Sweet Tea At Sunrise

“How long ago did you turn up?” she asked.

“Not long,” he said. “So, what did you think of the announcement? I saw you on the square.”

“I think putting a radio station right downtown like that is fantastic. Congratulations!”

His gaze locked with hers. “You mean that?”

“Of course I do.”

“You interested in being part of it?” he inquired, his tone awfully casual.

Sarah stared at him, certain she’d misheard. “You mean like a secretary or something?”

He smiled, then shook his head. “No, I mean as host of the station’s morning show. I predict you’ll be a local celebrity in no time. In fact, Sarah Price, if you’re even half as good as I think you’re going to be, this is going to change your life!”

Chapter Five

Sarah did not want her life changed. Not like that. She sat on the stool at the counter in Wharton’s staring at Travis McDonald as if he’d suddenly sprouted two heads. He’d said some pretty outrageous things to her over the past few weeks, but this was the craziest.

“You can’t be serious,” she said. “Me? On the radio?”

“That’s what I said.” He seemed undaunted by her shock.

“Not a chance,” she told him, dismissing the idea as ridiculous. “I wouldn’t have a thing to say.”

“You have plenty to say in here,” Travis said. “At least to everyone else. You have this easy way that gets people to open up. That’s what I want you to do on the air.”

“Why?” she asked, bewildered. “I mean why me?”

“Because I’ve been watching you. You know how to draw people out, make them laugh, get them to reveal themselves. You’ll be a natural at this, Sarah. I guarantee it.”

She studied him suspiciously. “So you want me to embarrass people in town on the air?”

“I never said that,” he replied with exaggerated patience. “I said you had a way with people.”

“Well, if I’m so good, how come you never answered a single one of the questions I asked you? You’ve been coming in here for what, a month now? And I don’t really know much more than your name and that you’re Tom’s cousin.”

“And that I own the radio station that’s going to make you a hometown celebrity,” he reminded her.

“Well, it took until today for me to find out about that,” she said. She waved off the comment. “But that’s not what matters, anyway. I haven’t gotten to know one personal thing about you.”

He grinned one of those slow, sexy grins that made her toes curl. “Because I’m a hardcase,” he drawled. “But I’m sure you could find out anything you want to know if you put your mind to it.”

Sarah scowled at the remark. “Don’t you imagine there are plenty of hardcases around? For all you know, you’d have nothing but dead air for a couple of hours every day. There’s nothing worse on the radio than a host who’s run out of questions and a guest who’s clammed up. I can’t just sit there and chatter away about nothing.”

“Sure you can. I’ve seen you do it in here every single day. And if things get really quiet, you can always pump up a Toby Keith song.”

“I prefer Kenny Chesney,” she replied, mostly to be contrary.

“Fine. You’ll play Kenny Chesney. And if you’re as bad at this as you’re predicting, you’ll have time for some George Strait and Trace Adkins, too.”

“You’re not taking me seriously. I can’t do this to people I’ve known all my life,” she argued.

“All you’re going to do is bring these friends of yours into the studio when they have a story to share or an event to promote,” he explained. “You’ll chat about it, get people excited, make them want to come. And say some celebrity comes into town, you’d get to interview them.”

“We don’t get a lot of celebrities in Serenity.”

“Because there was no radio station for them to visit to get publicity. Now there will be. It’ll be my job to make sure all these fancy New York or Nashville publicists know that we’re looking for guests.”

She studied him with a frown. “Did you see Field of Dreams a few too many times, maybe get the crazy idea if you build it, they will come?”

Travis laughed. “Personally I was a bigger fan of Bull Durham. My mama used to watch that on DVD at least once a year. I think that’s why I grew up wanting to play baseball.”

Distracted for a moment from the bigger issue, she asked, “And did you? Play ball, I mean?”

“For a while,” he said, though his expression shut down. “So, what do you say? I can promise you’ll make more money than you do here.”

Though Helen had seen to it that Walter was generous, Sarah was not getting so much money in alimony and child support that she could afford not to consider a higher-paying job. It was just that this particular job was so far out of her comfort zone, it scared her to death. Since her marriage, she’d been even less likely to take chances than she might have years ago.

Which is all the more reason to say yes, a voice in her head nagged. Do something outrageous for once, something risky and new. Find out what you’re really made of.

“I was hoping to start teaching in the fall,” she said, clinging to the one last objection that made any sense.

“Well, I suppose if this doesn’t work out the way I think it will, you could always do that,” Travis said. “Unless, of course, you’ve already made a commitment to the school.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t even know if there’s going to be a position available.”

“Then why trade a sure thing for something that might not happen?” he asked, then leaned a little closer and coaxed, “Come on, Sarah. Think how much fun the two of us can have starting this together.”

He made it sound tempting and far more intimate than any job offer that had ever come her way. Helen would probably have a lot to say about the legalities of mixing business and personal agendas, but Sarah wasn’t sure this really qualified as any kind of potential sexual harassment when right this second it felt so good.

She lifted her gaze to meet his sea-green eyes and slowly nodded, even though her heart was climbing into her throat and her palms had turned clammy. Unfortunately, she couldn’t be entirely certain if that reaction was due to fear about the job or pure terror at being drawn into the world of Travis McDonald, who seemed to do disconcerting things to her common sense.

Raylene had dinner on the table when Sarah got home. The kids were in the backyard playing catch with Walter, who appeared to be showing admirable tolerance for Libby’s ineptitude.

“He’s making progress,” Raylene noted after handing Sarah a glass of sweet tea. “I hardly had to do any arm-twisting at all today to get him to include Libby. The way she toddles around after him, hoping for just a tiny bit of attention, breaks my heart.”

“I know,” Sarah said. “Has he said anything about his plans? When’s he going back home? He’s never hung around this long before.”

“He hasn’t said anything to me,” Raylene told her. “I get the feeling he has something on his mind, though. Maybe you should find out what it is.”

“My mind’s on overload as it is,” Sarah said, sitting down at the table with her glass of tea. “I don’t think I can take on Walter’s problems.”

Raylene regarded her worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

Sarah shook her head. She needed to absorb all the implications of this agreement she’d made with Travis before she laid it all out there for everyone else to pick apart. “I’ll tell you later. I don’t want to bring it up while Walter’s around.” Heaven knew what he’d think of the crazy idea of her going on the radio. He might be okay with it, but she could hear his mother raising a ruckus about how unseemly it would be. She hadn’t been able to completely eliminate the strident criticisms that came no matter how hard she’d tried to make peace with the woman.

“You sure?” Raylene asked.