Chapter Thirty-Six

Oh man, I am so excited for the second round of the playoffs. Hopefully the guys can shut down Ovechkin and get four wins. Either way, it'll be an interesting series.
But on with the story!
I hope you enjoy chapter thirty-six. Comments are appreciated. ;]

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Coasting Down Memory Lane;
Chapter Thirty-Six

There he stood, looking quite intimidating. Riley didn’t know whether or not to be intimidated or impressed. Why would this very professional-looking man want to talk to her?

Well hell, why not take a risk and ask?

“Hello Riley,” he began in a deep voice. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Cheryl put in.

Riley looked at her, confused. “But I thought we had a meeting.”

“Oh, sweetheart, it isn’t about anything particularly important.” Cheryl touched Riley’s arm lightly – motherly. “Besides, it doesn’t really deal with you. You’re our best reporter so you don’t need any spanking.”

She laughed as she walked away. Even though Cheryl was the producer of the show, she gave off such a motherly vibe. She was in her sixties and was the cutest thing. Riley adored her.

“Well then,” Philip began. “Why don’t we go somewhere else and talk, shall we?” He motioned to one of the meeting rooms.

He was in his forties, Riley guessed. The suit he was wearing was almost as dark as his skin. He had a very polite, very professional way about him. This man was all about business.

“Have a seat,” he said, as he gestured to one of the large leather office chairs. “You’re probably wondering who I am and why I’m here.” He smiled, showing off a bright white smile.

“Have you checked the ratings?” He asked as he pulled out a notebook from his suit pocket.

“No, not recently,” she replied.

“Ah, well, maybe that’s where we should begin. Sports Guide is at the top. Everyone watches this show. When I saw this I asked myself why – not that I disagreed with it – because as I recall it’s a fairly new sports-highlights show,” he said, as he opened the notebook to show her the ratings.

“As it turns out,” he continued, “that most people watch Sports Guide because of its reporters.”
“We do have a good number of great reporters here. Everyone is extremely dedicated to what they do as a career. We pride ourselves on our performances as well as how much information we can get.” She looked directly into his eyes as she spoke.

“And she’s modest, too,” he murmured to himself. “Anyway, I wanted to see why, seeing as at KDKA we, too, pride ourselves on our performances. We don’t like to be second-best.” He smiled, quick and competitively. “So, I watched several shows over the past several weeks – and, I must say, I’m addicted. Sports Guide is an entertaining sports show that offers more than just highlights. Humour is widely dispersed throughout the shows.

“But, Riley, I must be completely honest with you. You are the best reporter on this show and one of the best I’ve ever seen. Your reporting style is unique. It’s not the typical ask-the-direct-question style for you; you bring a whole wave of comfort and ease when you interview and report. You make the show what it is – a hit.”

She sat there, stupefied. Here was this big man, probably way up there in his career, and he’s sitting talking to a young woman whose only been reporting for less than a year, and he’s raving about how good of reporter she is. The best, she thought dreamily. He had called her one of the best he’d ever seen.

“Thank you,” she said, a little dazed.

“Now, I didn’t come here just to compliment you, although you do deserve it. I came here to tell you that KDKA wants to be on top again. We want the best reporters in the city. I came here, Riley, to offer you a position, as a reporter, at KDKA.”
She had to use all of her strength to prevent her jaw from dropping. This was everything she’d ever dreamt of, but didn’t expect to get to this quickly.

“Wow,” she murmured. “I’m speechless right now.”

“Now, you don’t have to answer right away. Take some time, think it over. I’ll give you my card and you can call me when you’ve come up with an answer.” He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small white business card. “You’d be a great addition to the show.”
As he left she sat there staring at the card. That little white card was the ticket to her dreams. But, of course, before she made any major decisions she’d have to talk it over with Sidney. She’d also have to talk with Cheryl.

“How’d it go, sweetheart?”

Riley looked up and saw Cheryl standing in the threshold of the meeting room. The expression on her face and her body language portrayed no more than – with no other way of describing it – the image of a mother watching her child move on to higher things in life.

“He offered me a job.” The words came out in a dazed tone.

“Take it. You deserve it.” Cheryl patted her lightly on the arm as she spoke.

Riley looked up at her and smiled. “You knew, didn’t you?”

“That he was going to offer you a job?” Her smile was so big that the skin wrinkled around her eyes. “Of course I knew, sweetheart, Philip and I go way back. He called me last week asking if he could speak with you. When I asked him why, he told me that he had plans of stealing you away from me.”

“If I take this job—”

“Which you will,” Cheryl cut in.

“—I’ll be leaving SG behind. In a way I don’t want to do that. I love working here, with everyone.”

“Riley,” she began in a tone that reminded Riley of when her mother would scold her. “This job will boost your career so much higher than SG ever could. Trust me; you do not want to give this up.”

“I’ve wanted this so bad,” Riley told her.

“Take the job, Riley. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish. But before you do, could I ask you to do one thing?”

“Anything.”

“Could you do one more report on the Penguins? The last one; the one about the end of their season,” she said, and handed Riley a notebook.

“Sure, I’ll start today.”

Once Cheryl left Riley was about to walk out the doors when she realized that she had carpooled with Brett. Seeing as he was still in the meeting, she sat on one of the plush chairs in the lounge area and texted her brother until Brett came out.

Ben and his fiancée, Kim planned to get married in the summer; just a small wedding in Rimouski with family and friends. Riley made a mental note to tell Sidney about it. She was certain that he’d want to be there.

Half an hour later, Brett approached her. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” she said, with a smile. “Could you drop me off at the Mellon?”

“Of course.”