I was a news anchor for a small station in a Midwest river town. We never had all that much news to cover so it was an easy job with decent pay for the territory. Low cost of living and all.
I anchored the 5, 6 and 10 newscasts with my co-anchor Sandra. She was maybe a year younger than me, about 26, the same age as my wife. She was single but in a town this small there's not much to act on. She'd tell me about the things she did when she was on vacation. I guess that tied her over until the next out-of-town trip. Because everyone knew her, she couldn't just pick up a guy at the downtown bar. Former high school cheerleader and she kept the tight body. Pert breasts and a juicy behind.
This story really begins with the arrival of our newest news director. Jack Ridenour was old school news. About 60 or so. Tall and a bit overweight, barrel-chested. Sculpted silver hair, almost looked like a hairpiece but supposedly it was real. A bulbous drunk's nose, that was sort of reddish. He wore aviator sunglasses, of course. He carried himself like he was still anchoring the news in Wichita or some other mid-major market.
He called a meeting his first day with the whole news department and laid down the law, talking about all the changes that were going to be made and how we would be number one in the ratings, yada-yada-yada. I'd heard that speech a lot in my short career. He specifically called out me and Sandra as the newsroom leaders who would have to step up and make things happen. Neither of us liked the sound of that. We both knew we weren't going anywhere in the ratings even if Mr. Ridenour didn't.
Still, I figured it would be best to give him a chance. News directors are like baseball managers, they don't last long, and Jack Ridenour had short timer written all over him. After the meeting I knocked on his office door.
"Mr. Ridenour, can I speak to you a minute?"
"Ah, Henry, sure, come in. And please call me Jack. What can I do you for?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come by the house this weekend for dinner. My wife's a pretty good cook and..."
"Yes, I'd like that, thank you. My wife is still out of town. Her mom's been ill so I'm not sure when she'll be joining me."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Would Saturday at six work?"
"Yes, fine, just fine. Thank you, again. What's your wife's name?"
"Stephanie."
"Pretty name. How old is she?"
"25, almost 26."
"Very nice." Then Ridenour changed his demeanor a bit. "Say, Henry, I've been watching some airchecks and there's this thing you do that viewers might find kind of annoying. I'll get one cued up so you can take a look and start working on fixing it."
"OK, um, thanks Mr. Ridenour. I mean Jack."
"Sure, fine. See you Saturday at six."
I left his office not sure what to think about that comment. News directors have a great sense of how to diminish someone's confidence. As I got to my desk I called my wife to tell her about the dinner invitation.
"What do you think we should make?" she asked me.
"Something simple. He looks like a meat and potatoes guy. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, I guess."
"Well, that's easy enough. How does he seem?"
"Just like them all, I guess. See you tonight, sweetie."
"Love you."
I hung up the phone and tried to turn my attention to the newscast. But I kept drifting back to Jack's questions about Stephanie and the way his demeanor changed when he asked them. Stephanie was a stunner, I must admit, but he didn't even know that yet, unless he saw the photo of her I have on my desk. It was from Riverfest and showed her in a bikini top and cut-off jean shorts. It was not raunchy or anything but left little to the imagination, and Stephanie had a hard time not being raunchy looking. At 5'5" 126 pounds, 40d-25-35 figure, she oozes sexuality just by standing in the same room. Add the blondish hair and blue eyes and forget about it. But she has an innocence to her that comes from growing up in a fairly sheltered life with limited worldly experiences. We had a great sex life, and she didn't mind my small dick at all. I pleased her with my tongue and a vibrator usually. Anyway, we were happy but I was wondering what Jack had on his mind. Maybe I was overthinking it. I was the one who invited him over, after all.
Saturday
Jack arrived promptly at 6 p.m. (of course) and handed me a bottle of better-than-average bourbon. We weren't hard drinkers (yet) so didn't really have bourbon or other alcohol around. Stephanie did buy some red wine for dinner. We assumed he would like that.
Jack walked in and saw Stephanie setting rolls on the dinner table.
"Well, this must be the little lady? I'm Jack. Nice to see you in person finally."
"Hi Jack. I'm Stephanie. We're glad you could come."
Jack came forward and embraced her, kissing her cheek. Stephanie put her hands on his arms.
"Well, with the misses out of town for a while I'd never pass up some home cookin', if you know what I mean."
Neither of us did, so we moved on.
"You said 'finally.' That it's good to see me in person. Have we spoken before?"
Jack chuckled as he walked out to the living room and took a spot on the sofa. "Oh, no, no. My bad. I just meant your picture is on Henry's desk and I have to pass by it a dozen times a day so..."
"Oh no, does he have that Riverfest picture on his desk?" Stephanie asked, embarrassed. "I told him not to put it out. Henry!"
"Hey, it's a good photo of the river," I said, trying to play it off but I knew she wasn't mad, almost a modesty reflex.
"Well, I thought it was a very good photo of you but I must admit you are more stunning in the flesh," Jack said. Stephanie smiled.
"Well, thank you, Mr. Ritter..."
"Jack."
"Jack," Stephanie repeated. "Would you like a drink? I'm sorry, but how do I serve this? 'On the rocks' as they say," Stephanie giggled.
"That would be fine. With a little water if you would. And make one for yourself. There's plenty."
"Maybe I will. We never have this stuff around."
Stephanie mixed and served the drinks. The three of us sat in the living room chatting and drinking. Jack was a talker, just as I imagined him to be. He spent most of his time looking at Stephanie. She was wearing a short-sleeved blouse that was unbuttoned enough to allow a nice view of her cleavage, a tight-fitting pair of blue jeans and sandals with a three-inch heel that made her that much taller.
When we had finished our second round Jack offered to make the next round. When he came back he handed me a glass and then Stephanie. She took a sip and thought it tasted a little bitter.
"That's the oak barrel coming through," Jack explained.
"We need to buy some of this stuff and keep it around, for sure," Stephanie said as she took a long pull. "Let's head to the table and eat. Everything's ready."
Stephanie was a light eater and didn't have much meatloaf or mashed potatoes. Jack had a healthy serving and told Stephanie how good it was.
"You are the perfect wife, I can tell," he complimented her.
"Well, I don't know about that, but I can make meatloaf. Why don't we go back to the living room for dessert?"
"By dessert do you mean another bourbon?" Jack joked.
"Why not?" Stephanie said.
I could tell she was already feeling no pain. We weren't big drinkers, as I said.
When Stephanie came out to bring drinks she sat next to me on the love seat with Jack sitting across from us on the larger sofa.
"I feel so lonely over here by myself on this big sofa," Jack said, mostly to Stephanie.
"We can't have our guest feeling left out. Henry won't mind me being over there."
Stephanie got up and sat opposite Jack on the couch.
"That's much better," Jack said. "You know, when my office door is open I can see everyone walking down the center of the newsroom. I didn't see it at first but everyone takes a glance toward your photo on Henry's desk."
"Oh, no, the photo again," Stephanie giggled.
"It's true. I finally had to get up and see what everyone was looking at. And I'm talking men and women."
"I can remove it, Jack, if it's an issue," I offered.
"Oh, it's not an issue at all. And as your boss I would tell you if it was. I was studying the picture and trying to figure out your bra size. I'm usually pretty good at that."
Stephanie blushed at the comment. I averted my eyes and took a quick gulp. Then Stephanie spoke up.
"And what did you come up with, Mr. Bra Expert?" She was definitely tipsy though she wasn't slurring her speech or anything.
"I was thinking, um..." At this pause Stephanie thrust out her chest, to my shock. "38D?"
"Wow, that's not bad, Jack. But not correct. 40D."