STEALING EDEN
Part Six
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STEALING EDEN Part Six |
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Spike rolled out of bed and looked groggily at the clock. Somehow life had gotten out of focus since Lynda's return from the dead. If this would have been a normal morning where he'd overslept by two and a half hours, Lynda would have been on the phone from the newsroom screaming at him and threatening to deliver him bound and gagged to Kerr's office. After the fire, normal mornings no longer seemed to exist, as was obvious when you wind up in bed with your editor and nobody bothers to call you and complain. This certainly struck him as very strange. Perhaps his new job with the Junior Gazette was to make sure Lynda didn't show up for work. Nobody had said.
He wandered out into the living room and picked up the phone, dialing the Junior Gazette number and hearing the notice from the phone company that the line was disconnected. Of course, he said to himself, they'd be at the main building now. He punched up another set of numbers, and after passing through the operator, wound up talking with Julie.
"How is she?" Julie asked
"Calmer now," Spike answered. "She and I are going to go public with our engagement today. I don't think I'll be in to work."
"I wasn't planning on it," Julie answered, sounding strangely relieved. "Has she said anything about coming back?"
"Not really. She's mad at you big time, though."
"Sarah wants to get her position sorted out, so I think we need to get a meeting together and decide----"
"Sarah? What's Sarah got to do with anything?"
"Oh, you mean you haven't heard?" Julie asked, seeming rather surprised. "I thought Frazz was going to tell you."
"Lynda was here, and he didn't want to tell me while she was around."
"Good idea. Is she still around?"
"Out of earshot. Now tell me."
"Sarah Jackson is managing the Junior Gazette for the Marriner Group."
Spike whistled. "How did she pull that one off?"
"Teacher's pet," Julie muttered. "Fortunately, she's letting me run the newsroom while she handles getting the building rebuilt. We should be publishing our post-fire edition in a couple of days. It is coming together very well, under the circumstances. Everyone is pulling together, things are going smoothly, and nobody has been screamed at."
Spike let out a yawn. "Enjoy it while it lasts, Julie."
"It will last, Spike. I look very good in this chair, and I'm not leaving."
"Julie," a voice said on another extension. "How are you and Mr. Kerr getting along these days?"
"Lynda, don't make this worse for yourself."
"I'm sleeping with Spike. How much worse can it get for me?"
"Try messing with me and you'll find out." Julie hung up the phone.
Spike walked into the bathroom where Lynda was brushing her teeth. "Whatever happened to the idea of being nice growing on you?" he asked her.
She spat in the sink. "Did I say that? Don't know what came over me." She kissed him. "Oh, I remember. Well, I'm being nice to you. Doesn't that count?"
"I'm not paying your salary, Lynda."
"True," she said with a glint of wickedness in her eyes, "you just give me my perks." She kissed him again--longer, this time. "Julie isn't paying my salary, either, and if I'm going to grovel to anyone, it won't be to her."
"Why are you out to get Julie?" Spike asked. "You seem to think she and Kerr--"
"Are up to no good." Lynda finished his thought. "Julie has gotten some idea into her head that she knows how the Junior Gazette should be run better than I do. She talks to Kerr behind my back. Kerr's been mad since Kenny and I took the Junior Gazette commercial. He wanted it to be his own little philanthropic showpiece and we spoiled it for him. Put two and two together."
"How do you know she's talked to Kerr?"
"Reliable sources," Lynda said.
"Your book?" Spike asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't need the book for this one. Julie's too stupid to keep secrets without blabbing to somebody. She wanted Kate to back her up, and Kate's smart enough to know how to say 'Yes, Julie' and call Lynda right afterwards. She didn't get to head Graphics because she was talented, Spike. Julie's got her over in America now snooping around on Marriner. She'll give Julie a report--I'll get the faxed copy before Julie does. I'll go to Marriner with it and Julie Craig will be yesterday's news and I'll be editor again."
"You are a devious woman, Lynda Day."
"Count on it, Spike." She paused. "You don't talk in your sleep, do you?"
Spike looked confused. "Not that I'm aware of."
"Thought I heard voices," Lynda said. "Nothing important. How is it you and I have both been in front of a mirror for five minutes and you haven't made a joke about it yet?"
Spike made a theatrical squint at the mirror. "You have your hair up in a towel and are wearing my bathrobe. I just got up and look like crap, since I haven't had a shower yet. We both look a sight."
"Well, the day isn't getting any younger, and we've got work to do, so get busy already." Lynda took the towel off, and started brushing her hair.
"Uh, I was waiting for you, in case you hadn't noticed."
She put the hairbrush down and looked at him. "Spike, it's a woman's divine right to take forever in the bathroom. You guys just have to learn how to pick your spots." She picked the brush back up and set to work again.
Spike eyed Lynda, who was pretending not to notice him. "You're up to something, Lynda. I know it."
She put the brush down again, turned to face Spike and started tapping her foot in annoyance. "I think you stayed up too late. I've just given you two juicy invitations and you've missed them both. I expect better of you when we're married. Anyway, I'm all done and you can have the bathroom now." She turned to walk out, stopped, and made a slow turn back to face Spike. "You'll be wanting this, I suppose," she said, as she took off the bathrobe and handed it to him. She walked out of the bathroom laughing, leaving a gawking Spike in her wake.