Waterfront

Waterfront is the third book of the series. It starts moments after Mt Tabor ends, with Walter driving to the pharmacy after breaking up with Penny. The story follows Walter as he deals with the first few days of recovery after breaking his jaw.

Plot
After breaking up with Penny, Walter leaves her alone in his house and heads into town to the pharmacy. After filling his prescription from the ER, he heads into the studio to film the last segment for their special.

By the time he arrives in the studio, Penny is already at her desk. Walter ignores the looks he gets from the other receptionist and goes back to his dressing room. Billy finds him and stalls for time so Walter can get ready. Growing increasingly ill from the painkillers, Walter dresses and goes out to set to complete the interview. Wrapping the set just in time to send it out, Walter returns back to his dressing room, where he nearly vomits from the effects of the pain killers he’d taken earlier in the day.

Billy finds him again and offers him a ride home. Walter takes him up on the offer, but changes his mind once they reach the parking lot. He calls his doctor instead and manages to get a last-minute appointment. Billy drives him to the appointment, and goes into the clinic with him. While they wait, Billy questions Walter about his date the night before. He tries to get an explanation about Walter’s injury, but Walter refuses to say anything.

During his appointment, his doctor agrees with the ER doctor’s assessment from the night before, and can only offer a different prescription that might not be as hard on Walter’s stomach. He also offers Walter a reference to a surgeon, who might be able to fix the old break from when Walter was in college.

Billy takes Walter home after, where Walter realises he never changed after leaving set. He finds his lavalier microphone still clipped to his shirt, and as he undresses, finds he has also begun shedding as well.

After several days, Walter consults the surgeon. The process explained to Walter is complicated and risky, and would take him off the air for about a month. Dr Clarke tells him to go home and think about it.

Later, while trying to brush his shedding coat from his tail, Walter calls Dr Clarke’s office to set up an appointment. As he’s on the phone, Nichola lets herself into Walter’s house. As she helps Walter with his shedding issue, he informs her that he’s made an appointment to fix his jaw, and will need a month off over the summer. The timing turns out to be fortuitous, because the network is moving them to a new studio around the same time. They arrange for Mandy to helm during the weeks they don’t plan to be dark.

Around mid-week, Walter ventures out of the house to stave off boredom. He heads downtown first to find the location of the new studio. After a lot of aimless driving downtown, he finds an old masonry building under rennovations. He can’t get inside, so leaves to find somewhere to get lunch instead. After battling narrow downtown streets, Walter finds a small restaurant on the waterfront. Before he can begin his meal, he gets a text from Nichola, informing him that Kevin has been stabbed with a rake. Walter runs down his phone battery after texting with Nichola about the matter, and returns to a cold meal. After he finishes eating, he’s approached by the restaurant’s owner with a well-rehearsed line intended to bait Walter into considering buying the place. Bored, Walter indulges him and asks to be shown around. Justin takes him through the building, doing a poor job at selling the place. Despite this, Walter hands a business card and asks Justin to call him.

Characters

 * Walter Jung
 * Penny Wilson
 * Billy Adler (Introduced)
 * Nichola Stevens
 * Dr Lee (Introduced)
 * Dr Clarke (Introduced)
 * Justin (Introduced)