Chapter Four

Gayle McGee was sitting at her desk in the outer office when the first calls started to come in. She had worked at KKTM since graduating high school, starting out as a file clerk, and then moving on to assistant manager. After seven years of learning the ropes, she had successfully climbed the ladder to her current position of Program Director. She had seen and heard her share of announcers, so another new voice wasn’t of much interest.

Until now.

“I’m with Jenny Reed for the last half hour of her show so we can get to know each other,” Johnny said into the microphone, “and tomorrow morning you and she will have someone wonderful to wake up with at six a.m.” He flashed a nasty grin at Jenny knowing full well the intent of what he had just told over ten thousand listeners. Jenny didn’t give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his comment, but in her mind she was mentally strangling him with the headset cord.

The minute Gayle heard his voice, she knew Jenny was in trouble. Even though the station had been getting a good share of the morning drive time audience according to the latest Arbitron numbers, they were losing points with the twenty-five to thirty-five audience. Gayle always liked Jenny’s style, but this new guy had something special. Gayle heard it right away, and judging from the sound of the switchboard, so had a lot of others.

Johnny King’s approach was elegant, a cross between Cary Grant and Clark Gable without any trace of an accent. Gayle had checked out his background only an hour before he was on the air. He was from a small town in Minnesota, went to a Catholic school, then to St. John’s University where he’d majored in broadcasting. Then his file had mysteriously skipped two years and picked up with his experience as an announcer at a small station outside of Minneapolis just before coming to KKTM.

Gayle puzzled about the lapse in his resume and wondered why Brian hadn’t made any notation of it in the file. Oh well, she thought, he was the boss and could hire whom he pleased. Gayle did take special note that Johnny was thirty-eight and had never been married. That in itself was mysterious and the most interesting fact she read from his bio. She’d put the file away and hadn’t thought much more about it until now. Gayle started to leave her office when she heard the voice of Johnny King coming through the speaker. A slight shiver created goosebumps over her skin. She didn’t even know the man, but listening to him was beginning to excite her in a curious and fascinating way.

“God,” she said to the empty room, “if the rest of our female audience is feeling this way, our ratings are going to go through the ceiling!”

As Gayle waited for Jenny to leave the studio, she wondered how she was going to break the news to her best friend. The greatest joy, as well as the most difficult part of friendship between women was honesty. Jenny and Gayle had that rare type of relationship that only women could share, but it was times like this that honesty could damage even the most solid of friendships.

Gayle remembered the first time she heard that Jenny Reed was coming to work at KKTM, and how they had locked horns the moment they met. Gayle’s first impression of Jenny was that she was a New York snob, and Jenny had made it quite clear that, to her, Gayle was a typical skinny Californian airhead.

Their first conversation was blatantly confrontational. Jenny had asked Gayle where the previous night’s logs were, then went on to describe what they were, as if Gayle were ten years old. When Gayle found the logs, she’d thrown them at Jenny, but instead of getting angry, Jenny invited her to go out for coffee to help clear the air. Although Gayle had wanted to clear more than the air with the worm from the Big Apple, she felt since Jenny had made the initial move, she accepted. Their coffee turned into the Irish kind, courtesy of Bob Cash.

Over several drinks, they had shared stories about each other. Jenny confided in Gayle about her real name and her overweight past. Gayle, in turn, had told her about her parent’s divorce and her being the oldest of five brothers and a sister. And the fact they were both over thirty and still single.

They became good friends, making Charlotte’s a nightly stop unless either one had a more important date.

Gayle knew how angry Jenny would be at Brian for having made the schedule changes at the last minute. She hoped it would get her friend angry enough to finally end the relationship. Gayle had felt guilty about it ever since she’d invited them to a party knowing that Brian’s wife was out of town. That was almost a year ago, and although Gayle was the only one at the station who knew about the affair, she knew it wouldn’t be much longer until the news got back to Denise.

Gayle went into the employee lounge and got some coffee. The speakers were turned on in the room and she heard Johnny King’s live public service announcement. Once again Gayle was mesmerized by the smooth, silky sounds emanating from her radio. She removed her shoes, sat down on the couch, and started making plans.