Page 124 of Just Another Silly Love Song

Pushing open the door to the parking lot, I headed straight for my car.

I stopped and stuck the phone back against my ear. “Are you there?”

“I’m here,” Doug said. “Hey—I heard about the sale of the radio station. It sounds like they’re going to change the format to classic rock. Is that true?”

Had the sale of the station been made public? How did he already know, but I just found out?

I fished through my purse for my keys while cradling the phone against my shoulder. “We were just told that nothing has been made public or official yet.”

“Oh . . . well, I’ve got some connections and someone told me that privately, but that doesn’t matter. I’m calling to offer you your job back.”

I froze. “Pardon me?”

“Your job. We want you to come back. We need you, actually.”

I swung around and leaned against the car, shocked. “Doug, you escorted me out of the building like a convicted criminal.”

“I know, I know, and I’m really sorry about that. You know that’s company protocol for anyone who gets fired for insubordination. I don’t particularly agree with the process, but it was my responsibility to take care of it.”

“I don’t get it. You told me Rolando Tech would cancel their advertising contract if I wasn’t fired. What changed?”

Doug sighed. “What changed was the ratings. We just got the Weeklies in and it’s the second consecutive week the numbers went down dramatically during the night show. And Peter Rolando called Frank and told them their sales numbers were way down since your voice wasn’t on their commercial any longer. Now, everyone wants you back and I’ve been authorized to offer you a twenty percent raise.”

“Twenty percent?”

“Well, between you and me, I was told to offer twenty to start, with the option to raise it to thirty if you said no. No use in me pretending and beating around the bush. You can have a thirty percent raise.”

Another person who didn’t like to “beat around the bush.”

I had a feeling that phrase was going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

I pondered the job offer from Doug.

Why shouldn’t I take it?

I loved playing the love songs and dedications.

Even if the new owners wanted to keep the radio station the way it was—which wasn’t likely—there was no way they would keep me since the Dr. Tough Love show would no longer exist with Ben abandoning me for San Francisco.

I had bills to pay, my mortgage, not to mention the extra money I gave to Grandma Joyce every month for her to live at Ramblin’ Rose Resort.

“Lori?”

“I’m here. Just thinking about your offer . . .”

“Take your time.”

“I did have a question, actually.”

“Go for it.”

“If I did accept the offer, when would you want me to start?”

“That’s up to you. The sooner the better, obviously. We need to turn these numbers around. You can give your standard two-week notice, if you have to, but most likely they will just tell you to leave since you’re going to a competing radio station. Did you sign a noncompete agreement?”

Many employers ask new employees to sign this type of contract, in which the employeeagreesnot to go to work for a competitor for a certain amount of time after they leave. They’re not as common in radio as they used to be, but they still exist.

I shook my head. “No, it was just a one-month trial and either of us could back out at any time if we weren’t happy.”