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Diane made the zip your lips motion and nodded.

“Fine. I think she’s kind of sneaky. I’ve caught her a couple of times in places she wasn’t supposed to be, like rooms that are for the crew and off limits to contestants. And I know they aren’t allowed to have phones, but I caught her talking on one at Susie’s.”

“Well, she is a fancy attorney back home. Maybe she sneaked a phone to keep up with a case.”

“I guess so.” Jeannie shrugged. “With all the bad luck I’ve had lately, I’m probably being paranoid.”

“Good talk.” Diane patted Jeannie’s shoulder. “I need to put away some of the equipment before I leave out of here. See you around!”

“Oh, okay. Bye!” Jeannie watched her walk toward the other camera operators who were almost finished breaking down for the night. Diane was right. She was being too hard on Jazz. So what if she was hiding a phone? Mercedes probably had a laptop in her bra. The image of Mercedes pulling a MacBook from her tits made her chuckle. Now that would be an amazing marketing campaign.

Which reminded her, she had an email from Victor Crawford that she’d left unread. He’d also sent text messages which she’d ignored. But with nothing better to do, she pulled out her phone and opened the email.

Ms. Knight,

We’ve recently had a senior marketing position open up, which I think you’d be great for. I understand your hesitation to come in at the bottom when you’ve already had success for several years. With this position, you’ll be in charge of a team of marketers, and you’ll get to select the clients you work with. Give me a call if you’d like to discuss it. Or, if you’re ever back in the city, we can meet for dinner, and I’ll give you a tour of our offices.

V. Crawford

Jeannie blinked.Holy cow.A senior position, responsible for a team of people? Not bad for a girl with only a high school diploma and a couple of online certificates. She’d been hesitant to leave Grimm County before. Well, not so much Grimm County, but Al. The town wasn’tso bad, but her childhood memories took up too much real estate in her mind. But as long as Al was by her side, the memories faded.

What would happen to her if he ended up with one of these women? She doubted any of the remaining three ladies would be happy for him to have a female best friend. And if the show took off and Al got more offers? They might leave Grimm County altogether, and he’d probably hire someone with more experience to be his publicist. And where would that leave her? Alone and jobless, like her mother. Like hell, she thought, as she typed a response to Victor.

Chapter 28

Al picked through the array of sandwiches on the table, hunting for his favorite, grilled chicken with avocado and Swiss. One of the best things about working with a television show was the catered lunches. When he first started with the sheriff’s office, he earned a reputation for being a huge eater, usually grabbing two plates worth of free food. He played it off as needing fuel for his intense workouts, but he was really snagging it to take home to Jeannie.

Even now, years later, it was hard to resist taking an extra sandwich for later. But whether that was the trauma from food insecurity or because the new bakery in town was fire, he’d worry about later.

Grabbing a white chocolate and cranberry cookie and a cup of sweet tea, he looked around the dining area for an open seat.

“Hunter!” he called out, walking to where his colleague sat next to Diane. “What’re you doing here?” He looked over at Diane. “Is it Bring Your Brother to Work Day?”

She snickered. “Of course not. But I had an idea for a scene, and we needed Hunter’s expertise.”

“Oh, some kind of nerdy shit?” Al took a bite of his sandwich, groaning as the flavors hit his mouth. He’d have to post about the bakery on his social media. So many new businesses didn’t make it, and his stomach would be devastated if this place was one of them. What was the name again? Big Blue’s Bakery? No, that wasn’t it. Little Red’s Deli? He shrugged. Jeannie would know.

He needed to find out if the remaining ladies of interest could cook. Maybe that could be worked into a challenge. If he had to take a guess, Mercedes had the best chance. She had that whole “taught by Grandma” vibe. Iona seemed more of the order-in type, and Jazz, well … He scrunched his nose. She had microwave meals and leftover Chinese written all over her.

“Something like that,” Diane said, bringing him back to the conversation “We have to clean up those rooms in the Holding Cell. I thought it’d be funny if we had a scene where Hunter checked out all the beds and couches with his magic light.” She grinned, and Al knewwhich light she was referring to. The one that showed whether any fluids were present.

Al chuckled. If Hunter wanted to waste his day off shining a flashlight around, that was his business. But their family was pretty tight, so maybe he’d wanted to hang out with Diane. Al had done lamer shit before to hang out with Jeannie.

Hunter nudged Al with his elbow. “I gotta say, man, I’m impressed. I’m only halfway through the house and I’ve already found five of your hot spots. How you managed to bang all over the house and not get caught is amazing. You are a master of stealth. I’m just glad you’re on our side now.” He pointed to the badge on his vest.

Al set his sandwich on the plate, suddenly losing his appetite. “What are you talking about?” He hadn’t had sex with any of the contestants. He hadn’t even kissed any of them, much to Lindsey’s disappointment.

“Dude, it’s okay.” Hunter patted him on the back. “You’re on a dating show and you’re supposed to propose soon. No one will fault you for getting to know some of the ladies a little better.”

“But that’s the thing. I haven’t hooked up with any of them.”

Diane looked up from her plate. “Well, I’m not sure which is worse. Either Al’s a prude and this show is going to tank,or the cleaning people dropped the ball after the previous rental.”

“Gross,” Al said, picking his sandwich back up. “Where exactly did you—you know what, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

Hunter ate a handful of chips and looked up at the ceiling. That was his thinking pose, and Al knew to give him a few minutes.

He cleared his throat and looked at Diane, then over to Al, his eyes scrunching. “It’s more likely that the cleaning crew did do their job, given that the owner wouldn’t want to jeopardize any repeat business from the entertainment folks. The more likely scenario is that someone during this rental was having sex on the pool table. And on the couch. And on the bean bag chair. And—”