“Okay,” said Linda, with an air of unreassuredness. “But none of the other ones who took everything to heart bailed before the end.”
“Which is why,” Audrey told her, “it’ll make a good story beat. This is best for you. And it’s probably best for the show as well.”
Linda had televisually large eyes when distressed. “Really?”
“Yes.” Audrey stood up. “Now come on, let’s go tell Jennifer you’re walking.”
* * *
“…the saddest part of the show,” Grace was saying. “Although this week, perhaps mercifully, Wilfred and Marianne have been spared the task of deciding which of our wonderful contestants won’t be coming with us into next week. Our darling Linda, with the full support of theBake Expectationsfamily, has chosen not to progress in the competition—”
Audrey took off her headset and turned to look at Jennifer Hallet, who was smiling to herself. A queasy sensation stirred quietly in Audrey’s stomach.
“Did I just play her for you?” she asked.
“Paranoia doesn’t suit you, Lane.”
Across the various screens, Linda was being hugged. Audrey had been expecting tears but, while the cameras were making sure to capture looks of affection on everyone’s faces, the atmosphere was surprisingly upbeat for an elimination. Even if it was a self-elimination.
“No, but—was this the plan? Did you know I’d help her do this?”
“I knew you’d do the right thing.”
“The right thing for your show, you mean.” Audrey’s head was spinning. And she was beginning to worry she’d set it to the Jennifer cycle.
Jennifer made a noise of annoyance that Audrey was beginning to feel increasingly familiar with. “If I wanted someone toonly think about the show or about what I wanted, I’d do it myself or send Colin. There’s a fucking balance.”
“But”—the contestants were being shepherded out the ballroom for interviews—“what if I made the wrong call? Maybe Linda would have been fine. Maybe I’ve taken an opportunity from her. Maybe—”
“Linda was not fine. She was definitely going out. The only question was whether she went out on her terms or on the judges’.”
“And you just happen to get an amazing watercooler moment out of it.”
“Oh, please, I can make a watercooler moment out of a slightly limp baguette. Look”— Jennifer swung back on her villain chair with the air of someone about to tell an international superspy why they couldn’t possibly thwart her evil plan—“the story was going to go one of three ways. Either she soldiered on to a valiant defeat. Or she flounced out in a huff. Or she walked out with her head held high. I’d have been fine with any of them. She’d have been fine with one or three. You pushed it towards three.”
It felt weird to hear Jennifer trying to be reassuring. And it felt uncomfortable to be reassured by it. “She’s still a person, Jennifer. Not a chess piece.”
Leaning forward again, Jennifer pressed a button. “Colin, send in the bishop.” There was a pause. “No, no, not literally. I’m doing a chess thing with Audrey. I mean send in the whiny one.”
The response wasn’t quite instantaneous. As much as Jennifer would probably have liked everybody to spend all day standing outside her trailer waiting for her to yell for them, Colin and Linda were still on the terrace outside the ballroom doing postshow interviews, and so it took a couple of minutes for the door to swing open and Linda to creep sheepishly in.
“Sorry,” she said. Which was pretty much what she’d said when she first told Jennifer she was bowing out as well.
“Don’t be, you did me a favour. Always good to have something to shake up a mid-season episode.”
Linda was still looking doubtful.
“On your way out, Colin will give you the details of our in-house counsellor. You don’t have to use them, you can find somebody else if you want, but you do need to speak tosomebody.”
“I don’t want to make—”
“A fuss, I know. But look at me, Linda.” Jennifer fixed Linda with her most no-nonsense stare, which was very, very no-nonsense, indeed. “Do I look like somebody who lets people make fusses?”
“No,” Linda admitted.
“You made the right call. It’s intense while you’re here, but this is just a TV show. Say goodbye to the cast, go home, put your feet up, and remember it’s not really important.”
Linda just nodded, murmured something vaguely in the direction ofthanks, and went back out to liaise with Colin.
