Читать книгу Sleigh Belles - Beth Albright - Страница 10

5

Dallas woke up early the next morning. Between thoughts of her mother and the house across the street decorated for Christmas with more lights than Times Square, she’d barely gotten any rest at all. She wondered if they were trying to get her to notice them and put them on TV, and she said as much to Daniel as they left to cover their first story of the day.

“They’ve put up so many lights, I swear, I wake up believing I’m in New York City,” Dallas told him as they pulled out of the station lot.

“Why don’t you complain?” he asked.

“I think that would just egg them on,” she said. Surprisingly, she felt pretty good this morning in spite of all that was going on. It was a new day and that meant she was a day closer to that anchor seat...she hoped.

“I can’t believe we’re going to cover the Christmas promotion at Lewis’s new radio station. That just sounds crazy,” she said.

“I know. But he’s hired these two new girls from Tennessee and they’re doing wonders over there. They’re twins but don’t look a thing alike.“

“I thought we were covering their Twelve Days of Christmas thing?” she asked.

“Oh, we are, but those new girls are so cute...I hoped we could spend some time getting to know them, too. One of them is the promotions director and that’s who you’re interviewing, Abigail Harper.”

“Okay, great. I’ll talk to her while you gawk.” Dallas smirked at him.

She was happy to be busy with this story today. She’d gotten a message earlier from her news director, Mike Maddox, saying he wanted to meet with her later on. Just thinking of that meeting made her heart jump. She hoped it wasn’t about her less-than-stellar performance at yesterday’s play practice. She also had another rehearsal tonight, which she was not at all looking forward to.

They arrived at the newly restored Brooks Mansion, a historic building in the center of town that housed the brand-new WRCT—Lewis Heart’s new Crimson Tide radio station. This was Lewis’s dream come true. He’d fought to save the building when it had faced being torn down, and he’d risked a lot to turn it into the place it had become.

Dallas knew Lewis and his family very well. They all had gone to both high school and college together. Dallas suddenly recalled yesterday’s nasty confrontation with Cal after rehearsal. Cal was Lewis’s best friend, so he would definitely tell Cal all about her being there to cover the Twelve Days of Christmas promotion at the new radio station. What would Cal tell Lewis about her?

Dallas decided to try her best to get off the naughty list and be nice. She needed a good public image if she wanted to move up in the ranks. She was quite familiar with that whole more flies with honey thing, and it was time to use that to her advantage.

“Hey, Lewis, I hear you have a promotion going on around here,” she said as she came through the front door. Lewis was just stepping out of his office to head to the studio when she and Daniel arrived.

“Hey, there, Dallas, good to see y’all. Lemme get Abigail. She can tell y’all all about it.” He headed to the front office where Caroline Mayfield was tending the phones. She was a local beauty pageant winner with long golden-brown hair and green eyes, and she always kept that gorgeous summer tan—even in the dead of winter.

“Hey, Ms. Dubois, Abigail is expecting y’all,” Caroline said, flashing her perfect pageant teeth.

She picked up the phone and announced their arrival. While they waited, Dallas and Daniel wandered around the beautiful lobby, noticing all the exquisite details. Lewis had restored the place even beyond its former glory. The lobby was in a parlor to the left of the front door; a gorgeous wide curving staircase led up to the second floor from the center hall. Just to the back of the stairs on the right was the massive double doorway leading to Lewis’s office. Tapestry carpets and sconce lighting created an amber glow throughout the first floor.

Just to the back of the lobby, behind the staircase, a huge studio surrounded with glass windows held all the very latest microphones and technical equipment. Windows from the outside made the studio visible from the sidewalk, so fans could stand on the street and watch the recording of the shows, usually starring Alabama football players and other athletic stars from the campus.

Alabama was the national champion in four different sports some years, but with the reign of the famous football coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, having lasted over twenty years, the university was mostly famous for their Crimson Tide football team. Though the Bear had died thirty years ago, the winning dynasty continued under coach Nick Saban. Dallas certainly knew her football well. She’d cheered for the Crimson Tide while Cal was their quarterback.

“Ms. Harper will be right down,” Caroline said.

Dallas relaxed a bit in the gorgeous surroundings. The regal Brooks Mansion was all decked out for Christmas. A twelve-foot tree stood in the front hall, greeting guests and tourists with warm, glistening lights. A huge wreath covered in Crimson Tide decorations and crimson-and-white ribbon hung on the beveled glass front doors of the large porch. Christmas carols were even playing over the speakers hooked up throughout the building.

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” began next, and it shot a little pang through Dallas as she waited for Abigail. Home for Christmas likely meant another lonely Christmas alone with Wilhelmina.

Abigail appeared at the top of the stairs. A big smile on her face, she was a Princess Kate look-alike. She wore a dark-colored suit with a Ralph Lauren ruffled blouse and high-heeled black patent leather pumps.

“Hey, Ms. Dubois. Thanks so much for coming out,” she said, her hand outstretched to Dallas.

Dallas smiled, but remained guarded. This woman was Lewis’s family now. Abigail was Vivi’s cousin, a sort of cousin-in-law for Lewis. She knew she needed to at least act as if she was interested. But really, was this the type of story that would get her recognized? Get her that anchor seat? She didn’t think so at all. Maybe she needed to mention this to her news director. It was starting to feel as though they were sending her out on less important stories on purpose. Maybe someone had it in for her.

“Hey, Ms. Harper, so nice to meet you. Where would you like to do the interview?” Dallas asked her. “And, please, call me Dallas.”

“Right here is just fine, I think. We can get the big Christmas tree in the background. And do call me Abigail.” The two ladies chitchatted for a minute while Daniel set up the shot.

“Okay, ready when y’all are,” Daniel announced. Abigail began her description of the big Twelve Days of Christmas promotion.

“This fabulous contest will benefit the Tuscaloosa Children’s Home, along with other worthwhile charities here in town,” she explained.

“How does it work?” Dallas asked.

“Well, we’re staging a sort of themed scavenger hunt where people will have to track down specific items that represent the twelve days of Christmas. Our new talk show host, Annabelle, who hosts a segment called Saved by the Belle every day at noon, will be giving out clues. We ask that no one really bring us live animals here to the station,” she said with a laugh, “but something that represents the days themselves. We’ve hidden those items all over town. The person who can gather all the twelve days wins an iPad. To enter, anyone can fill out the form online and make a small donation. Remember, all proceeds will go to the Tuscaloosa Children’s Home, a wonderful organization.”

“Well, this is just terrific,” Dallas said, forcing a smile. “Anything else you’d like to add?”

“That’s all for now. Just stay tuned to WTAL and WRCT for updates,” Abigail finished.

Dallas wrapped up the story and thanked Abigail for her time.

“I’m so happy your news director agreed to partner with us on this. It gives us tremendous visibility,” Abigail said as Daniel began to pack up the cords.

Suddenly Dallas realized that her news director had also set up her new job directing the play. Was he using her to do all the station’s charity work? Especially when there were bigger, higher profile stories she should be spending her time on? Maybe he didn’t want her to get the anchor seat after all. She’d always thought Mike liked her, but if that were true, why would he do this to her? It felt as if she was being sabotaged. All charity work. Every single story, except the one about the missing Baby Jesus statue, was about charities. Not a single lead story had been assigned to her since Thanksgiving, now that she thought about it. She would most definitely bring this up with Mike this afternoon at their meeting.

“Thanks again, Ms. Harper. I’m sure we’ll be back for a follow-up story next week to check in on how it’s all developing. Good luck with the contest,” Dallas said as she turned to walk out.

Just then, Daniel shouted, “Good Lord almighty, do ya’ll know there are three chickens on the front porch?”

“Oh, no. That didn’t take very long at all, did it? I was so afraid of this.” Abigail sighed. She stepped out in front of them, nearly tripping over the animals, one taking flight right into the mansion.

“Y’all, please, you have to take these chickens outta here,” she shouted to the skinny man in overalls.

“This here is the three French hens. That count for somethin’?”

Abigail lunged after the birds, shaking her hands wildly and shooing them off the porch. “This is gonna be a long two weeks,” she said, smiling at Dallas before making her way over to re-explain the rules of the contest to her visitor.

“Good luck,” Dallas responded, a bit surprised at how sweet Abigail seemed to be, even when chasing chickens around a porch. Dallas wasn’t used to that. People who were close to Lewis and Vivi didn’t usually smile at Dallas. But Abigail and her sister didn’t seem to know anything about her history with the little clique from her past. The sisters had just moved here from Tennessee. Dallas kinda liked that fact. She had never had a girlfriend. Too many people in town knew what her mother had done, abandoning one child for the sake of the other; they knew about Dallas’s woman-lovin’ father and his tarnished reputation and they assumed she’d be just the same. When her relationship with Blake hadn’t panned out either, people mostly assumed Dallas was to blame, since everyone thought Blake was perfect. Truthfully, Dallas had never had a chance to prove to herself that she could even have a girlfriend. She flashed Abigail a real smile as she turned toward the news van, the possibility of a new friendship cheering her mood.

Dallas practiced her speech to Mike all the way back to the station. Why would he be trying to hurt her chances for the anchor seat? She couldn’t even fathom an answer. As they pulled into a parking spot, she took a deep breath, ready for the confrontation. Well, the meeting. But now she had an agenda. She was determined to get to the bottom of this latest possible sabotage and find herself a lead story to cover. Dallas always had a bit of a chip on her shoulder, always assumed someone was out to get her. Maybe this time she was right.