A Chance for Sunny Skies (17 page)

The next morning, I started my new job. My "on set technician" headset got tangled in my hair three times before I got it to sit right on my head. It was earlier in the morning than I was used to being up and my nerves were through all seven floors above me as well as the roof. I propped the clipboard against my hip and focused on breathing as I looked around the busy news floor. I don't think I could've gotten farther from my old job if I'd tried, but this was the universe we were talking about. It knew what it was doing. I hoped.

"You Sunny?" an older guy with a similar headset asked as he walked up to me. He had messy white hair that stuck out in odd directions and a white beard that was so dense I couldn't even tell if he had lips. Lips or not, he looked like the nicest man I'd ever met. And also a gnome. I'm serious, if you'd have shrunk him down five feet and popped on a pointy hat, you could've stuck him in your garden.

I let out the breath I'd taken in and nodded, smiling.

"I'm Burt," he said with a wink (not in a creepy way, but more of an I'm-your-grandpa-here's-a-butterscotch kinda way). "Alright, Sunny darling. Let's go over the day." he pulled out his own clipboard and a chewed up pen.

I pulled one of my colored pens from the neat stack I had clipped to the top of my board, clicked it open, and stood at the ready. As Burt rattled off the schedule, my eyes scanned the one I had in front of me, but I couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. My mouth fell open in defeat and my eyes squinched together, trying to keep back tears. Had I made a mistake with this whole new job idea?

Burt looked up and his face registered the fear I'm sure was plain on mine. "Er --" He paused. "It's your first day, darling." His eyes softened. "How 'bout you just shadow me today. I've been doing it on my own for a bit now, I'll do just fine for one more day." Somewhere under that beard, his lips pressed together into a kind smile.

My heart relaxed. I nodded so excitedly that my headset came loose again and I had to go through the whole putting-it-on process again. After I had it situated, Burt started his morning routine. I followed like a baby duckling at his heels as he set up the cameras, checked the lighting, prepped the tele-prompter, and called me darling another forty-seven times.

I'd never met my dad and my grandparents were even worse people than my mother, so the whole paternal part of my childhood was pretty much nonexistent. By the time Burt finished with his routine and his making me feel special and comfortable, I officially wanted him to be my adopted grandpa.

As he went, Burt would say, "Tomorrow, you'll do this" or "This'll be you." I smiled and started to feel like, yeah, I could totally do this. What a great job change, Sunny. Way to go, universe.

Then Ken showed up.

His stupid suit was so stiff I think you could've lit a match off it, he wore a bright purple tie, and when he saw me his face did three things. First, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then his eyes narrowed as I'm sure he lined up a handful of hilarinsults. Finally, his mouth curled up at the edges as he picked out the best one to use first.

"Cheeto!" He strode over to where I stood. I held my clipboard up like a shield and searched for Burt who had gone to get a cup of coffee. Ken leaned in close and pressed his lips together like a disappointed father. "CC (short for, well, you know), I know you want to see me more, but don't you think this is a little," he squinted his eyes, "desperate?" He clasped his hands together in front of himself. "Even for you," he whispered.

I froze and couldn't convince my lungs to bring in any new air. My eyes searched the room for anyone, anything. My toes wiggled in my shoes and I was about to make a run for it again when a clipboard came out of nowhere and smacked Ken on the shoulder. He jumped away and flinched. (Now who was Gollum?)

Air rushed into my esophagus as my eyes landed on Burt, back and with a coffee in hand. He swatted at Ken a few more times.

"Get! Get! Get!" He growled at the schmarmy weatherman. I almost expected Ken to hiss as he scowled and slunk away. "Ass hat," Burt mumbled as he watched him leave. Then he turned back to me, eyes soft and kind once again. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't you worry a piece about that snake, darling. He's as slick as they come. The afternoon girl ain't any better, I'm afraid. Don't share a pinch of kindness between the two of 'em." He sighed. "Or a brain cell." He shook his head.

I held back a smile and my heart swelled. I was going to be okay. Burt would make sure of that. I had to give it to the universe. First Rainy, then Brian, now Burt. It sure had built me an army for the journey I was taking.

Once the anchors were there, the rest of the morning sped by. I followed Burt, took notes, and was determined to start pulling my weight as soon as I could. The one job I was able to do that first day was the camera and lighting check because it consisted of me standing where Ken would and Burt making sure everything looked good.

Before I knew it, the anchors were on the floor and we were ready to begin. When I saw Ken saunter out, I hid behind Burt and cowered a little. (Not my proudest moment, I know.) After that, I couldn't catch my breath. Not once all the way up until lunch. Even though I wasn't really doing anything job-like, I continued to take notes, follow Burt, and prepare for what I was going to help him with tomorrow. That Burt was super quick for such an old little gnome-y guy, though, and trying to take notes became more and more difficult once I added avoiding Ken to my list.

The worst part was when I realized how avoiding that slime-ball was not really in the cards for me. At one point he told me to go fetch him a coffee. When I turned around and looked to Burt for backup, for him to defend me, for him to tell Ken to fuck-off, Burt simply shrugged and said, "Now's as good a time as any, darling."

That's right, it was one of my duties. Ugh. I dragged myself to the back room and rustled up a cup of joe, pausing only a second to think about adding something of my own to the concoction. After that second I realized that Old Sunny would never have done something like spit into someone's coffee, and I definitely didn't want New Sunny to either. I dropped the cup off as quickly as I could, scooting away as a string of hilarinsults slimed out of his throat. (They must've been the back ups from earlier that morning, because they weren't his finest.)

"I think I need you to check the lighting in this area here, Cheeto." His last attempt stopped me in my tracks. It didn't matter that my back was to him, I knew exactly what area he referred to. I closed my eyes and channeled Rainy. What comeback would she use? I thought hard as I pivoted to face him.

"That area?" I squinted as I looked. I shook my head. "Sorry, we only focus on lighting the larger body parts. That one's entirely too small." I smiled sweetly, tipped my head to the side, and turned back to Burt, who waited for me by the camera. He held his hand up for a high five and I gave him one (even though I didn't know old people gave high fives) because Ken was speechless and that felt fantastic.

After that, things went a little more smoothly. As much as I hate to admit it, once Ken started his forecast, I actually didn't hate every word that came out of his mouth. All of the weather stuff I'd been running from my whole life was actually sort of interesting. I leaned forward and absorbed every "pressure system" and "precipitation" (of which there were many, since we were in Oregon).

Burt woke me from my trance with a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Time for victuals, darling. When we come back, we'll start set up for the next group."

I blinked. Lunch. A smile spread across my face and I went to grab my bag for yoga. I told Rainy all about my day as we changed. She squealed when I described my night with Brian and the kiss, laughed especially hard at my Ken comeback, and gave me sufficient "awe"s when I told her about how nice Burt was to me. Lizzy shushed us with a smile as class started and we focused on breathing, posing, and sweating.

I did have a hard time keeping thoughts at bay during Savasana, though. Focusing on relaxing my muscles and softening my breath was pushed aside by weather terms, lighting instructions from Burt, my kiss with Brian last night, and that stupid dog collar that I still had no idea what to do with.

"At least you got through the time Ken's there, right?" Rainy asked as we sipped our lunch smoothies on our walk back to my building after yoga.

I sighed. "Yeah." I scowled as I tried to picture what Jeanette would be like. The pit in my stomach had only grown larger and angrier. Rainy and I said goodbye then I walked into our not-so-fancy-elevator, resisting the urge to press the button to my old floor. My phone buzzed and I reached for it. It was Brian. My stomach flipped and fluttered. I took a deep breath and answered.

"Hello."

"Hi there." Oh my goodness, his voice was just as smooth and warm and sigh-inducing as ever. I could almost hear a smile in his greeting and I couldn't help grinning like a fool by myself in the elevator. "I had a great time last night."

I bit my lip and nodded until I remembered he couldn't see that. "Me, too."

"Good. I have this silly idea that maybe we should do that again."

My lungs felt tight, but not in a terrible way; it was more like an I'm-so-happy-it-hurts feeling. "You know, I had that same feeling."

"Dating experts would probably frown upon us going out three days in a row, huh?" I could picture him wrinkling his nose and smiling all goofy.

I clicked my tongue disapprovingly. "Yeah. Probably. Even a stretch for rule breakers like us."

"But that means tomorrow night is fair game."

I pressed my lips together to stifle the squeal I wanted to let out. The elevator dinged and opened. "Totally fair." I nodded as I wound through the hallways back to the news room.

"Pick you up at 5:30? I have something in mind."

I wanted to talk more, but the news floor was bustling once I returned (I learned that it kind of always was) and I needed to get back to work.

"See you then," I said and we hung up. Once I put my bag away and returned, Burt looked like he'd just gotten back himself because he wiped his beard-covered lips with a napkin and smacked the last bits of food out of his teeth.

"Ready for the big leagues, darling?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

I pressed my lips together, my stomach-pit rolled, but I nodded, so we got to work. Even after just a few hours together, Burt and I were working more and more like a team and less and less like "Uh, Burt. Did you know there's a crazy red head following you around?" I was able to help him with the teleprompter, I remembered the lighting positions, and I even posed instead of standing there like a limp rag when Burt made me hop in front of the camera to do the final check. I released my hair from the braid it was in and did my best modeling of weather-person-type hand gestures.

"Gross. What's that?" I recognized her voice as it sliced through the air. When Burt and I turned around, there was Jeannette. Only about five foot four and stick thin (of course), that tiny woman radiated a scariness that made my legs shake as if I stood in the presence of a T-Rex. She wore a bunch of shiny jewelry and I thought, for just a minute, that maybe the fancy dog collar was going to be for her. Maybe as a peace offering, a gift to the small dog she undoubtedly had at home or in her purse.

I couldn't think too much about that idea, because the other scary thing was that this bleach blond Barbie was pointing straight at me.

"That," she said again. Her finger hung limply as if even making rude comments about me didn't warrant her full strength. "Get it off." She scowled and flicked her fingers in my direction.

Burt rolled his eyes and I think I even heard a growl resonate in his throat. "Decided to be on time today, Jeannie?"

She kicked her hip out and placed a delicate hand on it. "Finally found someone with crazier hair than you, Burtie?"

Burt shook his head and started working on the lighting and cameras again while I just stood there, literally in the spotlight, like an idiot.

"Spencer hired her. Take it up with him."

She scoffed and wrinkled her nose. "Well, at least if you set my lighting to
that
, I'll look a thousand times better," she said, then turned on her high heel and strode off the set.

As soon as she'd left, air burst out of me (cowardly breath, even
it
hid from her). I walked forward and leaned on a nearby rolling camera contraption. My body felt achey as if I'd just been pummeled with fists instead of terrible words.

"See what I mean?" Burt asked from a few feet away where he unrolled a length of cord.

I swallowed and nodded, holding onto my side. Jeannette officially seemed much worse than Ken. Sure, Ken was terrible, but at least he referred to me as a person, not an
it
. Yeesh. I took a deep breath and stood up straight. Burt and I looked at each other for a moment. It felt like we had one of those no-words conversations dads have with daughters sometimes in movies. I think ours went a little something like, "I'm sorry, darling, but you keep your chin up and stick with it. True character always wins out." "Thanks, Dad -- er -- Burt." So we kept our chins up and stuck with it.

Once Jeannette reemerged from hair and makeup, my nerves were re-steadied, my resolve re-steeled, and my hair re-braided. I decided not to look straight at her (a variation on the Medusa theory) and ignore her if that's what she was going to do to me.