Three is the Magic Number

A Writer's Cramp entry - exactly 1000 words using these prompts:
A local TV station with internet problems
Rain... Sour rain
Three dimes on a doorstep


Claire was aware that she had woken up in a bad mood, especially when she considered her appalling date the night before - she shuddered. Switching on the news, whilst getting ready for work, she released that her mood was unlikely to improve any time soon. As the boss of a medium sized local TV station, one of the biggest complications was a huge news story that required massive amounts of airtime. The lady on the radio was churning out stories of overnight riots in the city centre, as if she’d said the same thing about 40 times; she probably has, thought Claire as she checked her watch: 6:58am, the station didn’t go on air until 10:30am, but she needed to run.
Claire started walking down the road, ahh rain…sour rain! She always thought those words when caught in rain; she presumed it was because rain always put her in a sour mood. Thinking she did not need to feel any worse, Claire hailed a cab. A smile spread on her face when she realised she had booked the afternoon off, so she was only working until 12:30pm instead of 6pm!
Claire halted at the top of the stepped to the offices, she noticed something odd: there were three dimes on a doorstep. Then she remembered briefly seeing three dimes on her own doorstep that morning, arranged in exactly the same way. How strange, Claire thought, especially in London, so why would dimes…
“Claire!!” her thoughts were disturbed by Anna, her PA, clearly in need of attention.
“Morning! Big day today. Can you get the scheduling team to a meeting ASAP, please?” Claire sighed.
“Consider it done. We do have other problems today too though” Anna looked wary when sharing this news. “The internet is completely down”.
“Oh man! Not today. Sheeesh, a local TV station with internet problems… how does that work?”, Claire caught herself thinking how sad it is that people cannot cope without internet connection. “Riiight, can you get Greg, the computer tech guy, on that too please?”
“Umm, I would but he hasn’t shown up!”
“What?! That’s the third day in a row! I’ll have to call him…. Okay, can we call someone in then?” At this point, Claire realised that she hadn’t even made it inside the offices. “… Oh and Anna, sorry, is the news team on stand by? They need to do a whole day today!”
“No worries, I’m on it!” and with that Anna scurried off.

As Claire wandered to her office, she noticed yet another three dimes by her door. Okay this is weird now, she thought, but she shook her head; she had no time to investigate right now. Claire dumped her bag on her desk and quickly flicked through the pile of press releases waiting for her. The story was huge, rioting and looting all over London. Well, she thought selfishly, that makes my life slightly easier for today. The station would need to cover news updates all day, so the emergency scheduling meeting would be simple; news and adverts for the whole 12 hours they aired.
With all this in mind, Claire dashed off to Greg, the computer tech guy’s, cubicle to see what was going on. On her way, Anna announced that the meeting was in 20 minutes and the internet was being fixed: fabulous! Claire looked around the cubicle for clues to suggest why Greg hadn’t turned up for three days; she found nothing other than his identity card with the name ‘Gregory Tethera’ embossed on the card. Sheeesh, a clue wouldn’t go a miss, she thought, as she reached for her mobile and called Greg’s number: after the third attempt with still no answer, she stormed off to the meeting.
After hours of meetings and liaising with news teams, the station was on air and news was flowing out without a hitch. They had plenty to fill the day with; the riots were filtering across the country, the stock market was in crisis and there were flood warnings in Scotland. With everything in place, Claire was free to go and enjoy her time off. On her way out she asked Anna if she knew anything about the dimes on the floor; when Anna stared at her, Claire decided to forget it.

Claire entered her building, trying to ignore the three dimes on the doorstep, and found three red roses just inside. Having a nosy to see who her lucky neighbour was, she read the card: “Claire, sorry I’ve not been in. I’ll be over at 3pm! G x”. G? She thought, Greg? Well, this’ll be interesting!
Three O’clock came, and so did the intercom buzz. Claire let Greg into the building and waited hesitantly at the door to her flat; this was very surreal, Claire had only really exchanged pleasantries with Greg before. He looked rather pale and nervous, she noticed.
“Hey” Claire said with apprehension.
“Hiya! The world has gone mad huh? All this rioting.”
“Uhh yeah, its all bonkers! Errr, Greg, where have you been? why are you here?”
“Umm, well” Greg shuffled, “I’ve come to declare my love for you and tell you I quit as I can’t work with someone I love”
Claire stumbled in shock and found herself sitting on the sofa, Greg followed.
“What?! Are you serious, Greg?” she looked into his eyes and discovered a depth she’d never noticed before.
“Absolutely. My surname means three in old fashion sheep counting, that’s why you keep seeing threes everywhere!”
“Riiight, I don’t know whether to feel moved or freaked out about that?! The dimes?”
“The dimes, subtle but enough to make you curious, huh?”
“You could say that!” Claire was in shock, Greg was a sweet guy but this was most unexpected… “I need time to think, it’s been an odd day”.
“Sure” Greg said standing up “but think over dinner” and with that he dragged Claire, gently, out the flat in search of, hopefully, the best date ever! …