Turn Over

“Did I say that?”

She nodded. “You did. I think you were trying to convince me you traveled for fun.”

I laughed. “Now why would I try to do that?”

She reached to refill her glass. “You weren’t very forthcoming for the feature I wrote.”

“Maybe I should let you interview me again.”

“I can’t do that.” Her head moved back and forth.

“Why not? I’ll widen the circle of questions.”

She crossed one foot over the other. “I think we have officially crossed into unethical territory. If I write a feature about you I wouldn’t be able to be very objective.”

“It’s business. You don’t think you could separate the two?”

“If people know we are—” she paused. “Whatever we are. If they knew, then it would look bad for my journalistic integrity.”

“And your integrity is important to you?”

“Of course.” Her lips pinched together.

“Even if I could give you a story that would impress your boss, you wouldn’t take it because of your ethics?” I pitched the question to her.

Her eyes darted to me. “Why? Do you know something?”

I laughed. “See? Curious aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m curious. Doesn’t mean I was going to use the information.” She took a sip of wine. “But what is it?”

“I just wondered what you would say.”

She exhaled loudly. “I’m going to have to talk to Alice tomorrow about this.”

“Why?”

“You proved the point I was trying to make. I can’t separate us from work. I can’t cover stories about the resort, or about you. It’s not right.”

“Wait a minute. Didn’t you tell me she was willing to move you up if you could give her more exclusives?”

“Yes, but I’ll have to do it another way.”

The sky was getting darker. The pink hues had turned amber. I could feel the weekend sinking behind the clouds with the sun. I hadn’t felt the Sunday blues since I was in high school.

I turned so my feet were on the deck. “Tell me what you’re going to say to her.”

“I haven’t figured it out yet.”

“You are being way too calm about this. If you’re going to have a meeting with your boss, you need a plan. You need to be able to go in there and negotiate with her.”

“Negotiate? I have nothing to offer. I have to tell her our personal relationship compromises my ability to report unbiased information. There’s nothing else I can say.”

I took the wine glass from her hand and placed it next to her. “This is serious. You have to have a strategy.”

“All right.” Her painted toes landed on the floor facing mine. “What do you advise?”

“You can’t ever go into a meeting without something to offer, but most importantly you need to know what you want to get out of it. Stand firm. Stay strong.”