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Everything She Wants - A Newsreader Fanfiction
A one off in which Evelyn just wants to work for him. Somebody tell her why she does the things that she does!
Tuesday 29th April 1986
“Baby, and now we're six months older
And everything you want, and everything you see
Is out of reach, not good enough
I don't know what the hell you want from me…
Somebody tell me, oh
Won't you tell me?
Why I work so hard for you.”
~ Wham!
.
.
She has no clue why she’s here.
What would she say to her?
Where would she even start?
How would she begin to sum up the utter catastrophe that had been her day?
.
The evening had been nothing but a blur to her. His sacking. Her involvement in it. The journalist who now held the network’s deepest secrets that could be released to the public any day now. Somehow, she knew, the blame would be pinned solely back on her, by both concerned parties.
Evelyn Walters had had one hell of a day. Come to think of it, one hell of a life too.
It would be easy to assume that the life of Mrs Walters was a charmed one, and from the outset, that was true. She had certainly benefited from her husband’s over three decade long media career; both in radio and on the small screen. Countless lavish parties and balls attended, many magazine covers spread, brushing with the rich and famous and characters most people would only dream of meeting. Half her wardrobe, personally tailored for her by the best of the best, and a long held friendship with Carla Zampatti and Maggie Tabberer and the wives of the premiers that have come and gone. The stunning home that they had been living in since 1958; nestled within the bushes of Hawthorn East’s lush Leura Grove, the height of sophistication, and where they had brought up their little girl together. They had even had their wedding paid for by the station! What more could one woman want?
The door she was currently strolling up towards was maybe not quite as grand as hers, but she knew that it would never close on her; no matter what she had done. Within those walls was her home away from home, and the person she could always rely on for moral support.
Gripping her handbag close, she pressed the buzzer.
Yapping came from behind the wooden panels, and she managed a snorted laugh.
“Daphne! Please!” A voice tsked. The deadlock unbolted and Evelyn’s shoulders loosened, a breath exhaling she hadn’t realised she had been holding.
“Evvie darling! What a wonderful surprise!”
The tiny poodle; ears adorned with small pink satin bows, ran circles around Evelyn’s shoes; tickling the part of her ankle not covered by her three quarter length slacks.
“Daphne! Come away from Evelyn this instance! Goodness gracious.” The woman scrambled the little dog up into her arms, kissing its tiny nose. “That’s a girl. Good girl!”
.
Deanne Bartlett had always been predictably who she was in all the years she had known her. A socialite married to a major stakeholder in the network, the two women had just happened to be in the same hospital at the same time, both giving birth to their daughters. The woman with the dark red hair and the pixie face combined with those mischievous brown eyes had held Evelyn’s hand throughout her contractions, and had been there when the Walters’ only child had made her way into the world. Purely by accident had Dee been there, but it had been a happy accident indeed. Baby Kay was only a day younger than Dee’s young Mary, and the two tiny girls and their mothers had been inseparable since. The families did everything together, Kay growing up knowing Mary as being like a sister; thankful, because Evelyn’s fertility struggles never allowed for her to give Kay a blood related playmate. She had held a brave face for Geoff, but Dee had held her through her sobs, reassuring Evelyn of her womanhood and her worth as a wife.
“Darling, you’ve given him beautiful little Kay,” Dee had soothed, handing both toddlers in their highchairs a banana each for afternoon tea with one hand whilst stroking Evelyn’s back with the other. “He couldn’t ask for more than that. He’s not mad at all! I promise you that! He loves you, Evvie!”
“His brothers!” Evelyn blubbered over the Bartletts’ kitchen bench.
“That’s them and their families, Evelyn,” Dee’s dark eyes focused on Evelyn pitifully. “Yours doesn’t have to be the same.”
“It’s all he wanted!” Evelyn sniffled.
“Yes darling, but one Kay and one Evelyn is just as beautiful as a gaggle of Kays and Josephs and Williams and Joyces.” Dee’s lips wobbled into a smile. “You know what you need to do, Ev?”
Evelyn blew her nose on her handkerchief and shook her head.
Dee set a teacup in front of her, and motioned to the little brunette girl, her hands covered in banana which she now was wiping all over her high chair, and chuckled. “Focus on that little treasure. Do as much as you can for her. You need not worry your pretty head. Mary and I will always be here for you two. The girls can be like sisters. Kay will never feel lonely, and…” she stroked the top of Evelyn’s hair, pecking it quickly, Evelyn reaching up to squeeze her forearm in return “...neither will you.”
.
Maybe that’s why Evelyn overcompensates everywhere else she can. So, she pries into her husband’s career. So, she wants nothing but the absolute best for him. What’s the issue with that? She had been so devastated that she could never give him a proper brood of tiny Walters that he could come home to, just like she knew his brothers could, that she was pretty much grasping at straws with what else she could do to make him happy; especially with Kay now out of the house and living her own life, wherever that was.
Why was she now the big bad wolf? Why hadn’t he just acknowledged that her meddling was the only reason he still held that position up until today? Acknowledged that he wasn’t young anymore and needed to slow down? That their best years were ahead of them, but they would only be as such if he had listened to her and advocated far more firmly for himself?
.
.
“Evelyn, my love, whatever is the matter?”
Evelyn now sat in the Bartletts’ lounge room, and Dee floated around the bar; her bright pink kaftan a stark comparison to Evelyn’s crisp white shirt and sensible black slacks, and hair as red as ever; although both women knew this was now from a bottle.
Evelyn leaned forward on the lounge, and her head rested in her hands.
“Dee, this afternoon was a complete disaster.”
Dee poured golden liquid into a shaker, and shook it vigorously. “How so, darling?” Her voice warbled from the vibrations of her movements.
“Geoff was axed,” Evelyn glanced down at the floor.
“He was what?” Dee’s shrill of surprise burnt a hole in Evelyn’s conscience. “Oh my! How did this happen!?”
Evelyn somehow gained the courage to look Dee in the eye, her face beat red and the shame radiating from her eyes. Dee’s shoulders shrunk. “Oh Evvie! Please don’t tell me… you have been, haven’t you? Meddling in his private affairs again? Oh you have, I can just tell.”
Evelyn’s chest heaved. “Dee…”
“Evvie, gosh what have I been telling you? That was never going to be a good idea! You know what he’s like! He’s a proud man, proud to a fault, I’m sorry to say.”
“Don’t be! He is even if he won’t admit it! And as far as I’m concerned, you can say whatever you like about him this evening,” Evelyn glanced out the window, which overlooked a considerably large garden, one that Kay and Mary had run amuck and shared all their little secrets in. Their mothers, too.
“So, what exactly happened?” Dee unscrewed the lid, and poured it among two glasses.
“Where do I start?” Evelyn cleared her throat, tinkering with her bracelet.
“From the beginning!” Dee guided; disappearing momentarily behind the counter and diving into the mini fridge; bringing out a tray of ice cubes. The scarlet crown of her hair bobbed just above the surface.
“I rang Lindsay this morning.” Evelyn shared, little Daphne running past her leg and she reached down to stroke her.
“That sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. He’s the big wig, isn’t he?”
Dee carried two glasses in her hands, carefully balancing a bottle of Bailey’s under her arm and settling all three on the table in a swift but considered movement.
“Guess you could say that,” Dee offered one glass out to her, and Evelyn accepted it. “Thank you Dee, you’re a treasure. So sorry to drop in so close to teatime like this.”
“Darling, you know my door is always open. Never mind the time!” Dee sipped the corner of her glass. “So, what did you say to Lindsay?”
“I did more than just talk to him.” Evelyn confessed. “I went to lunch with him.”
Dee gasped. “Evelyn Alice Walters! You did not!”
“Oh don’t worry, Dee my dear, I left him to foot the bill. Left before the first course had been handed out.”
“Haha! That’s my girl!” Dee whooped, patting Evelyn’s arm gleefully.
“Look, I was gracious. I acknowledged that Geoff could get in the way of himself and needed a little push, but it couldn’t be from me.”
“A push?” Dee was confused. “As in, to leave?”
“To lessen his hours, more correctly,” Evelyn clarified.
Dee pursed her lips together and her thin eyebrows furrowed. “Geoff’s not very well, isn’t he?”
No point hiding it from Dee. “He’s been better,” Evelyn admitted, sipping again. “But he wouldn’t consider retirement on his own terms. Someone had to make that decision for him. He was digging himself an early grave. His father was the same, and where did that leave him? Dead, at only 55.”
“Now I said to Lindsay that I could talk him around and get him to consider it, but only if there was a substantial offer on the table.”
“Did you negotiate something?” Dee pried, pulling Daphne onto her lap and stroking the pampered pup’s back.
Maybe that’s what we need, Evelyn glanced down at the pup. If I could train it to only relieve itself in a corner of the yard...
“Earth to Evelyn!” Dee waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Come back to me, Angel!”
“Sorry,” Evelyn apologised, refocusing on her best friend. “Where were we again?”
“Negotiations?” Dee prompted.
“Right,” Evelyn nodded. “Well, I asked for three years' salary guaranteed.”
“Sounds reasonable enough, what with the thirty years he’s given the network.” Dee approved.
“Or was it five?” Evelyn now reconsidered. “I think I might have altered the figure in the end.”
“Evelyn, you should have been a businesswoman. I had always told you that. George even offered you that secretary position years ago, remember?” Dee reminded her, Evelyn’s face screwing up.
“Keeping our house is a full time job within itself,” Evelyn counteracted. “I have my hands full enough as is.”
“That pool needs a maintenance crew of its own!” Dee joked, and Evelyn chuckled in response. “Anything else you asked of Mr Boss Man?”
“To allocate Geoff a series of specials. You know how much he has been itching to get out from behind the desk and get back in the field, breaking stories domestically and globally. With the promise of this, I thought he could calm down and graciously take it.”
“I’m gathering he didn’t?” Dee caught on.
“No!” Evelyn finished the rest of her glass, and pointed to the unopened Bailey’s. “May I?”
“Let me!” Dee insisted, popping the lid off and pouring some into both of their glasses. “So what did he do?”
“Rang Peter Monahan from The Sun,” a headache settled in as Evelyn recalled the memory she had been trying to block out.
“He’s gone to the press?” Dee’s eyes bulged.
“Yes,” Evelyn nursed her forehead against the back of her hand, a larger gulp of Bailey’s being consumed than last.
“Well, what did he say?” Dee’s voice erred on the edge of panic, and even little Daphne buried her nose into her owner’s lap.
Evelyn stared into her glass shamefully. “Think the real question is, Dee, what didn’t he say. If this gets out into the press, Lindsay has promised us that there would be no golden handshake and that he would turn it back on myself and Kay.”
“But Kay’s had nothing to do with this!” Dee cried. “You haven’t seen her all year!”
“That’s what Lindsay said, ‘we’ll say the decision had the support of his family.’” Evelyn quoted, making a vow to herself that if she ever came across that man again…
“Do you think he’ll publish it?” Dee enquired. “Monahan?”
“Don’t see why not,” Evelyn answered. “It was pretty damning. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was splashed on the front covers tomorrow.”
“Even if that did happen,” Dee thought, “surely you two have enough savings to last you. Wasn’t 60 Minutes offering too or am I imagining that?”
“Channel Nine, more specifically.” Evelyn corrected Dee. “His old friend Clive could definitely find him something there.”
“Well, why don’t you look for a silver lining?” Dee’s endless optimism; what Evelyn treasured about her, took over, “He cuts ties with the network that didn’t value him, he gets some fresh air, you get a peace of mind about your futures, and he might get reduced hours but far more quality screen time. The news desk is for young up and comers like that Helen Norville, not for seasoned professionals like your Geoff.”
“Says a lot about the network when all they can offer people is that game show girl.” Evelyn scoffed, as she always did thinking about her husband’s much younger and, unfortunately, much prettier female colleague.
“Oh you’re still on that train of thought!” Dee pressed her lips together in a half smile and shook her head side to side. “She’s not doing that badly, considering where she came from.”
“I’m just waiting for her to call to the audience to pluck a duck.” Evelyn replied in jest, which set the two of them off in cackles.
“Speaking of which, let’s see what that sorry looking desk is like tonight!” Evelyn gestured to Dee’s television. “Bet they’ve scrubbed Rob up again tonight. They’ve been grooming that young man for years. Hope he’s not too pleased with himself.”
Dee picked Daphne off her lap, offered her to Evelyn to hold, and Evelyn accepted the fluffy bundle of diamanté jewels and hair bows as Dee shuffled over to the telly, switching it on and selecting Channel Six.
“Francine Pullford, for News At Six.” The report they had just missed had finished.
“In Finland, over five times the normal level of radiation has been detected since the developing nuclear crisis at Chernobyl began…”
Sure enough, it was Helen Norville, dressed in a pink suit and addressing the camera as if nothing untoward in that office had happened that day. Evelyn grunted, and Dee nudged her shoulder. “She’s not that bad, Evvie,” Dee defended Helen. She frowned as her eyes traveled to the right of the screen. “Who is he?”
It took Evelyn embarrassingly long to process who it was beside her; or that there was anyone beside her at all, for that matter. In his sharp striped suit and with his hair completely gelled back, the young man looked rather different to how he had at their garden party two months ago.
“Oh they cannot be serious!” Evelyn seethed. Her jaw dropped a slight, and she glanced over to Dee in disbelief.
“Hold on, is that the young handsome devil she was holding hands with in the paper? The one she’s posing with in the Woman’s Day this week?” Dee recalled. “Gosh, what was his name again?”
“Dale Jennings,” Evelyn responded nonchalantly. “Senior reporter, apparently!”
“There’s nothing senior about him!” Dee chuckled. “Looks like they’ve plucked him straight out of the local nursery school!”
Evelyn burst out laughing; heartily, for the first time that day. “My god, THAT’S who? THAT’S all they could come up with? The game show girl and the boy she snatched from his cradle!”
Both women were now in a fit of giggles, Daphne excitedly bouncing around between them, clearly wanting to join in the commotion herself.
“Oh Evelyn, you’ve always been a scream, mon cherie!” Dee patted her leg affectionately.
“I said this to Geoff a week ago, best thing we can do is to sit back, and let them fall apart.’”
“Well…” Dee picked both of their glasses up from the table and pressed Evelyn’s into her hands, “I’ll be joining you, darling!”
They clinked glasses, Evelyn’s heart filling with gratitude for the old friend who had never once let her down.
“Yup!” She nodded, settling herself back in the mountain of cushions and not in a rush to go back home. At the moment, this was everything she wanted.
“I’ll cheers to that.”