Read Online Life is Sweet by Elizabeth Bass - Free Book Online Page A

because of the show.
    She hesitated before admitting, “Yes, that’s me.”
    â€œOh, terrific! Rebecca, my name is Renee Jablonsky. I’m the casting director for the reality show Celebrities in Peril! And as it happens, we’re putting together a super-special child star edition.”
    â€œI hope you mean former child star.” Presumably putting actual children in peril wasn’t considered entertainment. Yet.
    â€œCorrect. And would you believe, Rebecca, that during our round-table session, yours was one of the first names that came up? So many of us here grew up with Me Minus You and are such big fans of your work!”
    â€œThank you. But my work now is making cakes.”
    â€œI know—that’s so adorable and small towny. It could almost be a TV show! And what great publicity it would be for your little bakery to have you back in the limelight.”
    Becca was gripping the phone so hard, for a moment she wondered which would crack first—the phone’s plastic shell or the bones in her hand. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to describe how much I’m not interested in doing a reality show. Especially not one with the word peril in the title.”
    The woman chuckled. “It’s actually not dangerous. It’s managed risk.”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œThat business with the shark last season was just extremely bad luck. And Mackenzie totally survived it.”
    â€œI don’t—”
    â€œThe doctors were even able to save her leg—all but one little chunk.”
    Oh Lord. “I’m sorry, I have a business to run here. And it’s not show business.”
    The woman’s skeptical grunt conveyed her firm belief that only fools turned down opportunities to be on television. “Here’s the deal, Rebecca. We pay a flat fee for each week that you stay on the show, and it’s not really a huge time commitment, because each edition of the show is limited to a six-week run.”
    â€œI’m still not interested,” Becca said. “In fact, the only thing I’m curious about is how you found the number for my store.”
    A few too many coincidences had cropped up in the past day. She glanced over at Walt, sweeping between tables at the front of the shop. First, he had been camped outside her store. He was from California. Last night, she’d offered him a job, and now this woman from California was pestering her. Walt certainly didn’t look like a television production company spy. . . .
    Renee demolished the conspiracy theory. “We Googled you.”
    An article about her had appeared in the local paper back when she’d opened the bakery, but it hadn’t been picked up nationally. Becca was pretty sure the Strawberry Cake Shop wasn’t among the top listings on a search of her name.
    She brought up the web browser on the shop’s little netbook now.
    â€œSome kook wrote a blog about visiting your store,” the woman said.
    Becca typed her name into the web browser and did a search. Sure enough, the first story that came up was “My Morning with the Bakery Bitch” at a blog called Megan’s Musings. She skimmed a few lines. “I did not toss a cupcake at her,” she grumbled into the phone. “I would never do that. I have respect for cupcakes.”
    Renee chuckled over the line. “Yeah, well, I got a kick out of it. We like feisty! And when I saw it and realized I could get in touch with you, it just felt lucky, because we’d been trying to hunt you down ever since a couple of Saved by the Bell kids fell through.”
    Hunting her down sounded apt. “I wouldn’t think you’d have trouble drumming up talent for your show.” She used the word talent in its Hollywood sense, meaning warm bodies on a set, not Webster’s definition of a person with artistic aptitude. There was no shortage of kids who had strutted before a camera at some time