“Well, Luis…” Her mind went totally blank. She had talked to people and knew all of the names of the vendors, but now standing in front of the camera, she couldn’t for the life of her think of a single one to mention. “There’s a lot of… shrimp.” Duh there’s a lot of shrimp, you idiot, she silently screamed to herself. It’s the effing Shrimp Festival! She shook her head trying to find other words, but nothing came out. Her eyes then shifted nervously to Vanessa, who was standing on the side of the cameraman.
Looking calm and composed, her new coworker mouthed, “Shrimp balls.” That’s right! Callie turned back to the camera, hoping the awkward silence wasn’t too noticeable. “A lot of people I talked with recommended Mrs. Kathy’s fried shrimp balls,” she said, her voice shaky. “You also can’t go wrong with the shrimp po’ boys from Hamel’s.”
“Sounds good,” Luis said. “I’ll definitely be over there later to taste-test this weekend. All right, thanks for that, Caroline. And tonight at five, we’ll head back to the festival where News 12’s Vanessa Sinclair will sit down for an interview with headliner Tootsie Boots of the Tootsie Boots Jazz Band. You won’t want to miss that.”
Callie looked at the camera as the red light went off. “That’s it?” she mouthed to the cameraman. He nodded his head. The whole piece had to have been less than a minute, but it felt like forever.
Gosh, it was horrible being on camera like that. She walked over to Vanessa. “Thank you so much for saving my butt. I guess I just got nervous.”
“Oh, stop,” Vanessa said. “You were great. The first time on camera is always scary, but you’ll be a natural in no time. Promise.” Her words were reassuring, yet Callie still didn’t feel reassured.
Her phone buzzed a few minutes later with a text from Adler: Good job!
She shook her head, still not feeling the pride. Maybe it was the topic that was leaving her unfulfilled. She cringed remembering how she used the embarrassing phrase “shrimply delicious” on the air. Ugh. Her experience and talent were much better suited for hard, investigative pieces. Adler probably just wanted to go easy on her for her first day. Perhaps she could let him know she was ready to take on something bigger.
Thanks! she texted back. Any interest in an update on the levee issues for my next piece? They’ve opened an investigation into Councilman Francis and his involvement, but I’d really like to get an update on what they’re doing to fix the levee in the meantime.
A bubble appeared immediately on the screen, indicating he was typing back. A minute later, his text appeared: Thanks for pitching, but I’ve got something else I need you to cover next. The science museum is going to be hosting a snake wedding tomorrow. Emailing details now.
A snake wedding? Seriously? Maybe she should have stuck with the paper.
Later that night, Wynn took her to happy hour at the Lakeview Bar, a ritzy cocktail lounge near the station with an amazing view of the water. As they sipped on mint juleps, she confided in him. “I just feel like I’m not cut out for TV. I don’t know if I can keep doing these segments. That was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.”
He laughed. “Then you must be really sheltered.” Wynn reached his arm around her and rubbed her shoulders. “I honestly thought you did great. Everyone gets nervous their first time. Hell, I still feel that way every once in a while.”
If she was being honest with herself, it wasn’t only her time on air that she hated. Her chest currently felt constricted as she thought about having to go back to work tomorrow and do it all over again. She loved the adrenaline involved in journalism, but this was a different kind of feeling. She just wanted to be making a difference, but it was hard when the only assignments she seemed to be getting so far were fluff.
“You know, I’ll never forget my first piece for the station,” he said, looking nostalgic. “It was on a dog beauty pageant, and I was a mess.” He laughed and then took a sip of his drink. “It gets easier, I promise. Look at me now.”
His words did make her feel a little better. After all, he was covering politics and community news now. She felt hopeful that it was just going to take some time to get to that point.
“Hang in there, kid,” he said, delicately lifting her chin.
She sighed and forced a smile. There was no going back to the Herald now anyway, so she might as well stick it out. Fake it ’til you make it, right?
CHAPTER 22 Hanna
The Evangeline Oaks annual fund-raising gala’s invitation had the words “Black Tie Optional” written in pretty script on the bottom of the heavy stock paper, but as Hanna walked up to the doors of the venue wearing a floor-length red sleeveless gown and heels, she wondered with a perverse sense of humor if everyone else at the event would actually be in clubwear. It was becoming her MO to show up in the wrong clothes, after all.
Tom had texted half an hour before they were supposed to leave saying he was stuck on site for work. Sorry! Will be late, he wrote. This had been a regular occurrence since he started his first big solo project a couple of weeks ago. Hanna was proud of him for starting his own business, but hoped he’d be home more. He insisted this was a house he wanted to get right for his client, so she had been letting his tardiness slide.
She appreciated his work ethic, but dammit, she wanted him here with her right now. For some reason, she felt so alone… so vulnerable around these people. She didn’t know if she’d ever fit in with them, but she wasn’t going to give up. She knew this place was the best for Drake and Lucy.
Her nerves tightened as she opened the door to the event space. Inside, a group of people huddled around the check-in table in the lobby. Black suits, glittery gowns, strands of pearls, elegant updos… Hanna exhaled, surprised at her relief seeing that she got the attire right this time.
As she approached the check-in table, a voice called out from behind. “Mrs. Peck!” She looked over and saw Drake’s teacher, Mrs. Jones, walking up to her. The tall young woman had on an orange halter dress that looked beautiful in contrast to her dark skin, and a pretty rhinestone headband peeked out through her short black hair.
“Hi! How are you?” Hanna held her clutch close to her chest. She always got nervous around her kids’ teachers. She had gotten so many calls from the last school about the bullies and behavior issues in class.
“I’m good.… Hey, I’ve actually been meaning to call you to talk about Drake.” Her voice sounded serious.
Hanna froze. Here it was. She had a feeling she already knew what Mrs. Jones was going to say, something about Drake not making friends or being made fun of by the other kids. Usually he was good about telling her about his day when she tucked him in at night. That was when she found out about the bullies and other problems at Jefferson. But over the month since school had started and he’d been at Evangeline Oaks, he hadn’t mentioned anything about that. What if it was so bad he didn’t even want to tell her? She gulped. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
The woman could probably see the look of fear in her eyes. She reached out and touched Hanna’s elbow. “Oh, of course everything’s okay. Drake’s an absolute delight.”