Suddenly Natalie felt she was on familiar ground. Of all the things she’d mastered in her years climbing the news ladder, giving herself the perfect straight blowout was at the top of her list. In news, a good blowout was an essential survival skill.

“How would you like me to change my hair?” Natalie asked, thinking, I got this.

“To start with, it is about an eighth of an inch longer on one side than on the other. Is that meant as a statement?”

“A statement?” Natalie repeated, flustered.

Bibb nodded. “Do we think it is uneven or do we think we’re tilting our head?”

“We’re talking about my hair?” Natalie asked, just for clarification.

Bibb sighed. “Please understand, I am on your side. You may think this doesn’t matter but it does. It will have a direct bearing on your ratings. You can’t be cavalier about it.”

“I’m not cavalier about my hair. Not at all,” Natalie protested. Bibb looked toward the door and as she motioned, Natalie could feel someone enter behind her.

“Hal, join us. We were just talking about Natalie’s hair,” Bibb said as Hal took a seat and scooted close to Natalie.

“It’s one of your best features,” Hal said, looking like he was dangerously close to touching it again. “So full-bodied.”

“True, but there’s just so much of it,” Bibb said. “I’m thinking The Treatment.”

“Great idea.” Hal agreed as he inched his chair a smidge closer to Natalie.

“It’s a chemical straightener that will do wonders reducing the volume.” Bibb smiled warmly-ish. “I’ll give you the name of a place. It’s six hundred dollars but so worth it. You won’t believe the difference it will make.”

Natalie became aware of a tingling in her arm and realized she’d pushed herself so deeply into the corner of the chair to get away from Hal that her forearm had gone numb.

“Okay,” Natalie said noncommittally, thinking there was no way she was spending six hundred dollars on hair chemicals. “Well, thanks, then,” she added and, assuming the meeting was over, made to get up and away from both of them.

“It is not just your hair,” Bibb said, sending Natalie back into the chair. “It is, well—” Bibb paused. “It’s you. I worry you’re a little too outside the lines.” Bibb tilted her head. “What are you? What’s your thing?”

Natalie frowned, speechless.

“See even you aren’t sure. That’s a problem,” Bibb said.

“What should I be?” Natalie asked, genuinely uncertain.

“We need you to be very authentic,” Bibb said.

“Viewers love authenticity,” Hal said, nodding enthusiastically.

Were they serious? Authenticity, like relatability, was one of those words news managers loved to throw around without bothering to assign it a meaning. “So you’re saying I should be more myself on air? Show more personality?” Natalie asked, trying to sound open-minded.