Tabloid (Dirty Laundry #1)

45. Unexpected Miracles

1 Month, 3 days, 15 hours and 37 seconds since the Peach Festival Fiasco

Talia was sitting in a small coffee shop watching people stride in anxious for their morning coffee. She was meeting Annie. She'd called the day before asking to meet. Her voice had sounded funny when they spoke. Talia barely slept the night worrying about what Annie needed to talk about. She prayed, though she no longer attended any kind of religious services, to any God that was listening that Tristan was ok.

She refreshed her phone looking at the time. Only a minute had gone by since she'd last checked. Her knee bounced uncontrollably under the table. Maybe the third espresso wasn't a good idea. When she saw the mangled napkin in shreds in front of her she knew for sure that the third espresso was a mistake.

Finally, Annie walked in. Talia jumped from her chair, nearly toppling the table in the process. She walked briskly over to Annie. The two women gave each other hugs.

"I'm so glad you called." Talia said.

"I'm sorry it wasn't sooner but there has been a lot going on the past few weeks."

It was then Talia noticed the man standing behind Annie. He was cute in a geeky kind of way. He had short hair, a suit that didn't quite fit him and large framed glasses. But, it was the nervous look and twitching that made her question why he was there. She hoped he wasn't Annie's new boyfriend.

Annie caught Talia looking and blushed. "How rude am I? Talia Walker please meet Wayne Unger. Wayne this is who I've been telling you about."

Wayne smiled a toothy smile at Talia. His nervousness seemed to melt away after the introduction. He wasn't quite her type but with his dazzling smile she saw the appeal, if he was Annie's boyfriend.

"Nice to finally meet you, Ms. Walker. I am a big fan of yours."

"You are?"

"Yes. Your article in L.A World has impacted so many. Thank you for writing it."

Talia was thoroughly confused.

"Uh...you're welcome."

Wayne gave Annie a questioning look then said, "I'm going to get a coffee. Do you want anything Annie?"

"A chai tea, please?"

"Will do." Wayne walked off to stand in the short line.

Annie walked over to the table Talia had been sitting at and took the seat next to Talia.

"What is going on? Is he your boyfriend?" Talia whispered.

Annie had a look of horror on her face. "What?!? No!"

"Ok. So, why did you bring some random weird guy?"

She let out a breathy laugh. "Let me start at the beginning. You remember when Tristan and I first came to the ranch?"

"Of course."

"And you remember me telling you Tristan didn't have long?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Ok. Well, things are about to change. Hopefully for the better."

"What do you mean?"

"Tristan just got accepted for a new experimental treatment. It was something that has had a lot of success for child cancer patients. I wasn't sure I'd be able to afford it if he got it because it is only done in Colorado Springs. We would have to move there for six months. Thankfully, the Bucket List foundation has offered to pay for our housing and give us a monthly meal stipend while we are there."

"Oh my God! That is so great! They couldn't pick a better kid to help." Talia said reaching over and squeezing Annie's hand.

"It would never have happened if it weren't for your article in L.A World."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, The Bucket List foundation received so many donations, thanks to your article about my Tristan, that they wanted to help him even more. They are hoping that instead of doing an activity off of a child's bucket list that they will actually be able to save those children, so they won't need those lists for 60 or 70 years."

"Wow!"

"Wow is right." Wayne's voice drew Talia's attention as he sat at their table.

"Our small charity has been given a tremendous boost. We are a popular one for celebrities who don't want to be recognized for their charity work. However, some are willing to go public with their activities with some of the children." Wayne took a sip of his coffee leaving a line of foam over his top lip.

Talia motioned to her own top lip to tell him he had a foam mustache, but he just looked puzzled. She shrugged when her subtle hints weren't helping.

"Ok. I'm a bit confused. I mean, I am totally happy Tristan is getting this chance but what does any of this have to do with me. I wrote one lousy article."

"You didn't tell her?" Wayne asked Annie.

"I hadn't quite got there." Wayne and Annie just looked at Talia.

"Well, one of you better spill it." Wayne took another sip leaving his lip even more lathered.

"Jeremiah called me. He told me you have been having problems getting a job."

Talia felt her face flame. She'd put out about a hundred resumes. A few even resulted in interviews, but the minute they found out who she really was and/or who she used to be connected to intimately, the interview would be cut short and Talia found herself out the door so fast anyone would have thought the building was on fire. It didn't matter how good of a writer she was her reputation preceded her and it wasn't a good one.

"Yeah. No one wants to hire a has-been gossip queen."

"I do." Wayne said.

"What?" Talia snapped her head to him.

"I want to hire you. I want you to go with children on their bucket list activities. Write about them. Interview the parents. Interview the celebrities. We will get it published in L.A World every month."

"I'm still really confused."

"I've known Wayne for a long time. I wanted to help you since you've done so much for me and my family. So, I pitched the idea to Wayne."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say yes. If you can't do that then say you will think about it. We want to grow our charity so that we can continue helping children fulfill their dreams even for a day. But, ultimately we want to create a branch of the charity dedicated to helping more children become survivors."

Talia was beginning to feel overwhelmed. The jittery caffeine high had worn off and now she sat exhausted. She would be an idiot to turn the job down.

She must have taken too long to answer when Wayne said, "I need to get going. Think about it, Talia. We could really make a difference in the lives of sick children." He passed her an embossed business card then stood walking out of the coffee shop without another word.

"Come on, Talia. You know you want to say yes to this."

"It just seems too good to be true. I don't want to be used because of who I used to date. I'm worried this is going to turn out that way."

Annie reached across the table squeezing Talia's fingers. "It's not. Believe me. I wouldn't set you up like that."

Talia nodded her head. She knew what she was going to do. The fact was she needed a job. She couldn't keep relying on Jeremiah to pay her bills.

She flipped the card over. The card had The Bucket List logo raised in the top left corner. In the middle was Wayne Unger, CEO. She blinked at that.

Looking up at Annie she asked, "How the hell is that man a CEO? He couldn't even tell he had a foam mustache."

Annie shook her head and giggled into her chai tea.