as Anna’s smile deepened. Nathan gave Anna a quick wink and strode in.
‘Maybe we can replace it with this one?’ Anna said, tapping her keyboard until one of the rejected callers lit up on their screens. ‘Sanjeet talking about how the younger generation pop pills like they’re sweets?’
‘Perfect,’ Nathan said, green eyes smiling as he sat down across from her. ‘Bloody new mums, full of good ideas.’
Anna did a faux eye roll. ‘Sexist bastard.’
Heather turned away from them both, crossing her arms. She didn’t argue with him. Nobody argued with housewives’ favourite, Nathan Wheeler. He’d once worked for a big national radio station but couldn’t bear the commute any more. So three years ago he joined Coast to Coast as it gained in popularity and his presence further cemented the station’s success. Anna and Nathan were the ideal co-presenters.
He was dressed casually today in a white polo t-shirt and blue jeans, his fair hair sticking up at the back from the way he criss-crossed his hands behind his head while on air. He liked to lean back in his chair, long legs stretched out on the table, a look of concentration on his face as he listened to someone moaning about something or another. That was Nathan’s skill, the fact he really listened. That and his boyish good looks which helped when the station’s publicity team pushed him as the ‘poster boy’ of the station.
As for Anna, she was the rough to his smooth with her gravelly voice and quick-witted responses to difficult, sometimes abusive, listeners and guests. She might not be pushed as the face of the station like Nathan was, but she’d grown a reputation for perfectly reflecting the public’s mood with her own opinions. It wasn’t intentional. She just had what her dad used to call the ‘crowd’s gut’: a natural instinct to know what the zeitgeist was at any given time.
Nathan leaned towards Anna. ‘So good to have you back.’
She smiled. ‘Thanks, Nathan, it’s good to be back.’
And the fact was, despite missing Joni, the exhaustion and contending with Heather, it did feel good to be back doing what she knew best: radio.
Nathan switched off the speaker system so only Anna could hear him. ‘So you accepted an offer on the house then?’
‘Yep,’ Anna said, trying to hide the jolt of pain she felt when she thought of it. ‘We’ll be out in a month.’
‘That’s it? It’s definitely over between you and Guy?’
Anna took a sip of coffee, clutching the handle of the mug tight to stop Nathan seeing the way her hand trembled. ‘I think selling the house is pretty final, don’t you?’
‘I’m so sorry, Anna.’
‘It’s fine,’ she said, shrugging, trying to pretend it really was fine when it was so far from that. ‘It’s for the best. I didn’t think that at the start but now I see it really is.’
‘Still hurts like a bugger though, doesn’t it?’
She felt her sinuses sting at the threat of tears. She saw it all over again in her mind, Guy softly pressing his lips against Joni’s head three months before, whispering he’d see her very soon. Anna had begged him to stay then instantly felt foolish, desperate, weak. She hated appearing weak. But the fact was, Joni was too young to watch her father walk away, just five months old at the time. And Anna had never dreamed of being a single mother, a divorcee, it just wasn’t how she’d envisaged her life unfolding. Yes, their marriage had been having difficulties for a while. But why wouldn’t he fight for it like she was willing to?
She surprised herself now as a sob escaped her. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth.
‘Come here,’ Nathan said, putting his arms out to her. She hesitated a moment, peering through the glass divider at the production studio. But Heather and the assistant producer had their backs to them, peering at the computer screens. So Anna sank into Nathan’s arms, taking comfort from the familiar musky smell of his aftershave. ‘Cry all you want,’ he said into her ear. ‘I might even have some mascara in my drawer from that photoshoot I did with the Ridgmont Waters Chronicle a while back.’
She laughed into his polo shirt. ‘I’m just tired, that’s all.’
‘Are you sure you need to be here?’ he asked, looking down at her. ‘Might be better you get yourself home, pick up that gorgeous baby of yours and have a duvet day in your new home. I can do the show alone.’
Anna pulled away and shook her head, the ends of her long brown hair skimming her arms. ‘Absolutely not, I’ve only been back a couple of hours. I’m fine, really. Just first-day-back jitters, that’s all.’
Nathan tilted his head as he examined Anna’s face.
‘What?’ Anna frowned, putting her hand to her cheek. Were there still flakes on her face from the stale blueberry muffin she’d gulped down for breakfast that morning?
‘You’re a tough cookie, always have been,’ he said.
Tough cookie.
That’s what everyone said when they discovered what had happened to her when she was a kid. You go through all the stuff she had, you survive it and what are you left with? Comparisons to a biscuit. Thing is, she wasn’t feeling so tough at the moment. Did that mean she could crumble any minute?
‘I’m not the only working mother in the world, Nathan.’
‘I know. But with everything going on at home too…’
‘It’s hard,’ Anna said, making her voice strong. ‘But I’ll get through it. As long as Joni is okay, that’s all that matters.’ She looked at the photo she had of Joni. She’d taken it during one of their regular afternoon walks along the beach. She was sitting on the pebbles, her yellow sundress grubby, her dark hair a tangled mess around her red cheeks, brown eyes sparkling.
Nathan followed Anna’s gaze. ‘She’s adorable.’
Anna’s face softened. ‘She’s everything.’
He nodded as he turned the speaker system back on. ‘Keep that strong in your mind, all right? That’s all that matters.’
Anna looked at the photo on Nathan’s desk of his twin boys: one fair like Nathan, the other dark like Val, his wife.
‘One minute to airtime,’ Heather’s uptight voice blurted into their ears.
Nathan smiled. ‘Here we go.’
‘Here we go.’ Anna took a long deep breath as Heather started counting down. ‘Five…four…three…’
The show’s intro tune pounded in Anna’s ears, giving her strength.
‘Two…one…’
Anna opened her eyes, a smile set on her face. ‘Morning, morning, morning!’ she said. ‘This is Anna Graves, welcome to “Your Say” on the south coast’s most popular regional radio show, Coast to Coast.’
‘And this is Nathan Wheeler. It’s seven a.m. and everything
