“Yes.”
Great. Ron. This particular producer had rubbed her the wrong way since day one. Obnoxious, telling jokes in poor taste only people who wanted to suck up to him found funny. Always interjecting ideas to stir up drama.The viewers are gonna love this!was Ron’s favorite phrase.
“Ron Pearson. How you doing?”
“Have you called to tell me you’re going to clear my name?” Grizzly bears didn’t waste time with pleasantries when a threat lingered. Tessa wouldn’t either.
Ron gave that obnoxious laugh. “You know we can’t look the other way about that matter.”
“You mean the truth—that I didn’t cheat—isn’t good for ratings.”
His laugh turned uneasy, and Ron cleared his throat. When he spoke again, he used his authoritative tone everyone hated. “Tessa, it’s your handwriting. You even admitted it was your recipe card.”
Tessa bit her tongue before she said one of many things Mr. Jenkins warned her against. “What do you want?”
“To give you a chance at redemption. Join us for season two, Tessa.”
“No.”
“I was hoping you would be excited for the opportunity.”
Tessa paced the small space, but she wouldn’t let any shred of doubt cause her to back down. If they wanted to call her a grizzly bear, then she would be one to the fullest extent. “I’d be excited if you cleared my name. On seasonone.”
“That’s not possible. And I’m afraid you signed a contract that doesn’t give you the option to turn down a follow-up season. Unless you’ve contracted a highly contagious disease or have since passed away, you’ll need to be in Vegas in two weeks.”
“I read it.”
“Good, good. Then you know—”
“So did my lawyer.”
Silence lingered from the other end, causing Tessa to smile victoriously. It wasn’t easy to render Ron Pearson speechless, but if she’d managed it, that contract was as flimsy as Mr. Jenkins suggested.
“I’m not coming back. If you have a problem with that, you can contact my lawyer.”
“I didn’t want to take this to court . . .”
Mr. Jenkins also warned her they would use scare tactics to avoid legal fees and potential messy press. “If that episode airs—and you know the one I’m talking about—I’m going to take your show to court, Mr. Pearson, for slandering my name. You haven’t been able to show me one shred ofactualevidence.”
“Let’s not be rash, Ms. Whitmore.”
“Rash?” Tessa let out an incredulous laugh. Had Mr. Jenkins been present, he might have advised her not to comment, but Tessa couldn’t help herself. “You’re going to play me off as some cheater to boost your ratings. I don’t know if you read your contract, Mr. Pearson, but you kicked me off the show under those false pretenses. You didn’t have proof that I planted the recipe.” She almost launched into her theory about Derek, but she’d been advised that speculation would likely be turned against her.
“Maybe we can work out an arrangement.”
Chapter Nineteen
Tessa
Tessa stayed at the hospital with Liam until the last possible minute. “Am I making the wrong decision?” she asked at the front door. April was expected to be ready any time, but Tessa had a plane to catch. They’d already talked about this at length, how the producers offered to let her come back and compete in the final challenge and clear her name if she agreed not to sue them. But leaving still felt . . . wrong. “I can call them back—”
Liam drew her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “You’ll always wonder, Tessa. That’s why you have to go.”
Ron Pearson had offered a compromise—one texted with a legally binding document that had Mr. Jenkins’ stamp of approval. Tessa’d return to compete for the finale, replacing Derek. Seemed the producers realized their viewers weren’t rooting for him anyway, and they were more than thrilled for him to get booted right before he expected to take the victory. Ron had a whole plan to maximize the drama.
“I hate this reality TV drama,” Tessa mumbled into Liam’s chest. She didn’t want to win, but she was too competitive to throw the final challenge on purpose. “I won’t be able to call for a while.”
“I know.”
