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If shaking him hard would have worked then Alex was quite prepared to do it. But it wouldn’t. Leo’s urbane charm wasn’t a reflection that everything was right in his world. It was a fallback position, and he hung onto it just as grimly as anyone else might hold onto anger.
Their hour on-air together flew. Leo was the ultimate back seat driver, supportive when he needed to be and letting her talk when she was on a roll and knew what she wanted to say. His gaze connected with hers as they said their goodbyes for tonight and went off-air and they both heaved a sigh, flopping back into their seats in unison.
‘Fabulous!’ Justin burst into the studio. ‘Great hour, both of you.’
Leo gestured towards Alex, chuckling. ‘Nothing to do with me. That was the Alex Jackson Medical Hour you just heard.’
‘You handled the sex beautifully...’ Justin was in full flow, and Leo raised his eyebrows.
‘Actually, we were talking about body awareness issues. You must have been listening to something else, Justin.’
‘Sex, body awareness... It’s all the same thing...’ Justin stopped short as Leo shot him a frown. ‘Okay, well, perhaps it isn’t. Great body awareness, then. And it was a fantastic hour, just like sex on the airwaves.’
Alex had felt that too. A meeting of minds instead of bodies, but nonetheless a lot like sex. But Leo, gentleman to the last, wasn’t having it.
‘Do me a favour and save the sex on the airwaves for the Jazz Hour, will you? Have you got the call-backs?’
Justin produced an envelope from the file he was carrying. ‘Here you go. Rather a lot of them, I’m afraid...’
‘That’s good. We want a lot.’ Alex spoke up and Leo chuckled.
‘Want to go halves?’ Leo opened the envelope, drawing out a dozen sheets of paper, stapled together.
‘Yes, thanks. I don’t think I can get through all of those tomorrow.’
He nodded, counting the sheets out and dividing them, pulling the back half from the staple and putting them into the envelope.
‘How’s the piece going for the Community Affairs programme?’ Leo asked Justin.
‘Very good. We’ve put together what you did, along with a few bits from the second half of the afternoon. It’ll be a fifteen minute slot.’
‘That’s great. Thanks.’
Leo waited for Justin to leave, and Alex saw him switch the voice link to the control room off. ‘Despite all appearances, Justin’s one of the best radio producers around. I’m lucky to be working with him.’
‘But you don’t tell him that. Just to keep
him on his toes.’
‘I told him. We were both a bit drunk at the time, and he told me I was radio gold and I told him he was the kind of producer that could turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. We don’t mention it, of course.’
‘Of course not. That would be kiss and tell.’
Leo chuckled. ‘I wasn’t drunk enough to kiss him. We’re a good team though, and he knows it.’
‘He keeps you focused and you keep him honest?’ Alex wondered whether Leo would admit to being the heart behind the show.
‘There you go again. Making out I’m better than I really am.’ He got to his feet. That way of his, of closing a conversation before it got too uncomfortably close to reality.
Leo walked over to the door and waited and, when she didn’t follow him, he raised his eyebrows. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ She smiled back at him innocently, her heart pounding. This time, Leo wasn’t going to walk away, not before she’d done what she’d decided to do. And then maybe she’d be the one to walk away.
He heaved a sigh and threw himself back into his seat. ‘All right. I’ll wait.’
Alex rummaged in her bag, and pulled out the thumb drive. Leaning over, she put it into his hand. ‘The photos...’
‘For our website?’
