Read Online Trouble In Bloom by Heather Webber - Free Book Online Page B

whole charade over and done with.
    Wait. I'd forgotten about the contract I'd signed with HoD. With or without the case against Willie, I was obligated under contract to see the show through.
    Great.
    I made plans with Sherry to meet in Thad's dressing room after the show and watched her walk away.
    "I'm going to go say hi to Louisa," Bobby said. "Be right back."
    I tried not to be jealous. Tried really hard.
    "She's not much of a looker," Mario said.
    "Who, that Louisa?" I asked, taking heart.
    "Oh sugar," Perry consoled, "Bobby only has eyes for you. No need to worry."
    "Me? Worried?"
    Mario put an arm around me. "I was talking about Sherry Cochran."
    "Oh." I wouldn't have called her attractive, but she wasn't unattractive, either. She was just . . . plain. I wondered if she had any idea her husband was a cheating louse. Which reminded me of Kevin. Which reminded me of home. "Could you believe those picketers?"
    Mario fingered my new bangs. "Great job," he told Perry.
    "Thank you, thank you."
    It was a good thing I didn't have an aversion to touchyfeely people. "Hello? Picketers?"
    "Oh, they'll be gone soon enough." Mario leaned in close, looked to be inspecting my pores. "We just need to wait them out."
    Said like a man who didn't have construction workers refusing to cross a picket line.
    The next hour was a blur of makeup and run-throughs. At 6:55 Thad came out in a robe and dropped it in a dramatic show, revealing an itty-bitty Speedo. He climbed into the hot tub. The cleft in his chin looked even deeper tonight, and I wondered if the makeup people had shadowed it.
    Next to me, Bobby leaned in. "You sure you don't remember Gatlinburg?"
    I remembered all too well Bobby slipping into the hot tub with nothing on at all. "Nope."
    He grinned. "Maybe I'll have to remind you sometime."
    Was it me or was it hot under these lights?
    Genevieve Hidalgo Sala came out in a bikini and heels. I immediately determined she'd had all sorts of plastic surgery, because I was being catty and didn't care whatsoever if it was on my self-discovery list or not.
    As I took a closer look, though, I saw she looked rather skittish, her eyes on the wild side. Without a doubt she looked terrified.
    Looking left, I noticed Carson directing his cameraman to film Genevieve.
    Was her fright an act for the news camera, to keep the story on the air?
    If it was, she was a good actress.
    The overdone theme music came up, and before I knew it, Perry and I were backstage in a soundproof closet while Mario and Bobby answered questions about us.
    "Have you heard anything else about Genevieve?" I asked him.
    "The drama queen, you mean?"
    "You think she's acting?"
    "Better than Dustin Hoffman in T ootsie ."
    Laughing, I said, "Do you have a straight brother by any chance? I have this cousin . . . "
    "The smokin' hot vixen in the killer heels throwing herself at Carson Keyes?"
    "That'd be her."
    "Sugar, I was thinking about leaving Mario for her."
    I smiled. "I'll let her know."
    "Give her my card—I'd love to get my hands on her hair."
    The closet door creaked open. "Nina, Perry. It's time," Louisa said to us, then mumbled something into the headset she wore.
    My stomach did nervous cartwheels as we stepped onto the set and took our seats, me next to Bobby, Perry next to Mario. Bobby held two large white cards facedown in his lap, as did Mario.
    Mind you, there were no points kept. The questions were solely for the home audience to get to know us better and to judge whether we should be together or not.
    It would have been nice to get something out of this charade —a TV or a stereo like the real Newlywed Game .
    Perched on the edge of the hot tub, Genevieve held out a card. Thad read it carefully. "Perry, what was Mario wearing the first time you met him?"
    Oh my God, I thought. What was I wearing the day I met Bobby for the first time? It had been last spring, in his office at the high school . . .
    I didn't even hear Perry's answer—just knew he'd gotten it