“Well, it’s more than just tomatoes, you know. There’s roasted garlic and basil for seasoning. It’s quite nice, actually. Lisa Leann gave me the recipe today; I went out and got the ingredients, went back to the kitchen, and prepared it. Very tasty.”
“Where is Lisa Leann now?”
“In the shower. She’s going to get up first tomorrow so she’s going to bed while I shower.” I stretched my legs and pointed my toes, then flexed them. “She’s heading to the market down in Chinatown early. The camera crew is set up to follow her, to watch and video her as she deals with the fresh food vendors. She’s getting to be quite the New Yorker.”
Vernon chuckled. “Rooming with Lisa Leann has done you a world of good.”
I humphed, then said, “Have you spoken with Goldie?”
“I called her about an hour ago. Jack is scheduled for surgery first thing in the morning.”
“What? She hasn’t called us!”
“I told her I’d tell you and that could be one less thing on her list. Jack’s got a long road ahead of him, Evie-girl. Makes a man like me think.”
“What do you mean by that? A man like you?”
“Jack is younger than me. In better shape, at least on the outside.”
“There is nothing wrong with your shape.”
“I’m not saying there is,” he said with a chuckle. “But what I’m saying is this: if a man like Jack, whose livelihood has depended on being physically fit, can have a heart attack and then need bypass surgery, then a man like me needs to start eating better, exercising more, that kind of thing.”
“A little more exercise and sensible eating would do us all some good.”
“Maybe you and I should talk about what we can do when you get back … to become healthier.”
I paused. “Vernon, are you and the guys coming back for next week’s grand finale?”
“Sure we are. Of course.”
“Good. Win or lose, I don’t want it to be without you here.”
“What do you mean, ‘win or lose’? You’re the winners here, Eviegirl. You should see all the support around here. It’s a major deal, every Tuesday night down at the church, watching the show. And Pastor Kevin told me yesterday that if you win and the money does come to the church, it will have all happened at just the right time. Our sour economy has hit even God’s house, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t I know it.” I heard the water from the shower in the bathroom turn off. “Vernon, Lisa Leann is out of the shower now and it’s my turn, so I’ll say good night.”
“Good night,” he said, his voice low and sexy.
I felt a tingling in my toes, and I curled them. “Good night to you too.”
My bedside phone rang at 6:30 the next morning. I jumped, flipped over to look at the other side of the room. A small shaft of dusty light had slipped between the curtains and allowed me to see Lisa Leann’s bed already empty and the room still. I turned over again and grabbed the handset of the phone. “Hello?” My voice was thick with sleep, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth.
“Evie?” the voice on the other end said.
“Lizzie?”
“I need to come to your room. May I?”
I blinked several times, grabbed the clock with my free hand, and shifted it to see it better. It was 6:31. “Now?”
“Please, Evie. I need to talk to you.”
“Okay. Give me a minute to wash my face and … whatever.”
“See you in five,” she said.
Sure enough, five minutes later, a light tap came to the door. I’d washed my face and made a pot of coffee by then. When she entered, I offered her a cup, then saw she already had one in her hand. “From my room,” she stated. “I’ve been up for hours.”
I prepared a cup for myself. “Have a seat, Liz. What’s on your mind?”
“These notes,” she said. “I talked with David and Donna yesterday, and we tried to come up with some logical explanation as to whether this is Bubba threatening or who exactly.”
“We’ve done okay so far, Liz. Even with the threats.”
“But now the stakes are raised, and I feel like I have to do something. I spoke with Samuel last night and told him I think I should go to Kat, but now I’m thinking I should go to Amy.”
“Amy? Why Amy?”
Lizzie crossed her legs, took a sip of her coffee. “You know that old saying about going to the horse’s mouth? I think, maybe, if I go to Amy to find out exactly who she was with and what she’s up to, it would be a good place to start. After all, Amy is not that much older than the kids I teach at school. Why should I be afraid to go and talk to her? But then I thought maybe it would be better to talk to Kat as I’d planned originally.”
“Why haven’t you already?”
“Because they’re looking for a ratings booster, and somehow they’ve gotten that with us. We’re the team with the adorable blonde who everyone wants to marry. We’ve had these great movie ideas and have had some kind of catastrophe around each event. America seems to love us. And what if Wild Cajuns have moved on only because of Amy? If there is something underhanded in the voting process, then we can bet she’s behind it.”
“Is that possible? Do you really think?”
“I do. And I think that it’s time to do something about it. If we’re going to win, it should be fair. And if we’re going to lose, it should be because the Wild Cajuns presented an affair better than ours. Not because of any affair between Bubba and Amy.”
“Bubba,” I said. “What kind of mother names her son Bubba?”
Lizzie smiled. “So, are you with me?”
“What do you mean, Lizzie Prattle? With you?”
“I’m going to see Kat, but I don’t want to go alone. Goldie isn’t here to go with me, Donna is somewhat involved—what with the tabloids catching her and Bubba together at that restaurant—Vonnie is too skittish, and Lisa Leann is already out and about with the camera crew.”
I took in a deep breath, blew it out. “You are right there. All right. Give me a minute to change my clothes and we’ll go.”
I stood and walked halfway to the dresser, then looked back at Lizzie. “But be careful Lisa Leann doesn’t find out. She’ll think we’re goofing off from doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Lizzie shook her head. “She’ll understand. Especially if this puts us on even footing with the Wild Cajuns.”
We arrived at the studio around eight and were waved in by the guards who’d come to know us by face and by name. Lizzie led the way to the offices and then specifically to Kat’s office where, as God would have it, the door was opened revealing Kat and—what do you know?—Amy going over notes on clipboards. Hot drinks from Starbucks were on the desk before them. They looked up, apparently hearing us stop at the door. Kat smiled. Amy did not.
“Lizzie. Evangeline,” Kat said. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” Lizzie said. “May we come in?”
“Uh …” Kat looked around nervously. “I’m not sure how kosher that is. What’s this about?”
Lizzie stepped in, and I followed. She looked at Amy. “Actually, it’s about Amy.”
“Me?” Amy blushed and straightened her shoulders. “What about me?”
Lizzie crossed her arms. “Amy, we all know that I saw you and Bubba at Seppi’s that night, and we both know what you said.”
Amy coughed out a giggle. “What I said? What did I say?” She looked from Lizzie to Kat and then back to Lizzie.
“You said, and I quote, ‘Believe me, my love, I have it all arranged.’ ”
“Have what all arranged, Amy?” Kat asked.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Amy glared at Lizzie and me. “And neither do you. You might have seen me there, but you and I certainly were never close enough for you to hear me.”
Lizzie smiled just so. “That’s where having a deaf daughter comes in, Amy. I can read lips, just as my daughter does. And I read yours plainly. You were kissing Bubba, you called him ‘my love,’ and you indicated you had something arranged.” She looked back at Kat. “I’m here to make sure that whatever it is she has arranged is not the final outcome of the show. I’m here”—she turned slightly to me—“we’re here to make sure that should the Wild Cajuns win, it is because they deserve to win, not because of any relationship between Amy and Bubba.”
Kat crossed her arms and cocked a hip. “Amy? What about you and Bubba?”
“Then you didn’t know?” I asked. “This isn’t part of the ratings booster?”
Kat gave me a harsh look. “Of course not. We need a ratings booster, yes, but we’ve gotten that by playing the Donna-Wade-David card.”
“What role have you played,” Lizzie asked Amy, “in some of the shenanigans that have taken place at our events?”
Again Amy pinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then obviously you haven’t watched the show. Because all of America knows some of the problems we’ve had. Especially at our last event.”
“What I want to know,” Kat interjected, “is what the relationship between you and Bubba is.”
“Kat!” Amy all but squealed as though she were a schoolgirl standing before a parent, pretending she hadn’t been caught slipping out her window on a school night.
“Amy!” Kat parroted, looking none too happy.
Amy blew air from her lungs. “Oh, all right. Bubba and I have been seeing each other. So what? I have nothing to hide. Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s not a crime, you know.”
“But it is against the rules, Amy. You know that.” Kat paused. “How long?”
“How long what?”
“Don’t play games, Amy. How long have you been seeing Bubba?”
Amy didn’t answer right away. If my suspicions were correct, the love affair and the show’s season beginnings probably ran hand in hand. “Not long,” she finally said. Then quickly added, “But you don’t understand, Kat. We met just before the season started. We just happened to meet at a restaurant. He didn’t know who I was, and I certainly didn’t know who he was and … well … you’ve seen him. He’s gorgeous! I’m single, he’s single, and …”
“Oh, Amy,” Lizzie said. I suppose as the mother of two daughters she has had to deal with this kind of thing in the past. As a woman who stayed single nearly all her life, I wanted to walk over and bop her in the head. How dumb can you be? But Lizzie has that sweet way of talking to the young people. Sweet but firm. Amy, I knew, was about to get a taste of it. “Amy, surely you don’t believe his meeting you was accidental.”
“Yes, I do.”
Kat shook her head. “Oh, Amy,” she said, repeating Lizzie’s words but giving them more of a “what an idiot you are” tone. Then her shoulders dropped, and she said, “Let’s all sit down, shall we?”
There were just enough chairs in the room for each of us. We sat. Lizzie crossed her legs and leaned over in a non-intimidating way. “Amy, listen to me. I’ve raised daughters. I’ve been a high school teacher for a lot of years. Maybe even more than you’ve been alive. I have also raised sons. If there is one thing I know— besides books—it’s the way young men—some of them—try to work their way around young ladies such as yourself. You are a pretty girl, Amy …”
Amy began to cry. Actually began to cry. She shook her head as though to say no, she was not a pretty girl. But Lizzie didn’t hesitate. “Yes, you are, Amy. But something tells me you don’t see it. That’s why you let men like Bubba walk into your life when you know better. When you know the rules forbid it.”
Kat reached for a tissue box on her desk and handed it to Amy. Her actions were kind, but her demeanor showed a different attitude. Kat was ticked. The message was written all over her face. If this got out, it could kill her show, not raise the ratings.
Amy sniffled as she took a tissue, then blew her nose. “You don’t understand,” she said again. “We saw each other for a week before he even asked me what I did for a living. When he found out, he was shocked. He was hurt. He told me we’d have to break off our relationship.
I’m
the one who insisted we keep it going.
I’m
the one who said I’d help them get to the top.”
“Then you’re the one who is going to be in the unemployment line,” Kat said.
Lizzie raised her hand as Amy gasped. “Wait a minute, Kat. Hold on.” She looked at Amy again. “Amy, there is no doubt in my mind that Bubba knew who you were, what you did for a living, everything. What do you really think are the chances he met you in a city of millions by happenstance?”
Amy took a moment to process the question. “Probably very slim.”
“Right.” Lizzie looked at Kat. “You do what you have to do when it comes to firing or keeping Amy. Personally, I hope you don’t fire her. She’s young and naïve and this is all in the process of learning. Evangeline and I both could fill this room with stories of past mistakes under the category of love.”
I shifted in my chair. Maybe Lizzie could “fill the room.” I had but one story. My whole life had been spent loving and pining away and sitting at home bitter because of Vernon Vesey until he finally saw the light and asked me to marry him. So what did I know?
“But I would suggest, Amy,” Lizzie continued, “that you stop the affair now and leave Bubba’s team to win or lose the show on their own merits.”
“Have you altered the results in any way, Amy?” Kat answered.
Amy didn’t answer, which was, of course, an answer.
Kat nodded. “I see. Amy, I’ve given you a list of things to do for the day. Go do them. You and I will discuss your job later. In the meantime, contact your friend Bubba and tell him the affair is off. Do you hear me?”
Again Amy pinked. “I hear you.”
Lizzie softened the blow by adding, “When you do end it, Amy, you will see by the way Bubba reacts whether or not his love for you is real. I’d be willing to bet you’ll be hurt by it. Allow me, please, to encourage you now. Stay strong. Know you are not the first woman to be duped by a man. You won’t be the last. But from now on, you’ll be a lot wiser in your choices.”
Amy nodded, reached for her coffee cup as she stood, and said, “Well, if you will excuse me.” She left the room, leaving the door open behind her.
Kat asked me to close the door, and I did. As I returned to my seat she said to Lizzie, “I have to fire her, Lizzie.”
“Do that,” Lizzie said, “and you can bet she’ll go to the tabloids with anything and everything. True or not.”
“She signed a contract,” Kat said. “It prohibits her from talking about the show.”
“Never underestimate a woman scorned. Especially a young woman.”