Brooklyn Monroe Wants It All by Karen Booth

Chapter Five

Alec had been thinkingabout the date that went horribly wrong for three days. How could he and Brooklyn have gone from zero to sixty, then back to zero, so fast? Mentally, he felt stuck where he’d been months ago, trying to sort all of this out. Except he no longer had a therapist, because he’d thought he was doing okay. That might have been a premature change.

Regardless, he had to talk to someone, and the most logical person was his younger brother. Nick was a married dad of two, everything Alec had once thought he would be, and more important, everything their parents had hoped for when they were alive.

Soon after he got home from shooting the show, he stretched out on the brown leather sofa in his living room and gave his brother a call. “It was such a mess,” Alec declared after some small talk and the long explanation of what had happened with Brooklyn.

“Did she actually come out and ask you to get her pregnant?”

“Not exactly. She said she was thinking about becoming a mom. But she talked about other things she wanted to do, too. And I was all excited because I thought she was thinking about settling down. Then we kissed, went back to my place, and that was when the confusion started.” From where he was situated, he could see into the foyer where that kiss had taken place. He raked his hair from his face, wishing there was a replay for dates like they had for sporting events. Then he could just go to the tape and figure out what in the hell had really happened.

“I love that you got excited about the fact that she was showing signs of getting serious. You can be such a sap.”

Alec sighed. “I know. I’m a romantic. I’ve always been this way. I can’t help it.” Indeed, Alec was the guy who only had one girlfriend in high school. Then one in college. And although neither of those relationships worked out, and he’d had other options later in life, he’d never been interested in pursuing something casual. He’d always had some sort of commitment in mind.

“You know I’m not the guy to give relationship advice. My marriage to Zina is easy. On most things, we can find a way to compromise, and when that doesn’t work, I do whatever she wants because it makes my life a lot easier.”

Alec couldn’t see himself ever giving up that much control. But maybe that was part of his problem. He might be a romantic, but he was also incredibly Type A. “The thing is, I really like Brooklyn, but I’m not sure I want to be a dad. Ten years ago, no question. I would’ve said yes. But I’m forty-four. Even if I met a woman, or Brooklyn and I figured out our problems, I’d be forty-five or older before the baby was born. I don’t want to retire the same day they graduate from high school.”

“Look, I’m not going to try to sway you in either direction. I love being a dad. Sophia and Maya have made me a better person. But I’m younger than you and the girls are already eight and ten. So I can see why you might not want to go there. It can be exhausting.”

Alec’s mind naturally flew to his two adorable nieces, what rays of sunshine they were in the family, and how much they had meant to his parents. Before Alec and Nick’s mom got sick, she lavished the girls with all the love a grandmother—ya-ya—could muster. She showered them with kisses, and plied them with sticky loukoumades, the Greek version of donuts, as soon as they had teeth and it was safe for them to have honey. Their dad was the proud grandpa—pappouli—bragging to anyone who would listen that both girls were the most brilliant and beautiful to ever walk the earth, and he did it all while caring for his slowly declining wife.

Alec had fond memories of the extended family gatherings before his mom passed away, but he also remembered feeling as though he was falling short. Success, decent TV ratings, and the occasional feature in an entertainment magazine didn’t count for much as his mom dropped not-so-subtle hints, asking Zina to set aside the girls’ hand-me-downs for the day Alec “settled down”. She’d say to him, “I just want you to be happy”, but he knew that really meant marriage and children. At that point, every clock imaginable was ticking—Alec was only getting older and his mother was only getting sicker. And none of them were aware of it, but his dad wasn’t far behind her. Mom lost her battle with cancer, and their father died of a broken heart.

“So you and Brooklyn want different things,” his brother continued. “You aren’t hurting for options, are you?”

“I have a lot fewer than you probably think.” Yes, women sent him emails professing their love, and one celeb magazine had declared him “America’s early-morning silver fox”, but that didn’t make dating at his age an easy prospect. The landscape of courtship at forty-four was riddled with pitfalls—an endless obstacle course of exes, kids, and personal agendas. He didn’t expect things to be easy, but there were so many complications.

“Well, life is short. I know that sounds like a cliché, but it’s true. Do what makes you happy. If something doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Move on.”

“You’re right. Accepting things is important. And I can’t control what someone else wants. I can only control myself.” Now I sound like my therapist. “I should get going, but have you and Zina had a chance to talk about Thanksgiving?” After their mom passed away, Nick and Zina started hosting the holiday, but that meant Alec had to hop on a plane after anchoring the Thanksgiving Day parade for the network. Last year, he spent much of the day stuck at JFK after bad weather on the East Coast shut everything down. It was the absolute worst, since Alec was still depressed after his break-up with Brooklyn. Nothing like spending a family holiday in a gate area, heartbroken and praying for a plane.

“I don’t think we can swing coming up to New York. I know you really want to host, but between my work schedule and Zina’s, it’s just not workable.”

Alec sighed. “Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to come down there. Hopefully, the weather won’t be as much of a problem this time.” He might be disappointed, but he did look forward to family time. This one visit might be the only one he’d get all year. “I should probably go get some sleep. Otherwise, I’m going to look like hell on camera tomorrow.”

“We don’t want that. Take care of yourself.”

“I will. You, too.” Alec hung up. Although Nick had helped him feel less terrible, he’d also gotten Alec’s brain going on the topic of fatherhood. His age felt like this big gray cloud overhead. People loved to talk about a woman’s biological clock, but men could be just as haunted by the persistent tick tick tick, too. And when he and Brooklyn hadn’t worked out, and no other chances at love materialized in his life, he’d resigned himself to never being a dad. Marriage might still be in the cards. Although after the mistakes he’d made on his date with Brooklyn, maybe he needed to accept that none of these conventional thoughts of “settling down” were right for him.

The next day, Alec arrived at the Good Day USA set at 4:00 AM and went through his routine of hair and makeup. His co-hosts, Tilly Ann and Renata, were their usual flurry of conversation. They didn’t typically pay attention to Alec until the cameras were rolling, which was perfectly fine with him.

Halfway through that morning’s segment on the importance of washing produce, Alec noticed Georgia Carle, network exec overseeing the news division, and occasional meddler in Good Day USA, lurking in the shadows behind the cameras. The hot aroma of brimstone filled the studio. His spine stiffened, his palms started to sweat. Georgia was the key to the career shift Alec was so eager to make, but she was like a fire-breathing dragon in heels.

“Alec. Can I speak to you for a moment?” Georgia asked as soon as the cameras had cut away.

Alec glanced over at his producer, who nodded silently. He jumped out from behind the set’s demo kitchen and jogged back to where Georgia was standing. He reached out and shook her hand, always surprised by her icy grip. Weren’t dragons supposed to have hot skin? “It’s nice to see you. What can I do for you?”

Georgia was holding a small navy blue box with metallic gold trim. “My husband received this in the mail yesterday. So did a lot of other men, apparently. It’s all over social media.”

“I don’t pay attention to that stuff. I must have missed it.” Alec avoided Twitter and Facebook like the plague. Those were not safe spaces for a television personality.

Georgia handed over the box. “Go ahead. Open it. Read the note inside.”

As soon as Alec had it in his hands, he knew this had to do with Brooklyn and Posh Post. The lid was emblazoned with the message: Hi, Handsome. You have Posh Male. Inside sat a letter atop a neat row of men’s skincare products. The minute he started reading, Brooklyn’s voice popped into his head. He tried hard not to smile at the way she said certain things, like you know you’re going to love it. But then he saw the post script and nearly threw up.

P.S. If any of you hot men are single and interested in helping out an overworked CEO and would like to get her pregnant, send Brooklyn Monroe an email at [email protected]

“Bold, huh?” Georgia asked, allowing one corner of her mouth to turn up.

Alec was thinking more ballsy than bold. It was downright shocking, especially given Alec’s close call with Brooklyn the other night. And to think he’d worried he’d been too hard on her. Now he was thinking he’d dodged a bullet. He knew she was serious about getting pregnant, but he had no idea the lengths to which she would go to make it happen. “You aren’t thinking about doing a story on this, are you? Seems a little pulpy.”

“I’d say it’s more juicy and intriguing. It’s also what gets people to click and watch,” Georgia continued. “The news team has made multiple phone calls to the Posh Post offices and Ms. Monroe won’t speak to anyone.”

Now Alec had an idea of where this was going. “And you want me to help you get to her.”

“You two have a relationship, don’t you?”

“She’s my ex. We’re friends.” I think.

“I’d call that a relationship. The reality is that everyone is racing for this story and you’re the one with a direct line to it. We’d like you to leverage it if you’re willing.”

Alec couldn’t help but feel like this was a real chance at something more professionally, but would it be worth it? The idea of speaking to Brooklyn about this subject, in front of a camera, was horrendous. How would he ever separate his feelings from the story?

“Well?” Georgia asked when Alec still hadn’t responded. “The network would prefer it air on Good Day, given the massive female viewership, but I would have a hand in it. It would give us a chance to work together.”

That changed everything, making it easier to answer. “If I do this, I need your assurance that it’s my interview. And if it goes well, I want a real shot at correspondent for The Sunday News Hour.”

Georgia grinned with a bit too much self-satisfaction. Meanwhile, Alec was hoping this was the right move. “Deal,” she said. “But you need to nail it down today.”

“Alec, we have sixty until we’re back on,” his producer said, with more than a hint of strain in his voice. They hated it when the on-camera folks strayed off set.

“I have to go.”

“Do we have a deal?”

“Yes. I’ll call her as soon as we wrap the show.”

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