Read Online News Blues by Marianne Mancusi - Free Book Online Page B

She said it had tons of cute guys. From
     all over. I was sure out of the thousands available I could find a blond-haired, blue-eyed Czech surfer who summered in Florida,
     right?
    Yup, that’s what I’d do. I’d go home from the shoot, find myself a surfer and go out on a date. Then I’d take pictures with
     my camera phone and casually show them to Jamie on Monday to prove that I wasn’t some pathetic lying girl who made up a whole
     person because she was too embarrassed to admit she planned to stay home and paint her bedroom.
    “What are you up to this weekend?” I asked as I waited for him to unload his gear from the back of the Expedition.
    He groaned. “Nothing as exciting as your weekend. I’ve got to paint the bedroom of my new place.”
    Oh.
    “I have to do some major yard work, too. I want to have the place all ready for when Jennifer comes down next month.”
    Argh.
    I tried to squash the jealous feeling that bubbled deep inside, but no luck. All I could think of was what a nice guy Jamie
     was. Why couldn’t I find someone who would sacrifice his weekend just so his fiancée could waltz down from LA and have a great
     place to live?
    “What does Jennifer do?” I asked, trying to sound casual. After all, we were supposed to be friends, right?
    “She’s an actress, ” Jamie said as he closed the SUV’s back door.
    Of course.
    “Has she been in anything I might have seen?”
    He shook his head. “She’s done cameos in some low-budget movies. She’s also a model.”
    “And a waitress?” It was cruel, but I suddenly realized her type.
    He grinned sheepishly. “How’d you guess?”
    Easy. Though he already knew how.
    Actress/model/waitress types were par for the course in So-Cal. Just most people sort of tried to hide the waitress part.
    “So, what does she think of relocating to San Diego?” I couldn’t imagine if she was trying to have a career in Hollywood she
     would think this a very good move.
    Jamie sighed. Deeply. “She realizes it’s necessary for us at this time.”
    In other words she was pissed off about it. Poor Jamie. Here he was, sacrificing his moviemaking career to work in local TV
     news, so his loser waitress fiancée could continue to live in the lifestyle she was accustomed. And did she thank him for
     his dedication? No. She bitched about moving from LA where she would compete with two thousand other blond bimbos for lousy
     movie roles in even lousier movies that were destined to tank on opening day.
    Okay, maybe I was projecting a bit here, but I bet I wasn’t too far from the truth.
    “When she comes down, you’ll have to meet her, ” Jamie added as we walked into the hospital. “You’d like her, I think.”
    Men were so clueless. Didn’t he know that I could never like her? You could never like the fiancée of a guy you slept with.
     It just didn’t happen.
    “Sure. We’ll do lunch, ” I said, trying to sound amiable.
    Jamie looked at me funny, but didn’t reply. We took the elevator up to the correct floor and entered the doctor’s office.
    The interview went well. The doctor talked about the dangers of lead to a fetus and gave us examples ofthe dangers of lead
     to a fetus and gave us examples of lipsticks that had tested positive. Evidently it wasn’t an exact science. When the lipstick
     goo was being stirred at the factory, the lead levels didn’t mix in evenly. So each tube from the same batch could have completely
     different levels of lead. And while nine times out of ten you were probably pretty safe, she did advise pregnant women not
     to use lipstick during their pregnancy just in case. And that was all I needed for my story.
    It would have been better if we had a victim. I knew the station would have loved to get video of a brain-damaged baby, forced
     to live out a miserable existence all because his mother vainly applied lipstick every morning. But I could work around it.
    I had to get this piece done and on the air so I could start