And He Cooks Too (34 page)

Jasper waited for him to go on. He took a deep breath. He didn’t look forward to this next part. “I, uh, can’t cook. I’m no more a chef than you are.”

Jasper blinked his eyes several times but remained silent. Anxious to move this along now that he’d said his piece, Nick repeated, “I said, I can’t cook.”

“Yes, I heard you.” Jasper seemed to process that news flash. “Well, I’ll be. How’d I not pick up on that one?”

“Because I’m a damned good actor, that’s why. And Leonie rehearsed me relentlessly before every show.”

Jasper’s eyes went dark. He suddenly slammed a fist on the arm of the couch where he had been reclining. “How could the two of you do this? I don’t know what the FCC would say, but it sounds like fraud to me.”

In own his defense, Nick quickly added, “I never said I was a chef. Or that I’d received training at a culinary school.”

Jasper scoffed. “And that made it okay? You’ve been fooling your audience, plus the station, and the sponsors, not to mention our own crew. No wonder Reese was upset.”

Nick hung his head. He couldn’t deny the man’s accusations. “I know. I hate myself for it. That’s the real reason I want to leave the show. I don’t like who I’ve become.”

Jasper just sat there, shaking his head. At length, he asked, “Why did you ever agree to do this?” His voice sounded strained, like he’d been shouting for hours.

Nick still didn’t feel like sitting, but now he leaned against a bookcase a few feet from his host. “Leonie sought me out at a point in my career when I was ready, eager, for a change.” He recounted how he’d been let go from his series job, how Leonie had told him this gig would only be for a few months, until she got the show up and running.

“Then she conveniently forgot what she’d promised,” Jasper guessed, his voice filled with righteous anger.

“Yeah, well that’s Leonie,” Nick agreed. “She wanted to host the show herself initially, but she couldn’t sell it that way, which is why she turned to me. God knows, I’ve tried to get her to take over now that the show has been around awhile.” A thought occurred to him. “For all her current bluster about co-hosting with me, she’s been pretty skittish about putting herself forward until recently when she was desperate to take Reese’s place. Maybe her fiancé calling off their marriage damaged her self-confidence.”

“Gordon Davenport,” Jasper replied, rubbing his whiskers.

“You know about that?”

Jasper nodded. “Oh, yes. I’d see the two of them at social functions on occasion. Never much cared for him. Superficial twit. Liked being the center of attention. I wasn’t terribly surprised when I heard their marriage was off. Actually, I was secretly happy for Leonie.”

“Yeah, well, I was still in L.A. at the time, but I know she took the split hard. Not sure whether she was heartbroken or humiliated. Maybe a little of both.”

“That crazy woman. I’ve told her more than once that getting rid of Davenport was the best thing that could have happened to her.”

The strength of Jasper’s response surprised him. Even after the night he’d found them dancing to the Oldies at Leonie’s apartment, he hadn’t realized that his aunt and Jasper’s relationship had a personal side.

“Wait a second,” Jasper said, rising. “Davenport already has his own network show. Is that why she’s been hell-bent to get her show picked up by the network?”

“You mean as her way of thumbing her nose at him?”

“Outdoing him.”

“That would explain her unreasonable determination to go network,” Nick conceded. “Because she certainly doesn’t need it or the show either. She had—has—a successful catering business.”

Neither spoke for a few minutes while each considered the ramifications of their conjecturing. Nick had never given Leonie’s motivations much thought after dismissing them as more of her self-involved view of the world. Too late now to regret not seeing a connection to Gordon Davenport leaving her at the altar, but he wished he’d figured it out sooner. Rather than plotting against her, maybe he could have helped her move on with her life.

Jasper crossed the room to stare out his window. Finally, turning back to Nick, he asked, “What do you want from me, Nick? Absolution?”

Nick ran his hand along the bookcase. “I wanted you to know what’s been going on before you heard about it elsewhere. I owe you that much.” He pulled his hand through his hair. “But I also want to stop hating myself. For lying. For using Reese. I want to take that look of disappointment in me out of her eyes.”

Jasper folded his hands. “Tall order.”

Nick lowered his eyes. “It helped to tell you, even though I’ve probably lost your respect.”

“I’m disappointed. No denying that,” Jasper said. “But confession is a good start. Easier than standing up to Leonie.”

Nick grimaced. “Probably so. This thing with Davenport? Gave me a new perspective. I didn’t realize how vulnerable she was. Helped me see that it isn’t so much standing up to her as helping her through her own demons.”

“Interesting way of putting it. I was coming to a similar conclusion.”

Jasper walked him to the door. Before Nick left, Jasper said, “I don’t condone what you’ve done, but I think you’re on the right track now.”

“And Nick?” Jasper called out once Nick had moved into the corridor. “That look of disappointment in Reese’s eyes? Doesn’t that indicate she had higher expectations of you? I wouldn’t give up on those or her.”

****

“Very impressive tape, Ms. Dunbar.” Margaret Hickok, the network’s petite head of programming, opened a suede-covered notepad on the other side of the conference table from Reese and Seth.

The forty-something male executive next to Hickok, who’d introduced himself as Matt Quigley, added, “My thoughts as well, Ms. Dunbar, although your manner of promoting it was somewhat unconventional.”

“True,” Reese acknowledged, “but you can’t deny it generated a lot of attention for my project.” Jasper had warned her that the network execs might open the meeting this way. She was not to dismiss the Internet video. That had been the reason for her invite, and to downplay it would be an insult.

Hickok flashed a brilliant though artificial smile. Turning to her associate for confirmation, she said, “It certainly did that.”

Seth pushed two folders across the table. “We brought a treatment along to give you a more comprehensive overview of our project.”

Quigley held up a hand. “That won’t be necessary.”

“The video prompted us to take another look at the cooking show you were aping.” Hickok checked her notes, “
And He Cooks Too
. We were unaware that the format had changed until your Internet piece made us curious.”

Quigley went on. “We liked what we saw. You and your co-host, uh,” now Quigley checked his notes, “Nick Coltrane have real chemistry.”

She shot Seth a surreptitious look, signaling him to get these two network honchos back on track. They were there to discuss her new show, not
And He Cooks Too
.

“Chef Dunbar plans to bring that same sense of humor to her new show, the project we’re here to talk about today,” Seth said. He gestured toward the two unopened folders.

Hickok and Quigley exchanged a glance but didn’t make a move toward the folders.

“The video demonstrates how well she does on her own,” Seth continued. Unlike Reese, he didn’t have a problem embellishing the truth to make his point.

Hickok folded her hands and leaned farther forward. “That’s one way of looking at it. But she,” here she turned her attention directly to Reese, “you, Ms. Dunbar, were funny based on your love-hate relationship with your co-host.”

“No!” Reese couldn’t keep from interjecting, even though Seth was supposed to be doing the talking. “I was funny because I have a knack for it.” Too late, she realized she’d nearly come out of her seat, resulting in two very surprised expressions on her hosts’ faces and a restraining hand on her arm from Seth.

“Of course you were funny, Ms. Dunbar,” Quigley replied. “What you have to realize is that we only have that short video to go by, plus what we’ve seen of recent episodes of
And He Cooks Too
. The new show you’re proposing is an unknown entity. “

“And we deal in sure things, or as close as we can get to that,” Hickok added.

Reese was confused. These TV folks seemed to be interested only in her former show. Didn’t they know she’d left?

She turned her head to Seth and cocked a brow. His narrowed eyes and the furrow above the bridge of his nose told her he was just as mystified.

Seth shifted in his seat. “We were under the impression we’d been invited here to discuss plans for her new show. This discussion doesn’t appear to be heading that direction.”

Margaret Hickok gave them a weak smile. “I’m glad you picked up on that. Yes, we invited you here to talk about
And He Cooks Too
.” She settled back and waited for their response.

It wasn’t long coming. This time, Reese did leave her chair. “If that’s the case, I’m sorry we’ve wasted your time. I’m no longer associated with that show.”

The other woman trained her eyes directly on Reese. “We know that, Reese. We’ve done our homework, even to the point of tracking down this tacky little tell-all wannabe epub.” She held up a piece of paper. “You must have really stepped on this woman’s toes. Every other publicity piece we found on you extolled your culinary talents. But this one all but called you Public Enemy Number One.”

Damn that Internet! It may have been the reason her video was generating all this interest, but it was also the source of everything ever said about her. In particular, that inflammatory article by Melinda DuPre. “Is that the reason you don’t want to discuss my new show?”

Margaret Hickok waved a hand. “Heavens no! We don’t care whether you slept with your cooking instructor or walked out on your restaurant job. Of course, we’re sorry you’ve been blacklisted in the city’s restaurants, but that works to our advantage. Doesn’t it?” she smiled.

“We knew you were no longer associated with the show before you told us.”

Reese listened, appalled that her private life, or the parts DuPre had pieced together in her interpretation, was such public knowledge that these total strangers could use them against her.

Seth tugged at her arm. “Let’s hear them out, Reese. If they already knew you weren’t on the show, they must have something else in mind.”

Quigley turned to Seth. “You have a cool head, Mr. Grandquist.”

“But…” Reese said. She didn’t finish the thought but trusted Seth’s instincts and reclaimed her seat.

Now Quigley spoke to Reese. “We think the show has real potential, Reese, but only if you team up again with Nick Coltrane. You’re hot together. Sizzling. The viewer can almost see the sparks flying.”

Yes, there definitely had been sparks. She remembered their many exchanges peppered with innuendos and double entendres. If these folks only knew how potent those sparks had been when the cameras weren’t on. The heat generated by her making love with Nick lit up her bedroom and dressing room and his apartment and…
Stop it, Reese!
That was the past, and this certainly wasn’t the time to be reliving something that was over and done with.

She couldn’t work with Nick again. Not with someone who lied to her.

The lie!

How easy it would be to set the network straight and blow
And He Cooks Too
as well as Nick’s career out of the water.

“The truth is,” she began, deciding the time was right to divulge Nick’s dirty little secret.

Hickok raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Nick had used her for his own purposes. He hadn’t stood up to his witch of an aunt for her, at least not enough. And he’d lied to her. Why not reveal Nick’s secret, given how he and Leonie had treated her? “The truth is,” she repeated, noting that her slight pause had gained everyone’s attention, “that…I’m not interested in your offer to co-host that show.”

Had she heard herself correctly? She’d been ready to let the whole sordid story about Nick’s lack of cooking skills come out, but at the last second something had caused her to hold back. Before she changed her mind, she rose, pulled Seth with her, and headed for the door. “Thank you for your time. I’m sorry we couldn’t work something out.”

She didn’t say a thing until the elevator returned them to street level.

Seth guided her to a nearby bench. “What was that about?”

“I’m sorry, Seth. I know how much you were looking forward to going big time.”

“This isn’t about me, Sis. You could have had your own network show up there, and you turned them down. Cold. Without even giving me a chance to negotiate for you.”

She leaned forward, holding her hand against her forehead. “I’m…sorry. I was so…devastated to find out they only wanted me if I was part of that duo, I wasn’t thinking. I just knew I couldn’t go back there.”

Seth pulled her around to look at him. “That guy, your co-host, did he hurt you?”

“My feelings. He hurt my feelings. And he lied to me.” And yet, when the opportunity had presented itself, she hadn’t been able to tell the network people he couldn’t cook. Her, the great believer in the truth.

“I’m sorry, Sis. I didn’t realize. Was there another woman?”

“His aunt. She has such a powerful hold on him, he wasn’t able to stand up to her for me, but even more important, he couldn’t stand up to her for himself.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider the network’s offer? I think I could still pull a deal out of the fire.”

She sniffed, rubbed her eyes. “No. We got their attention once, we can do it again, when they’re willing to hear about my new show.” Attempting a brave smile, she said, “They even gave us a clue what they liked. We have to build on that.”

She started to stand to leave but suddenly had to sit down again, her knees having lost the ability to support her. She hadn’t exposed Nick’s secret for one important reason, something she was only now realizing, ready to admit—she had fallen in love with the guy.