Free The Dirty Girls Book Club by Savanna Fox Page B

man,” Terry said, “and he has a talent for telling sports stories and making them come to life.”
    As Georgia typed that, Viv leaned forward. “All man is good. A masculine edge is great. But crudeness isn’t. Nor swearing.”
    Georgia nodded firmly.
    “I don’t swear in interviews. They teach us not to.”
    “I saw an interview where you did,” Georgia said. “Repeatedly. You had blood dripping down your face and the censor’s bleeper could barely keep up with you.”
    He winced. “Yeah, I know the one. Got reamed out for it.”
    “The game with the Flames?” Terry asked.
    Woody nodded. “It was the last few seconds and I could’ve tied the score. Asshole defenseman slashes me across the face and hipchecks me into the boards. Buzzer goes off; we lose. Skating off the ice, someone sticks a mike in my face. Yeah, I was steamed; didn’t watch what I said.”
    “Beaver fans were steamed too,” Terry said. “They were swearing too.”
    “Which doesn’t excuse it,” Georgia said.
    Woody shook his head. “Nah.”
    “We can help you with communication,” Viv said. “So you can talk articulately and not offend anyone.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I know all the stuff we’re supposed to say. Mostly, I do it.”
    “True,” Viv said. “Terry can help you make it sound more fresh and genuine.”
    “Really don’t like talking to the media,” Woody grumbled.
    “I’m afraid you’ll have to,” Georgia said. “And we’ll set up public appearances with sports and recreation groups.” She glanced at Terry. “I guess they’ll want him to talk about hockey, his career, sportsmanship, things like that?”
    “And the Olympics and Stanley Cup,” he added. “We’ll figure out the kinds of questions people are likely to ask, then work out good answers and rehearse them.”
    “Rehearse?” Woody asked grimly.
    They certainly didn’t want to rely on him to say the right thing.While Georgia struggled for a polite way to phrase that, Terry spoke up. “Think of it as training camp.”
    She shot him a grateful look.
    “He should be able to talk about more than sports,” Viv said. “Politics, world affairs, culture.”
    “Oh, is that all?” Woody asked sarcastically.
    “You’re a jock,” Terry said. “No one’s going to expect you to talk like a rocket scientist or a foreign diplomat or a Pulitzer Prize– winning author.”
    Georgia muttered, “Thank God,” under her breath. She did a quick mental review of what they’d covered so far, and reached a conclusion that appealed to her about as much as putting on one of those huge, ugly hockey uniforms and skating onto the ice. Still, this was her campaign, her responsibility. Billy had given it to her over Harry, her competition, and she was determined to prove herself. “Viv’s handling appearance and Terry’s handling the sports end, so I’ll take the other communication aspects.”
    “Can’t think of anything I’d rather do than communicate with you,” Woody said in a tone that was half taunt, half protest.
    “And deportment,” she added.
    “Deportment? Jesus, it sounds like a girls’ finishing school.”
    She ignored him. “Moving on. We’ve talked about scheduling sports interviews and appearances. Let’s think more broadly.”
    For a few minutes, she and Terry and Viv batted around ideas like TV interviews, talk radio, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter, and so on.
    Woody listened, looking unhappy. “If I gotta do this kind of stuff, how ’bout
The Ellen Show
?”
    “Ellen?” Georgia asked.
    “You know, DeGeneres.”
    What was the man thinking? “That won’t work. It’s American,and we’d never get you on.” He really did have an inflated idea of his own importance.
    “Oh, okay.” Woody frowned. “Guess I misunderstood. Thought you said brainstorming meant discussing, not ruling things out.”
    Georgia glared at him.
    A chuckle escaped Viv before she cut it off.
    He was right, and Georgia hated it. “I stand corrected,” she said