LOVING HER SOUL MATE by Katherine Cachitorie Page B

moved
to Philadelphia when I was still in college, but I didn’t go with them.   I love this state.”
    “And by your UAB t-shirt,” John
said, looking at her sizeable chest, at the fact that she appeared to be
braless, “you attended college in Birmingham, majored in journalism or communications
or some such major, and decided to plant your career flag in this state that
you love.”
    “That’s right,” she said with a
proud smile.   “What about you?   You’re a ‘Bama man?”
    “Bite your tongue, young
lady.   I’m an LSU man.   I’m originally from Baton Rouge.”
    Shay smiled.   “I see.   Your family still in Baton Rouge?”
    “Yeah, but we aren’t close or
anything like that.   My mother’s no
longer with us, and my dad’s an asshole, so I don’t spend too much time over
there.   But back to
you.   What happened after college?”
he asked her, finding any discussion of his father not worth the breath it took
to mention him.
    Shay hunched her shoulder.   “I got a job.   Got my dream job with the Birmingham Union-Star, one
of the most prestigious newspapers in this state.   I worked my way up from their
nobody roving reporter to one of their top crime reporters.   I was on my way.”   A faintness came
into Shay’s eyes.   John stared into those
eyes.
    “What happened?” he asked
her.  
    “I loved that job.   Loved it.   Worked my ass off with
every assignment too.   Would have stayed there forever if they would have let me.”  
    “But they wouldn’t let you?”
    Shay sighed and then nodded, a
kind of stark sadness suddenly coming over her entire demeanor.   “They wouldn’t let me,” she admitted.   “My forever ended up being only four
years.   After that, after they let me go,
I had to grab whatever I could get.”
    “And I take it our Brady Tribune
was what you could get?”
    “Yeah, it was.   But I’m grateful to have it.”
    “Yeah, but come on, Shay.   You went from the biggest newspaper in the
entire state to one of the smallest.   That had to feel like a considerable step backwards.”
    “Oh, absolutely,” Shay
admitted.   “It was a major letdown.   But a girl’s gotta eat.”
    John smiled.   He was beginning to see why he immediately
liked this particular girl the first time he saw her.   “But if you were working your ass off, doing
such a great job, why were you let go?”
    Shay exhaled, and that sadness
reappeared.   Could he handle the truth,
she wondered, or would he declare, like everybody else she’d ever told it to,
that she had it coming?   “They said I was
becoming dead weight.”   She said this and
looked at him with an expectation of disapproval that broke his heart.  
    “They said you were dead weight?   No way.”
    Shay stared at him.   “How could you be so sure?”
    “Doesn’t take
a rocket scientist to know that you’re a very hardworking girl, Shay.   You wouldn’t allow
yourself to be anybody’s dead weight.   It
doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that much out.”
    “Apparently it did take more than
that because they weren’t trying to hear my objections.   They just wanted me out of there.”
    “So you loaded up the truck and
moved to Brady?”
    Shay laughed.   “Something like that.”  
    “And according to Aunt Rae you
need to get out more.”
    “That’s what she says.   But right now I’m just trying to get settled
in at the Trib.”
    “How’s that working out for you?”
    “It’s been challenging, I can’t
even front,” Shay said with a smile.   “They either treat me like I’m some idiot who doesn’t know squat, or
some kid who needs to be led all over the place by some male reporter.   It’s infuriating really.”
    John glanced at Shay’s mouth, the
way it curved at the tip.   “Has Ed
Barrington tried to hit on you?” he asked her.
    Shay looked at John.   Why would he know anything about that?   “Ed?” she asked, her
eyes wide with