Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Freya was yanking him down the hallway, which was a dangerous type of jostling when he was still in the throes of a hangover.
He was impressed that Freya was so agile, given that thirty seconds ago she looked about as green as the smoothie he had unsuccessfully tried to consume this morning.
He had convinced Freya to come out with him and Naomi the night before, in part to help Freya blow off some steam after a particularly stressful day and in part to nudge Naomi and Freya a little closer as friends.
It had almost been a year since he’d met Naomi—give or take a few months—and he no longer felt like “the boyfriend” in her group but instead had been grafted in as one of the gang.
It could never be the same with Freya and Naomi, mostly because he and Freya weren’t really a “gang.” But she was his closest friend here in Chicago, and while Freya and Naomi were on friendly terms, he had hoped to create a little more bond between them.
Turns out all it took was an impromptu Thursday night out with some cocktails and a burlesque show at a speakeasy to accomplish that.
Unfortunately, success also came with a hangover.
Which, apparently, Freya had the ability to partition at will when it required getting far enough down the hall so that Brian—who had accosted them in the hallway—couldn’t hear them.
Brian, their least favorite Executive Producer, had stopped them first thing in the morning to kill yet another story.
Will and Freya had already known that their story, a look at a conversion therapy camp through the eyes of a survivor, would be a tough sell to Nightly Global News.
They’d spent weeks putting together what they needed to make a compelling pitch that would be worthy of, at the very least, some discussion.
But after all that work, and in less than twenty-four hours, it was getting axed.
“This is network television, not cable. We need stories that are family friendly,” Brian had told them moments earlier.
The way he put emphasis on the words ‘family friendly’ gave Will images of a mob boss putting emphasis on the words “make a donation.” It wasn’t the first time Will had heard this phrase invoked over the years, and it hadn’t taken him long to understand what it really meant.
“Family-friendly” wasn’t about protecting viewers—it was about keeping the studio in line with the religious and political interests that funded it.
If a story risked upsetting the people who truly held the power at WNO, it wasn’t just shelved—it was erased, swiftly and without question.
Which is why he had thought the conversation was over until Freya’s eyes flashed with the familiar expression she got when she’d remembered an important piece of information for a story.
As Brian turned to leave, she lifted her hand up to pause his exit. “Hang on, Brian. If you’re looking for family-friendly, I’ve got an idea.” Then she had grabbed Will by the arm and said, “Give us a moment. Don’t go anywhere. I think you’ll like what I’ve got in mind.”
And then she was pulling Will towards an open conference room, saying, “Hear me out,” in a hushed tone as she shoved him inside and shut the door.
He took a seat in the nearest chair, not only to show Freya he was in attendance for whatever presentation she was about to give but also to recover from the aftereffects of that brusque walk.
“Do you remember what you told me last night?” she asked.
“Yes.” He had told her a lot of things, but he didn’t need any more context to know what she was referring to.
In the handful of minutes Naomi had been out of earshot last night, he’d let it slip to Freya the secret he’d been keeping for several weeks: he had a ring and was going to propose to Naomi.
It was fast, he knew. But over the months, he and Naomi had discussed marriage—first as the fun hypothetical that helps build a picture of what a future could look like and then as a fact of a future that would someday come to be.
Until, one morning, he woke up and knew for certain: the only future he wanted was one with Naomi, and he wanted it to start now.
He hadn’t intended to say anything to Freya until after they got engaged but then, his tongue loosened by several bourbon cocktails, it somehow slipped out.
He had expected, for myriad reasons, including the Abigail connection and the fact that Freya was a woman so focused on her career that romance seemed like a nuisance, that she would offer little more than polite congratulations. But instead, she’d seemed enthusiastically elated.
And now, she was bringing it up again. Why?
“You told me you had the ring, but no plan,” Freya said, dropping into the seat next to him and swiveling to face him.
“I have some general thoughts, but I … am not really sure where you’re going with this.”
Freya placed her forearms on her legs and leaned in. “What if you propose to her on Nightly Global News?”
“I—what? Propose on—”
“Nightly Global News!” Freya sprang up from her seat like she was on the upward swing of a seesaw.
He’d seen her like this, a bloodhound on the scent, but he had never been …
the scent before. “This is the part where you hear me out—and quickly because Brian isn’t going to wait out there for very long.
He has the attention span of a fruit fly, and we need to strike while the ‘family-friendly’ iron is hot.
Here’s what I’m thinking. We invite Naomi to watch you at work, and then when she’s not expecting it, the cameras turn on her, and there you are on bended knee.
Can you think of any grander gesture, anything more romantic than announcing your love for Naomi in front of millions of people? ”
“Not off the top of my head, no. But—”
“But what?”
“You really think he will—”
“I do.”
“And she will—”
“Yes.”
“And we’ll be able to—”
“Stick it to the man and get you an epic engagement? Yes. Listen, Brian wants family-friendly, but instead of pandering to the boys upstairs and doing some watered-down story, let’s use it to get you a once-in-a-lifetime proposal.”
Once-in-a-lifetime proposal.
It sounded crazy. But it also sounded like something Naomi deserved.
Freya wagged her finger at him and grinned. “I see that look on your face, Will. You know I’m right. Now trust me on this and let’s make it happen.”
Freya’s grin, like her belief in this on-camera proposal, was infectious, and he found himself nodding. “I suppose it can’t hurt to suggest it to Brian.”
“I love it,” Brian said after hearing Freya’s pitch.
He snapped his fingers. “This is what I’m talking about, Jonsson.
People aren’t interested in these woke exposés you’re always after.
This is exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that builds viewer loyalty.
When they’re invested in the people making the news, they’ll trust the news. You get the vision.”
“Oh, I definitely get it,” Freya said.
Brian began to walk away and then said over his shoulder, “Let’s get this on the Monday night show!”
“Monday?” Will nearly choked on the word. “Freya, that’s in three days.”
“Will,” Freya said. “You’ve got the girl, the ring, and the plan. Give me one good reason you can’t propose on Monday?”
He had stood there, waiting. There had to be dozens of reasons why he shouldn’t. But as the seconds passed, not one came to him. He couldn’t think of a single reason not to ask the most incredible woman he had ever met to marry him as soon as humanly possible.
Seventy-two hours later, he stepped out of his car, patting the ring box in his pocket, and smiling at Freya. “Ready for this?”
“Me?” she asked. She pulled her navy-blue coat a little tighter around her as a gust of frosty spring wind swirled around them. “I’m only here for the ride. You’re the one who has to pop the question. Speaking of which, are you nervous?”
Over the last three days, he had waited for the nerves, for the enormity of what he was going to undertake in such a short amount of time, to settle in.
But it never happened. Every time he thought about proposing to her, it felt as certain as the sunrise.
Even the lingering concerns about whatever Naomi might be keeping from him didn’t factor into his decision.
Whatever it was, she would tell him when she was ready, and they would figure it out together.
Because there was nothing they couldn’t overcome.
“I would be nervous if we were doing this live. But since we can edit out the parts where I inevitably do something my future children will want to watch on repeat, then no. I’m really not nervous. ”
Freya had glanced down at her phone as he finished talking, which wasn’t unusual in a business where multitasking was required. Her eyebrows lifted with her head following a few seconds after. “What about now?” She held out her phone.
To: W.Quinn@
Cc: F.Jonsson@
From: B.Green@
Subject: Proposal
Got out of a planning meeting. The proposal segment idea polled well among a random sampling of viewers who said they want to see more behind the scenes content that shows the softer side of our company.
Assuming you get the girl, NGN wants to see you through to your nuptials.
Five-minute segments each night for one month.
In exchange, we will cover wedding costs (budget to follow).
Keep me posted on the proposal.
B
“Oh,” was all he could manage.
Freya retrieved her phone from his hand.
“Brian has a way with words, doesn’t he?
Aside from feeling like your married life has become a commodity for Nightly Global News, what do you think?
I told you they’d eat this up! I never imagined they’d eat the cost of your wedding too, but: free wedding. What are you thinking?”