back in two days, and called a cab to pick her up in front of the facility in an hour and a half.
TWO HOURS LATER, Zach realized he hadn’t seen Cameron in the facility during practice. She and the Earphones were nowhere to be found. Logan walked by a few minutes later; Zach grabbed his arm.
“Hey. Where’s Cameron?”
“I saw her getting into a cab a few minutes ago,” Logan said. “I’ll let her know you’re looking for her when I see her again.”
“Thanks.”
Zach walked away from him into the locker room and stripped out of his uniform and pads to take a shower. The voicemail light on his phone was blinking. Maybe one of his sisters called or something. He toed off his cleats and sat down on the bench in front of his locker while he punched in the password to his voicemail.
Thirty seconds later, his heart dropped. “We need to talk”? Cameron was a lot more than pissed: She’d left. Her voice sounded strained and unhappy. He’d lost her again. It was all he could do to hold it together while surrounded by his talking, laughing teammates.
Chapter Twenty-Four
* * *
AFTER THE RAIN-WASHED fresh air and relative quiet of Seattle’s suburbs, the bustling sidewalks, acres of neon overhead and perma-honking motorists of New York City was like landing on another planet. Cameron swiped her credit card through the cab’s backseat card reader. She grabbed her Birkin bag off the seat, thanked the cabbie, and launched herself onto the crowded sidewalk in front of Pro Sports Network’s corporate offices.
The only time Cameron had visited this part of PSN’s executive offices before was when she signed her contract. The room was crowded with network execs and on-air talent at the time. She remembered shaking a hundred hands, scrawling her name in a couple of places on the paperwork, and being whisked out for a press conference with Ben, where she announced her signing. She knew she’d met Walter Doyle, owner of PSN, but she didn’t remember a lot about him except that she was taller than he was.
She’d spent the past couple of days since her flight landed in New York City getting her ducks in a row for this meeting. S
he didn’t need to run to her father for help like a child who’d skinned a knee; she needed to handle her career problems and opportunities herself. Laurie continued to act evasive and refused to make a phone call to FOX Sports to explore the previous job offer, so Cameron dug out the business card their director of programming pressed into her hand at an industry gathering several months before and called the guy herself.
She’d hired the best attorney money could buy to review her contract with PSN. He’d found something interesting in the paperwork, which she looked forward to sharing with the owner of the network. She’d decided what the best case scenario would be for her and her career. If Mr. Doyle wasn’t willing to offer her what she wanted, it was time to take a page out of her dad’s book and go to the mattresses.
Cameron approached the executive assistant’s desk outside of Mr. Doyle’s office.
“Hi, I have a nine o’ clock appointment with Walter Doyle. I’m Cameron Ondine.”
“He’s expecting you,” the impeccably dressed young man behind the desk said. “Follow me, please.”
Cameron was shown into a corner office that was bigger than her apartment. Two walls were windows looking out over Central Park. The décor was modern, featuring chrome and leather. The owner of PSN stood up from his chair and extended his hand to her. “Ms. Ondine, it’s a pleasure.”
“Thank you, Mr. Doyle.”
“May I offer you anything? There’s coffee, still or sparkling water, or soda. I can ask my assistant to get whatever you might like.”
“No, thank you.”
He gestured for her to sit down, and he sat down as well. Cameron took two deep breaths while she refreshed her memory on the talking points she’d memorized before she fell asleep last night. She crossed her legs and leaned forward slightly in her chair.
“I appreciate your making time to meet with me this morning,” she said to him. “I realize it was last-minute.”
Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel Page 25
