Girls' Guide to Flirting with Danger (14 page)

And this hurt a lot. No amount of self-therapy could help. Even having Julie admit she'd been wrong and come fully onto her side didn't help. The misery ran deep.

Somehow, amazingly enough, this time seemed to hurt more than last time. Even though she was fueled by the same righteous indignation, it didn't provide much solace
this time. Being right in principle had helped before, but now it was cold comfort—and not even much of that, since she wasn't even sure she was right in principle now. Or that she cared who was right or wrong in the first place.

She was completely miserable, and the only thing that kept her from driving back to Chicago to tell Devin that was the knowledge—in his own words—that he considered her a mistake.

That cut to the quick.

She wondered how long it would take for the pain to lessen enough for her to talk to Devin without admitting she'd been stupid and wrong and begging for another chance. She'd have to talk to him eventually. She had to tell him about the baby. This wasn't the kind of thing she could just keep to herself. It wouldn't be fair to Devin or the baby—or her, either. She'd just have to suck it up and deal.

Eventually. Right now she wanted to wallow. It was easier. Going to bed and getting today over with sounded like the best plan ever. She could wallow herself to sleep.

Julie's ring tone blared on the end table behind her. Without opening her eyes she reached for her phone.

“What's up, Ju—”

“Turn on your radio.
Now.
”

The urgency in Julie's voice spurred her into action even as she sputtered questions. “Why? What's going on?”

“It's Devin. You've got to hear this.”

“Dev's show isn't on tonight,” she argued even as she searched for the channel.

“He's doing an interview with Bruce Malaney and now they're talking about
you.
”

Megan's heart crawled into her throat. Bruce Malaney shared his philosophy of anything-for-ratings with Kate
and her ilk. Was there no end to this? The static finally cleared, and she turned the volume up.

Devin's voice came out of the speakers and curled through her as he spoke. At least he didn't sound angry. “…not really speaking to each other right now, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I hear she's doing well.”

“That info came from me,” Julie said.

“Shh! I can't hear.”

“Of course,” Bruce said, “your recent relationship with her was major news.”

Dev laughed. “I'm not sure I'd use the word
news,
but it was something people took an interest in. I'm feeling more sympathy for celebrities and their relationships now, though, that's for sure.”

Bruce and his listeners might not catch the edge to Devin's voice, but Megan heard it loud and clear.

“People are speculating that Megan Lowe might be indirectly or directly responsible for ending your show.”

What?
“Julie, what's this about Devin's show?” Megan asked.

“They talked about that earlier.” Julie spoke quickly. “
Cover Your Assets
is being overhauled somehow. Devin was cagey about what it would be when it returned….”

Megan couldn't listen to Julie and Devin both. “Shh.”

“The only thing Megan is responsible for,” Devin said, “is opening my eyes to details I've been missing, both personally and professionally. In its current format,
Cover Your Assets
has really outlived its original purpose. I've found out you can't really help people with quick, pithy sound bites during a ten-minute radio conversation.”

Megan bit her lip in disbelief.

“So what is next for you, Devin?” Bruce asked. “You evaded the question earlier, so I'm going to pin you down now.”

Devin took a deep breath. “I don't want to get stuck in a rut. This situation with Megan showed me I was headed there. People fear change, but change opens doors and adds possibilities. I'm going to explore some possibilities.”

Megan was feeling light-headed and realized it was because she was holding her breath. Somehow, though, she couldn't get her lungs working properly.

Bruce laughed. “Sounds like your next book will be a self-help tome.”

“I think the last few weeks have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm the last person who should be handing out advice to people on how to manage their lives. I'll leave that to the experts like Megan.”

“Megan, did you hear that?” Julie asked breathlessly, but Megan couldn't find her voice through her shock. “Megan?”

“We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with more from divorce expert and newly minted legal crusader Devin Kenney in a few minutes. I'm Bruce Malaney and this is
Clear the Air.
”

Megan couldn't believe her ears. There was no way she'd heard that right. Wishful thinking obviously led to auditory hallucinations. Or maybe early pregnancy had her hearing what she wanted to hear. Because if what Dev had just said was real…

“Megan!” Julie's shout finally broke through, and Megan slapped the volume down as the show went to commercial.

“I'm here. Did you hear what I just heard?”

“Oh, my God,
yes.
That was practically a public apology. Not to mention a hell of a shout-out to the counseling prowess of Dr. Megan.”

“So you don't think I'm reading too much into that.”

“Read
more
into it, honey. There's no way Devin could
be sure you were listening, so that wasn't for your benefit. You need to call him.”

“And say what?”

“Start with ‘I'm sorry for being psycho' and go from there.”

Now that the paralysis had passed, Megan felt full of restless energy. She hauled herself to her feet and started to pace. “I have his cell. I could call him tonight after the show. Apologize. See if any of that was an olive branch.”

“Excellent idea.”

“But what if it's not? What if he's just putting a good face on all this for the sake of the masses? Like you said, there's no way he could guarantee I'd be listening tonight.”

“You won't know until you talk to him, now, will you?”

She needed to find out. Especially considering… She laid a hand on her stomach. She needed to find out what Dev meant with all of that before she told him about the baby.

And out of nowhere, a little spark of hope flared in the darkness.

Possibilities, indeed. Suddenly there were a whole lot of possibilities to explore, and some of those possibilities now held a golden, promising glow.

“I do need to talk to Devin.”
But I need to see his face while I do it.

“Duh. That's what I've been saying.”

“Let me make a few phone calls.” Megan was already mentally rearranging her schedule. “Can I crash at your place tonight?”

“You're coming in? Tonight?”

“Yeah. I'll go see Devin in the morning before his show.”

“You're a brave girl.”

She didn't feel brave. If she was reading the wrong meaning into Dev's words, she would regret it—horribly—tomorrow.

But right now there was the possibility she wouldn't.

 

Devin had one eye on the clock as he halfheartedly dispensed advice to his listeners. So far, the calls had been pretty evenly split between questions about his announcement that the show would be undergoing some major changes and the news of Hollywood's latest power-couple breakup.

Despite his best attempts to steer the discussion away from the couple's private life, that was exactly what the audience wanted to speculate about. He wasn't going to add fuel to that fire if he could at all help it, so he was trying to shift the focus to prenuptial agreements in general.

Paula-from-Milwaukee seemed awfully distraught for someone who had no real stake in the possible settlement, and he bit back the urge to tell her to seek counseling about her overinvestment in the lives of people she didn't even know. “Paula, I haven't seen their prenup, so I have no idea how it's worded, but California law does not recognize adultery as grounds for divorce.”

“But if she's sleeping with her costar…”

Twenty more minutes and this show would be over. He still had a long drive to Carbondale ahead of him and possibly a long night if Megan decided to be stubborn or nurse her grudge. His patience was wearing thin, and he motioned to Mike, Kate's replacement, that this call needed to be wrapped up. “Let's not speculate about the private lives of others, okay? I think the point we need to take away from this is that prenuptial agreements aren't always ironclad.”

Mike was quick on the draw. “Let's find a new caller
and see what other topics are out there. I personally would like to talk about that case in Michigan where the couple is fighting over custody of the parrot, but…”

Sixteen minutes left. “Pick a caller, Mike.”

“Here's a lady who's been waiting patiently in the queue for a while now. You're on the air, caller.”

“Finally,” a voice Devin recognized muttered. “This is Megan, and, um, I'm from Carbondale.”

Astonished, Devin looked through the window at Mike, who simply shrugged unhelpfully. After all this time, Megan called his show? What the…?

“Hello? Hello? Did I get disconnected? Damn.”

“No, you're on the air, Megan.”
Treat her like you would any other caller.
“Do you have a question or a comment?”

“Both, actually. I heard your interview last night.” She laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “Since I'm not exactly a regular listener, most of that was news to me.”

“And?” he prompted.

“So my question is about possibilities. Like the ones you mentioned last night.”

Devin tried to remember exactly what he'd said.

“I'm usually a big fan of possibilities, and in my line of work I kinda have to be, but recently I've had some trouble with the idea.”

“That's the thing about possibilities. Once you start questioning them, you start cutting off options.”

“Yes, Devin, I know that,” Megan snapped, but then seemed to remember where she was. “I mean—” she tried again with a different tone “—how do you know when you've totally crossed a possibility off your list?”

Outside the booth's main window, a crowd was gathering. Staff had come out of their cubicles to gather around the booth and its speaker. In his booth, Mike moved at high
speed between phone and computer, looking as if he was under siege. A glance at his own computer screen told him why: Mike
was.

The call lines were lit up like a Christmas tree and the hold queue had reached new lengths. Comments were already getting posted on his website bulletin board under a brand-new thread titled “Dr. Megan is back—now!”

This is not how I planned to have a conversation with Megan today.
He was still forming his plan of attack and had rather counted on the ride to southern Illinois to flesh it out. But what he said here could have massive repercussions later tonight. “I'm not sure I'm the right person to come to with that question, Megan. I specialize in divorce, not—”

“No, you're the right person. I'm not using a generic ‘you' here in my question. I mean how do you, Devin Kenney, decide a possibility has been totally removed from the list?”

The booth might have been soundproof, but he could still see the crowd outside take a collective breath, even if he couldn't hear it. Everything seemed to freeze.

“Megan, I'm not sure this is the right forum—”

“I'm sorry, Dev. I was wrong and I'm sorry and I miss you and I'd really like to talk about possibilities.” She paused, and her voice seemed to shrink. “If you're still willing, that is.”

Devin swallowed hard, unsure if he'd heard her right. “Megan—”

Mike's voice came through his headphones. “Damn, they just crashed the server. Your site's down.”

Devin ignored him. “We need to talk, but this probably isn't the best venue.”

“God, you're right. I'm sorry, Dev. I'll wait down here until you're done.”

Down here?
“Megan, where are you?”

“The lobby on fourteen. The security guard wouldn't let me up and the receptionist—”

“Stay there.” He was on his feet and taking off his headphones before the words were fully out of his mouth. “Go to commercial,” he barked at Mike, who nodded, his eyes wide. Outside the booth he passed his slack-jawed audience without pausing on his way to the stairwell.

When he opened the door to the fourteenth-floor lobby, Megan was easy to spot. She stood in the middle of the room with half a dozen people staring wordlessly at her, keeping a safe distance as if she was a ticking time bomb. When she spied him, a small smile tried to form, then faded.

Every eye in the room turned to him at that moment, and he froze, unsure of what to do next.

 

Dev looked much like the wrath of God bearing down on her, and Megan worried she'd handled this situation all wrong. Devin stopped about five feet from her and those rich brown eyes nearly stared her into the ground.

“Hi, Dev,” she said feeling lame and embarrassed at the same time.

“What are you doing here?”

“I tried calling you all morning, but you never answered and you never called me back….”

“You're not the only one who can ignore a telephone after an interview draws attention.”

“And then the receptionist was supposed to tell you I was here and I just couldn't wait any longer. So I called. I didn't mean to raise a ruckus on your show. I'm sorry about that, too. Jeez, can I just do a blanket apology for everything and start over?”

For the first time she could ever remember, Dev seemed shocked speechless. Finally he managed, “What?”