Read Online Sweetheart Deal by Linda Joffe Hull - Free Book Online Page A

she’d be starring in a makeover show. Before she could ask any questions, the camera was rolling and she realized that she was expected to play a stereotypical party-girl version of herself. A girl in need of a style update.
    Unlike me, Michelle quickly overcame her misgivings and decided the situations the producers presented were so far from her real self that no one who really knew her would believe she’d act that way. She watched the producers do their thing and realized she got that they were just trying to make the most interesting show possible. In fact, she decided that improvising every scene—from a meltdown over a haircut (which was just extensions attached to her real hair) to pushing around a clerk while shopping for designer duds for her dog was simply good acting experience. She even took it in stride when a dark-haired member of the crew was sent to get his back waxed so they could pretend the strips were her leg hair.
    As I read the conclusion of her story, in which Michelle recounted how the friendly crew was genuinely concerned for her and her well-being during the entire process and how they went out of their way to make her feel talented and invaluable, even apologizing for having to fake situations, I couldn’t help but feel worse than I already did. Would Michelle have been smart enough to know she was supposed to play along the moment Alejandro began to flirt on the timeshare tour? Surely she wouldn’t have protested his advances to the point where producers on her show might possibly feel as though they had to goose the story line along with something dramatic, like, perhaps, a suddendeath?
    I shut my computer and leaned back against a throw pillow while I awaited Eloise’s safe return, closing my eyes against the throbbing headache that had returned with a vengeance.

    â€œI need for you to scream,” Geo said from under a raspberry beret. He straightened the bow tie of his coordinating tuxedo. “With conviction.”
    â€œWhat’s my motivation?” I heard myself ask.
    He looked over at a receiving line where Frank checked his face in his cell phone and proceeded to congratulate the bride. Instead of kissing her cheek, he sunk his teeth into her face.
    â€œHere’s your Frankenbite,” he pronounced with satisfaction, smiling for the camera beside him.
    â€œIsn’t being stuck married to that husband of yours motivation enough?” Geo asked.
    â€œHe won’t be her hubby for long.” Alejandro, who was floating in a nearby pool, raised his margarita glass. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
    â€œI have the ultimate say,” Geo said. “So scream. Both of you.”
    I opened my mouth and tried, but no sound emerged.
    A deathly gurgle emerged from Alejandro.
    â€œCan’t save him now,” shouted Anastasia’s sisters, who had materialized poolside.
    They began to throw dollar bills into the water at Alejandro, who’d rolled over and was floating face down, margarita glass still in hand.
    â€œMoney shot,” one of them sang.
    A door creaked open and a policewoman appeared. Her nametag read OFFICER MICHELLE.
    â€œYou should have played along,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s the reality of the situation.”
    â€œ Vérité ,” Frank said with a grin. “It’s all about ratings, in the end.”
    I began to cry. “This isn’t how it was supposed to—”
    â€œWhose fault is that?” Geo asked.
    â€œMaddie’s!” everyone cheered in unison.
    â€œNo!” I finally managed to scream as Officer Michelle began to shake me.
    â€œMaddie?”
    I opened my eyes.
    â€œMaddie?” Eloise was tapping me gently. “I think you were having a bad dream.”
    â€œDefinitely,” I said. But as I got off the couch and headed for the bedroom, I was more afraid of what “reality” would bring.
    20. Seeing as I’d