Jimmy frowned and finally answered. "I don't think I was frustrated with the team, so much as with my own performance. We certainly didn't bring our A-game tonight, and the results show that."

Since there was no point in my staying here, I backed off from the scrum and grabbed my BlackBerry, which had been vibrating non-stop.

"Jesus, Kelly, you need to pick up my calls right away," Jeremy hissed when I phoned him back. "Please tell me you put William Kissman on your one-on-one list."

"Of course." The fight was one of the only highlights of the Hawk's performance.

"Good girl! Adam March went ballistic when we talked to him about the fight. He called Kisser a cheap shot artist and a coward. Send Zack over and you can show Kissman the video, and get a reaction."

"Okay, I will." I was still reeling a bit from the scrum, but this was a real opportunity.

"Don't screw this up, Tanaka," Jeremy warned me. "If I didn't have to do live postgame shit, I'd be doing this myself. Maximize the drama, okay?"

"For sure." How was I supposed to do that?

"I'll meet you in the edit suite right after."

Zack sauntered off to get a copy of the March video. Ty Ballanchuk walked by.

"Why hello, Kelly." His welcoming grin made me realize that this wouldn't be a complete uphill battle.

"Hey, Ty."

"You're really moving up in the world now," he commented. "Didn't I see you on a car commercial too?"

I laughed. "Yeah, did I convince you to switch from your Porsche to a Honda?"

"Totally. I have a whole fleet of Hondas now." Probably would have been an even trade.

"Then my work here is done." Just then, Zack came back, so I said goodbye to Ty and we found William. He was sitting in his cubby and icing his hand.

"Hi, William. I'm Kelly Tanaka from C2C Sports."

"Hey." He smiled and nodded.

"Would it be okay if we talked to you a bit about the game?"

"Me? Sure, probably not my best game."

"No worries, you always bring emotion, which is what we're interested in."

I nodded at Zack, who started rolling.

I started off with some softball questions to get things going. William seemed relaxed, even when I got into his history with Adam March. They had had a few confrontations last season, but no fights. Both were hard-nosed players, but not normally fighters.

William was politically correct, and said nothing controversial at all. Obviously, he had been well trained by the Blackhawks media department, unlike some people. Then I showed him the video of March calling him a coward.

All hell broke loose.

"That mother-fucking pussy. He's a douchebag who's always talking and never backing anything up. What a bullshitter. He's a chicken and a diver just like his girlfriend, Latour. I would take him on, anytime, anyplace. Just name the spot, March, and I will be there. When's our next fucking game? I'm going to rip his head off next time we step on the fucking ice!"

I managed to calm William down enough to wrap things up. Zack and I headed to the exit and I was relieved not to see Jimmy around any more.

Once outside, we high-fived each other. Without even playing it back, I knew we had gotten some awesome footage. I had struck out with Jimmy's scrum, but I was hoping that the Kissman interview would save my skin.

James

Okay, I had been stupid and immature, but who could blame me? I was in the dressing room, enduring the usual media scrum, and hearing the same questions over and over. While I didn't mind doing it after a win, I was always pissed off after a loss and hated rehashing the game. We lost because we didn't score more goals than the other team. What was so hard about that?

And then to have Kelly appear in the room, and start asking me questions like every other idiot. What was weird was that I sensed she was there before I even saw her. I sniffed something crazy and familiar. It was just a whiff of lemon and spice and sweetness, above the usual dressing room smells. Lucky I still had my hockey pants on, because the scent was giving me a hard-on.

And then I looked over the heads of the reporters and there she was. She was looking at me expectantly and waiting for me to answer. I was kind of stunned silent for a moment, but then all I felt was resentment. How come she got everything she wanted? She was probably engaged to stupid Davidson and now she had the perfect job as a hockey reporter. Only a few months ago she was the receptionist, for crying out loud. Who gets to be a reporter in that short a time and without any experience?

So, I didn't answer her. She had made my life miserable for long enough, so I felt like I could inconvenience her a little bit. She looked different, more grown up and polished. But even I couldn't deny how good she still looked. I'd never seen her in a suit before, and she looked professional, but still hot.

With all this crap going through my brain, I ignored her question. I guess I was still upset with her. Or maybe it bothered me that I hadn't even known that this was what she was doing. She should have warned me she was going to be in the room-on my turf.

The scrum finished quickly, probably because I was so distracted. Tim Glasser from Hawks Media Relations asked to speak to me privately. We stepped into the trainer's room and shut the door.

"So, that scrum with Kelly Tanaka didn't go so well."

"What's she doing here? How long has she been doing this?"

"She's a reporter for C2C Sports. She started there a couple of months ago. But this was her first time doing a postgame. I suspect they sent her as a deliberate provocation for you."

I guess it had worked then. Tim continued, "I guess her being in the room is a problem for you. Do you want me to get rid of her?"

I shrugged. The biggest problem was that I wanted to run over and start by kissing her and finish up by fucking her, but that wasn't the kind of problem I wanted to share with Media Relations.

Professionally speaking, I was torn. I didn't want to be a prima donna who got reporters banned from the room. If I banned her, it would seem like sour grapes. And I knew deep down that I wanted to see her. It was stupid, but outside of all the emotion she churned up in me, part of me liked seeing her. There were so many nights I longed to call her, not even to get back together but just to talk again. Talking to her always eased my mind because she understood everything. Maybe with time, we could even be friends again-but not if I kicked her out of the room.

I replied calmly. "It's not a problem for me. I was surprised. I know I did the wrong thing tonight, but now that I know she'll be there, it's fine."

"James, are you sure? If she was a legitimate reporter, I would agree with you, but I suspect they're only using her for your games. I've never seen her on any Canucks broadcasts."

"No, it's good. If that's it, I'm going to finish getting dressed now."

We had a two-day stay in Vancouver before our next game in Edmonton, and a bunch of us were going out for dinner tonight.

When we came out of the trainer's room, Kelly was gone. I felt disappointed, but I suspected that I wouldn't be on her top ten list right now.

41.

Closing Doors

"Hey, Doggy-style," Anders called out on Monday morning. "Good piece on the fight Saturday night."

Jeremy, along with the video editor, Brownie, had taken our interviews with the two combatants and spliced them together into a pretty good piece. It was hard to tell who was angrier, March or Kissman. Zack had filmed an angle with my surprised reaction to Kissman's profanity-laden tirade. As if I hadn't used all of those words myself. And then we used their threats to promote the next time the teams met up in March. All in all, a good night's work.

As for the other part of my evening, Brownie had taken pity on me and spliced the Frechette interview so that it looked like Jimmy had actually answered my question. I thanked him, and he gruffly brushed me off, muttering something about asshole superstars. There was a real possibility that my issue with Jimmy might not be discovered. However, once something happened on camera, the video record was forever. The Frechette piece was a boring scrum video, which aired once and then had been shunted off to the website. Hopefully, the good stuff I did outweighed the bad.

I was working at my desk when Williams walked by. Without even stopping he called out, "Tanaka. In my office."

There was glee in his voice. The whole office went silent and everyone stared at me. I heard someone whisper, "Who's got today in the pool?"

Taking a deep breath, I stood up and walked in his office.

"Shut the door," he snapped. I did so and sat down.

"So, Tanaka, I understand that you had a little problem in the Hawk's room on Saturday."

So much for the carefully edited tape. But he was right; I had failed in my reporter job. "Yes. James Frechette would not answer my question."

"And why do you think that was?" Williams was leaning back in his ergonomic leatherette chair and smiling. The fucker was really enjoying this.

"I don't know. But I would assume it's because we once had a personal relationship."

"Yeah, that seems about right. Given that you can't do your job, I'm going to have to let you go."

"Are you kidding me? Over this? Look, I think it was only the shock of seeing me in the room. I can talk to James and smooth things over. I'm sure it will be fine the next time." I swallowed. Please, let there be a next time.

"Yeah, sure. I know exactly how you'd smooth things over. Since you're still on probation, I don't even have to give you cause, but I will give you some advice. You can't sleep your way to the top."

"That's bullshit. It's true that I dated James, but everything else is a lie. I never had a personal relationship with Ross Laurie or anyone else."

Williams sneered at me. "Really? Well, I heard you were coming on to Peter Haines before a live interview. The only reason I didn't fire you then was because I didn't have any proof. But I do have the thing with you and Frechette on tape-despite your best efforts to edit it out."

I stood up, but I wasn't leaving without telling him what I really thought. "You know what? I worked really hard and tried to do a good job when I got nothing in the way of real training or help. Even though you tried to sabotage me at every turn, I still lasted this long. If you don't recognize potential because of your own prejudices, that's your loss."

He shook his head and waved in a mocking way. "Bye-bye, Tanaka. Don't let the door hit you on your way out. I've already spoken to H.R,. and I'll have Security escort you out, since you're the kind of person who would do something emotional and vindictive."

Luckily I wasn't a crier, since it was pretty painful to get fired in front of a bunch of people who put money on when this day would happen. I went to my desk and cleaned it out with Gar from Security watching me. I didn't have a ton of stuff to pack; all my files were on my BlackBerry anyway. I boxed up the mini-terrarium my dad had given me, my coffee cup, and my makeup bag. Everyone in the office was pretending not to watch.

As I walked out, Jeremy Ormiston stopped me. "I'm sorry you're going, Kelly. You did a great job on Saturday night."

"Thank you, Jeremy," I said. But I wasn't sure if he really meant it or he was merely happy because he had won the pool.

I got home around lunchtime and was surprised to find April there. "Aren't you supposed to be at work now?"

"Ugh. They've halted production completely. There's a rumour we might get cancelled, but they won't know anything until Friday. I'm working on my resume."

"Awesome. That makes two of us."

April searched my face for signs of a joke. "Wait. What are you doing home so early?"

"I got fired," I said, and then burst into tears.

"Oh my God, Kelly." She ran over and threw her arms around me and squeezed tightly.

"I worked so hard," I sobbed. "And I got fired for one stupid thing. It's not fair." April kept holding onto me and finally got me to sit down on the couch. I didn't cry that long, but I felt embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I broke down like that."

"It's okay. I totally panicked though. I've never seen you cry before." She hugged me again. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Yeah, sure." April bustled off to make the tea. She returned with tea and Oreos.