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He bopped off into the newsroom and looked back. “My first day? I went blank on a live shot from a car dealership fire. Four seconds of silence on air. I kid you not.”

“Really?” It felt like a warm hug. Maybe Carlos wasn’t so bad.“Tell me more.” I touched my desk, offering him his seat back like Mrs. Claus beckoning an adorable child.

He returned, his voice quiet. “This is the thing. First days are supposed to suck.” He looked around. “Especially in this cutthroat business, where you never know who’s gunning for you.”

“I’m not used to a competitive newsroom.”

“Well, I’m afraid you just got tossed into the deep end without a life jacket.” He stood. “Now we see if you can swim, little guppy.”

I swallowed because, dammit, I wanted to swim. I just needed to figure out where my confidence had dashed off to. It had come to work with me that morning and drifted away slowly, a lost student on a field trip.

“I didn’t see your robbery on our story board,” Carrie said, sliding into her chair. I looked up from my newly installed email account on my newly issued laptop, which had clearly seen better days. TheNkey had been completely worn down.

“No. Wasn’t much there.”

“A shame.” She said it without much inflection, almost as if it wasn’t worth her attention. I was a gnat in the middle point of her day. I exhaled slowly, not letting it get to me. It did.

“Back at it tomorrow.” I offered a smile. She was camera ready in a gorgeous blue suit that matched her eyes, a cream-colored blouse underneath.

She shot me a glance and said nothing as she moved to apply her lipstick in a mirror on a stand she’d produced from her drawer. Still a gnat. I should have left the conversation there. Taken the cue. I didn’t.

“That’s a great color. The suit.”

“Thank you.”

“I haven’t been down to the studio yet. Maybe I’ll check out the broadcast.”

“Are you going to try and make conversation there, too?” Her gaze never left the mirror.

“Oh.” A pause as I searched for my ego. “No. Not a word.” I went back to my email, feeling stepped on and annoyed that I was letting it get to me. This business was not for the weak.

Just then I heard the click, click, click of Caroline’s heels on the floor behind me, but I remained in my chair.

I’d see the studio another time.

* * *

“It wasn’t an awful week at all,” Sarah said and dropped a slice of piping hot pepperoni pizza onto her plate. “I’m gonna devour you,” she told the pizza. “You had two stories on air.”

I bit into a breadstick as I sat at her kitchen table. The view of the pool from this spot was breathtaking. Emory and Sarah had such a gorgeous house. Sprawling white, open floor plan, breathtaking outdoor space, and right on the beach. I felt better just being there. “It was a wake-up call. That was for sure. I’m not in Oklahoma anymore.”

Sarah squinted. “You’ve never lived in Oklahoma.”

“What? No. I was referencingTheWizard of Oz.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open and closed. “Kansas. That’s Kansas. How do you not know that? We’ve failed you. Your mother trusted us and we didn’t deliver.”

I waved her off. “I preferred Ninja Turtles.”

She blinked. “You are a unique snowflake, Skyler. But I love you all the same.”

“As much as Dorothy loved Dodo?”

She closed her eyes, and I grinned proudly.

Emory joined us with a salad in a giant ceramic bowl that felt criminal when there was fantastic cheesy pizza to eat. Apparently, she was training for a half marathon with Kristin, another health nut. Who had the fortitude for that? Emory was a combination of too many badass traits working together to make us all feel like we’d overslept. Rich, athletic, good-looking, and smart. Didn’t seem fair. She looked over at me around a bite of avocado. “Kristin told me on our run that you’re finding your stride at the station.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear.” I sat taller. The weekhadimproved from that first day. I’d learned where the break room was, managed to get two of my stories to air, and Caroline McNamara had yet to murder me in my chair for existing. I couldn’t help but notice how friendly she was to our other coworkers, warm even. Laughing with them. Shooting the breeze in slower moments. Everyone looked to her as a leader and a friend. Yet everything I did just seemed to annoy her.