“Tell Sadie I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I will. Stay strong, Harper Marie. We’ll see you soon.”
One by one,Tammy slaps tabloids and Internet print-offs on the table between us. Each one is more incriminating than the last.
“What were the two of you thinking?” she demands. For the first time since I’ve met her, her hair isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s thrown up in a hasty knot, and her bangs are going every direction but down.
I rub my face. “We didn’t think anyone would see us together.”
“All you had to do was be discreet for two more days!” Tammy says in a voice that’s just on the edge of yelling. “Two more days!”
Mason lounges in his seat, arms crossed over his chest. He looks at ease, but his jaw and eyes are hard. “If I remember correctly, you encouraged our relationship. Said it was good for ratings.”
“Not like this! We wanted a few mild flirtations on camera. Not the two of you jetting off to New York and kissing passionately in the middle of Rockefeller Center!”
She finishes the tirade with a sharp curse that makes me wince.
“This is enough to make the show look unethical. People are beginning to wonder if the two of you were dating long before the auditions! The show will crash and burn if peoplethink the whole thing is staged. Why watch if it’s nothing but a production?”
“Did we move on?” I ask bluntly, interrupting her before she has an aneurysm. “This doesn’t even matter if Sadie and I came in last in the Russian tea cake competition.”
And if we are in the last place, then I don’t have to feel guilty about ruining this for Sadie.
A vein in Tammy’s neck bulges. “No, you were in the top spot.”
That’s inconvenient.
“What am I going to do?” the producer grasps her head, and I worry she’s going to pull out hair. “Anne’s practically crippled, you’re obviously out of the show, and I had to send Chrissy and Christy home this evening. Sarah and Quinn came in last in Tuesday’s episode, so that only leaves Cole and Jerome. The show’s over!”
“Wait,” I lean forward. “Why did you send Chrissy and Christy home?”
Tammy’s too overwhelmed to speak, so Paula leans forward. Quietly, as if she’s worried Tammy’s actually going to explode, she says, “We found out they’ve been cheating. Marcus—the man who knocked over your cookie wreath—came to us yesterday, admitting they paid him two thousand dollars to sabotage you in that episode.”
I am so shocked, I almost forget to be angry.
“And, once we watched the footage from Tuesday’s show, we saw Chrissy purposely plowed into Anne. There was no doubt about it.” Paula’s eyes go almost comically wide. “She was like a hockey player. Anne only didn’t know because Chrissy came up from behind.”
“Give Sarah and Quinn another chance,” Mason says after listening quietly for several minutes. “Send Chrissy and Christy home, and let Sadie and Jessica partner together for theremainder of the competition since their partners are no longer able to compete.”
He turns to me. “That’s what you want most, isn’t it? Sadie to have a chance to finish the competition?”
I watch him for a moment, and then I nod.
Tammy sits in her seat with a huff and taps her fingers on the table, thinking. “We’ve never had a change in partners before.”
“I guarantee with all the fuss we’ve made, you’ll have more people tune into the show than ever before,” Mason says, urging her to consider his proposal. “Use it to your advantage.”
She thinks about it for what seems like forever, and then she turns to me. “Fine, as long as you agree to do a final interview. You must make sure the viewers are aware the network had no part in this. I want tears. I want apologies. I want the entire story presented like you were broken hearted when you auditioned for the show, but it was love-at-first-sight for the both of you. You were helpless to fight it.”
“The entire story?” I ask. “Including the meeting where you encouraged?—”
“Don’t be sassy. You’re extremely fortunate I’m even considering letting your partner continue.”
The thought of doing that interview makes me ill. Surely Tammy can’t expect me to pour my entire heart out on national television just so Sadie can continue with the competition.
But from the look on her face, I know she does.
Fine.
