Chapter 15. Lucy
CHAPTER 15
Lucy
The Monday After the Flight
As the digital manager of the station, I was in charge of finding fun content in both Madison and nationally to share with viewers across our website, TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube accounts. I loved it when I could take a fun little thing—like a new exhibit of sloths at the zoo—and make it so TikTok-friendly that people would share it. The zoo itself had even reposted one of my latest ones, and I walked around with a glow in my cheeks all afternoon.
Since I spent my whole day in the social media and website space, I would also share interesting things I came across with those in the newsroom. And I was the tech wizard. Anyone who needed help with their phones or computers came to me rather than corporate IT.
Steph had always been like a mentor to me. She seemed so calm and natural. I could turn to her with questions I had. She was also just a nice boss. She bought us little gifts at Christmas and praised our work often. I had never heard her yell at anyone.
Despite a fifteen-year age difference, she and I had several things in common. We were both lefties and coffee drinkers, and had a shared affection for certain celebrities, especially Wisconsin native Mark Ruffalo.
It started in one of our editorial meetings when someone pitched a story about famous people from Wisconsin. Ruffalo’s name came up. The actor hailed from Kenosha, forty-five minutes south of Milwaukee, and we all thought that was incredibly cool.
“He’s hot, even though he’s kind of old,” I added, and Steph laughed and replied, “I agree that he’s good-looking—and he’s closer to my age.”
It became a running joke between us. If I told her I had a date, she would say, “Are his initials M.R. by chance?” and if she was going on a trip, I would sometimes quip, “Tell Mark R. we said hello.”
So when Steph didn’t show up to work and our dayside executive producer, Nora, pulled me aside as I was getting my afternoon cup of pick-me-up and told me about the texts Steph had sent Bruce, I immediately thought that I might try to get Steph back to herself through humor. When I returned to my desk, I picked up my phone and texted her.
I hear you’re out this week. Should I reschedule that meeting with Mark R.? He’ll be very disappointed but I’m sure he’ll get over it
It took over an hour as I distractedly worked on some web stories for our site, but finally my phone pinged.
Yes, please reschedule with Mark R.
I knitted my brows together. So formal? I tried again.
Mark R. says to call him as soon as you can, he misses you
Silence. I followed that up with another.
Are you dissing Mark R.? You know he’ll turn into the Hulk
I thought the reference to one of Ruffalo’s famous movie characters might make her smile.
It wasn’t until that night when I was home doing yoga with a YouTube video in the living room that my phone pinged. Hitting stop on the video, I came out of a cross-legged twist pose to see her name and a text.
I am very busy this week, I asked you to reschedule the meeting. I should be back next week
I’m sure the shock I felt would have been obvious in my slack-jawed face, if there were anyone around to see it.
I didn’t know how to react or what to say, so I didn’t reply at all. But as I hit play on the yoga video again and moved into downward dog, something started gnawing at my gut. This situation felt off. I vowed to pull Bruce aside the next day and ask him what he thought.