Free Charlie All Night by Jennifer Cruise Page A

ideas when we meet with Bill at five."

Charlie frowned at her, glad to bring his mind back to the problem at
hand. "What's to explain?"

"He likes to preapprove the ideas." Allie looked dubiously into her cup
and turned it upside down
to shake it. Nothing fell out.

"He approves everything that goes out from this place?"

"Well, not Mark's stuff. Bill loves Mark." Allie got up and took a
loose-leaf binder from her bookshelf. "Here's the WBBB handbook—Bill's
personal philosophy of broadcasting. You're going to hate it."

Charlie took the book, opened it, read a page and sighed. Bill made
Jesse Helms look liberal. "So Bill really does run the station? I
thought maybe he'd be one of those distant owners who just
drops by to read the profit sheet."

"He used to be."

Charlie looked up at the tone in Allie's voice. "But?"

Allie leaned back in her chair. "But then about six months ago, Beattie
decided she wanted a job, so
he gave her the run of the place. That
upset the station manager and he quit. So Beattie took that job
and now
she really runs the station."

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "But you said last night she's not bad at
it."

Allie nodded. "She's a fast learner, and she's not stupid in the
slightest."

"And Bill just gave her the station." Charlie sat back. "Which parts
aren't you mentioning?"

Allie bit her lip for a moment. Then she pushed her glasses up her nose
and leaned forward. "Beattie doesn't particularly want to talk about
this, so don't mention it. Last January, she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. She had surgery and her doctor recommended some intensive
chemo, and she was in pretty bad shape for a while. Then she started to
get better, and in April, when she said she wanted
to learn about
radio..." Allie shrugged. "If Bill hadn't already owned a station, he'd
have bought one
for her."

"Well, it must beat chemo."

"She was done in July. And she's doing really well now, and good things
have come of it."

"Such as?" Charlie prompted.

"Well, Grady has never been Bill's favorite son, but he stuck with his
mom through the whole thing, taking her to chemo, cooking for her when
she wouldn't eat, that kind of stuff. Bill hasn't called Grady
a moron
for months."

Charlie grinned. "I can see where that would be a step up."

"And Beattie's running the station just fine."

Charlie nodded as the pieces fell into place. Beattie had come in cold
off the street and the station was
still doing fine. Beattie had had
some help. "It's doing fine because you showed her the ropes."

Allie shrugged. "I helped a little."

Charlie thought back to the scene in the hall. "Right. Why didn't you
ask for the station manager's job?"

Allie looked horrified. "Business? Please, I'd rather die."

Well, he could sympathize with that. "Beattie would give you Mark's
show back."

"I don't want Mark's show." Allie met his eyes. "I want Mark's time
slot. The prime-time slot. That's where we're going to end up, Charlie."

"At 6:00 a.m.?" Charlie's voice broke in outrage. "In the morning a.m.?
Are you nuts, woman?"

"You'll get used to it."

"No, I won't." Charlie leaned forward and spoke with great care. "Try
to remember this. I am leaving
in November. Do not make long-term plans
for me."

Allie smiled at him. "All right."

Oh, Lord.  He sighed at her.  "Do you listen to a word I
say?"

"Only the good stuff," Allie told him and he gave up and went back
to the
handbook.  
    *  *  *
Allie watched Charlie open the binder and begin to read.

Now that they weren't naked, it was easier to make decisions about her
future.

For one thing, she was definitely not going to be sharing her bed with
him again. She was almost sure
of that. She didn't need any more
tension in her life. And after all, she barely knew him.

And sleeping with him would be bad professionally. It was wisest to
break this off now, before she
really started to care about him.
Because she didn't care about him. She just wanted him. She wanted
him right now on the floor of her