Forgetting Prince Charming.

CHAPTER 23

Emma was out of the hospital by Wednesday with an all-clear from Dr. Peters. That same morning, she was also due back at Radio 769 for another interview. She was getting tired of it all and she'd only met two men. She wasn't hopeful for the others. When she arrived at the studio, things were odd. Linda was happy to know she was okay after her accident, but Taylor was something else entirely. The voluptuous woman had spent her time sending Emma sneaky glares and irritated eye rolls. Emma wasn't sure what climbed in her panties, but she knew she wanted no part of it.

When they were each behind their microphones, the work began. Linda gave the news headlines for the hour and Emma listened with numb ears. Soon after, slow romantic violins chimed through her headphones. Emma had become familiar with the sound. It was enough for her to blink awake and pay attention. Joey threw her a wink and then leaned forward with a smile.

"Good morning you beautiful people. If you've been listening to our show, you'll know that it's time for our new segment." he paused for dramatic effect and then yelled, "Forget Prince Charming and give me Romeo!" Artificial cheers sounded and Emma laughed quietly from her seat. There was an atmosphere in the studio that morning that she'd never felt the other times. Joey seemed extra hyper and his joyful nature was contagious. "Joining us this morning is none other than our Juliet! Say hi."

Emma leaned into the microphone and said, "hi everyone." She flinched. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to hearing her voice mixed with Minnie Mouse. Emma made a mental note to ask Joey why they paired her voice with a cartoon character.

"Let's recap for those who aren't trolling our social media accounts. Juliet has had yet another date this past weekend with bachelor number two. She's here today to let us know how it went," explained Linda.

"We're dying to know your thoughts, Juliet," said Taylor. Her voice had turned bubbly with faux cheerfulness. It was a bothersome turn of events. When Emma looked at her, Taylor's face showed unhidden resentment. Emma just didn't get it.

From beside her, Joey nudged her arm with his shoulder and said, "we want all the details. Let us have it." He quirked his eyebrow and Emma caught the hint.

She turned away from Taylor and focused on Joey. "It was an interesting date. Much better than the first," she said with a smile. "We arranged to meet at a lake outside the city that is found in a nature park."

"Sounds exciting," chirped Linda. "What did you do?"

Emma found it odd to be retelling events to a group of people who knew it all. She had to give their acting credit. They did well at pretending it was all new information. "I didn't know what he had planned until I got there. I was surprised when he said we were going rowing." She added a light laugh at the end of her words. She wanted to sound easy-going to the listeners. Deep down though, she rolled her eyes at his date choice. If it had ended better, she might feel differently.

"Wait, rowing as in, you do all the work?" asked Taylor with faux surprise.

"I was shocked too! Those who know me, know that I'm always up for a challenge. That being said, I'm not the athletic, nature-loving type so I was very out of my element."

"Did you do it?" asked Linda.

Emma laughed and it sounded like a squeak in her ears. "I did! It wasn't as bad as I thought. Rowing is harder than it looks. Jeff, my date, had to take over halfway through."

Taylor laughed and it struck Emma. Taylor was a beautiful woman who's laugh flowed out her like silk. Emma hated to be envious of vile people but, with Taylor, it was hard to avoid.

Movement caught Emma's eye. She watched as Linda leaned onto the table with a smirk. Her eyes were set on Emma. "Let's get down to the juicy bits." she said devilishly. "What did you think of your date?"