Page 110 of The Do-Over

“Of course you did,” I said, my grin widening to a smile.

“It was no big deal. I had a little help,” she said with a shrug. Then she let me know without words we were okay—she smiled back.

A couple of days later, Mimi called me at the end of the workday. “Did you see the noon news program?”

“Nope.”

“Someone posted it on that YouTube. You need to watch it.”

“I’m about to head out. Can it wait until later?”

Mimi ignored me. “Go to the YouTube and type in ‘newscaster puts fiancé on blast.’ Go ahead now. I’ll wait.”

Heart beginning to pound, I put my cell on speaker and pulled up the video. I gasped when I saw the still was a photo of Phee sitting behind the KKRE news desk. “Uh-oh.”

Mimi hummed in response. I pressed play and cranked the volume.

Phee smiled at the camera. “As I sign off today, it is with a heavy heart I let you, the viewers, know this will be my last broadcast with KKRE. Over the last two years, I’m humbled to have been invited into your homes as I shared the traffic and news of the great city of Houston.”

“What in the world?” I said.

Mimi chuckled. “Keep watching. It gets real good soon.”

The camera panned out to reveal Joel Allen on Phee’s left, a tight smile plastered on his face.

My sister continued. “I’ve learned a great deal and for that, I will forever be grateful to KKRE. But it’s time for me to move on.” Phee paused, frowned, and leaned forward in her chair as though she were about to tell us all a secret. “I’m supposed to say something now about how I’ve got some exciting new opportunities on the horizon and while that is true, I’d like you to know the real reason I’m leaving.”

The camera bounced for a split second as though it wasn’t quite sure where to focus. Phee’s voice sped up with urgency. My heart clanged in my chest as I leaned forward in my seat. I had no idea what she was about to say, but it felt big. Real big.

“You all know that until recently, I was engaged to my co-worker, Joel Allen.”

The man in question’s head whipped around to stare at Phee, an expression of growing horror dawning.

“I’ve just learned what a weaselly, insecure, lying liar he is. I’m grateful I learned this information before I made the grave mistake of marrying him.”

“Holy crap,” I yelled, and I couldn’t keep the grin from spreading across my face.

“Phoebe,” he whispered under his breath, through that fake-forced smile I knew all too well.

She laughed mirthlessly. “That would have been the worst mistake of my life.”

Joel Allen turned toward the camera. “Go to commercial, off air, do something!”

“Go!” Someone off-screen yelled.

The screen went blue, and a “technical difficulties” sign flashed. Despite the loss of picture, the audio still rolled.

“Did you really need to do all that?” Joel Allen yelled. “You’re making a huge deal out of this.”

“You told the producers you’d quit if they gave me a promotion. That’s a huge deal to me.” Phee’s voice broke. “Perci warned me. She told me you were a jerk, and so did Mathias and Mimi. They said you were—”

But the audio was cut off before she finished that sentence.

I slumped in my seat, feeling like I’d just climbed fifty-two flights of stairs and finally reached flat ground. Had that really just happened? I had to call Mathias immediately. “Wow.”

“It’s about time she told that man off,” Mimi said, and I swear I could hear her earrings swinging as she nodded her head. “The fastest way to lose weight is to get rid of the monkey on your back, and that Joel was an awful big monkey.”

“Have you talked to her?” I asked.