Jeopardy in High Heels (High Heels #12) - Gemma Halliday Page 0,37

other. I had my dressing room, and he had his."

"And you never even said hello?" I asked, thinking that seemed a little hard to believe.

But Angela was sticking to her story. "No. I saw him briefly in the greenroom, but he avoided me completely. Which was fine by me. I had nothing to say to that man."

"Did you notice if he had an energy drink with him in the greenroom?" Tina asked.

The question must have caught Angela off guard, as she frowned. "I-I don't know. I wasn't paying attention to what he ate or drank. Why?"

Tina shrugged and gave Angela a big smile. "No reason."

"And why all these questions about Dog?" she asked, suddenly going on the offensive. Her eyes cut to me. "What does this have to do with me being your guest of honor at the gala?"

Absolutely nothing. I glanced to Tina to take that one.

"Oh, Dog was one of our wish granting celebrities too. Just making sure the press about his death doesn't overshadow your generosity to our cause." Tina gave her a big smile with teeth and everything.

A small frown still sat between Angela's dark eyebrows, but her ego must have overridden her confusion, as she just said, "Oh. Yeah. Wouldn't want that." She glanced down at her diamond encrusted watch and rose from her seat. "If you'll excuse me, I'm due on the set."

We took this as our cue to leave. Angela held the door open and avoided eye contact as we stepped outside. After it had closed quietly behind us, we waited outside for a couple of minutes, but she didn't appear.

"Probably an excuse to get rid of us," Tina said as we walked outside. She glanced down at her phone, furiously typing in more notes as we walked back through the All My Husbands set.

"So, are you printing all of this?" I asked, feeling just the teensiest bit bad for Angela. Granted, she was no real humanitarian, but I knew firsthand how it felt to have your name on everyone's lips for the wrong reasons.

"You better believe it, sister," Tina said, leading the way back to my minivan. "Jilted lover offs cheating celebrity during chance encounter on game show."

"If it was a chance encounter, where would Angela get antifreeze?" I reasoned, unlocking my car and getting inside.

Tina frowned. "Okay, jilted lover plans poisoning of cheating celeb during golden opportunity on game show."

I rolled my eyes. But as long as Fernando's name stayed out of it, Tina could run with her wild theories all she wanted.

CHAPTER TEN

As soon as I pulled into my driveway, Tina jumped onto her motorcycle and revved off toward the Informer's offices with her story. Happy to have put that matter to rest, I pushed in the front door.

"Hi, I'm home," I called and slipped my heels off just as the twins came running and tackled me in a hug. My heart melted as I swept them into my arms and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Ew. Girl cooties," Max complained, wiping it off.

"We do not have cooties," Livvie argued.

"No, we do not," I agreed, sneaking one more smooch on Max's cheek as he wiggled free.

"Well, you have goopy lipstick," he said, running back into the living room in a fit of giggles.

I couldn't argue that one.

"Come see the house I'm making," Livvie said as she pulled me after him.

She and Max looked to be in the middle of constructing a village with their Lincoln Logs. Mom and Faux Dad were seated on the sofa, watching that night's episode of Jeopardy! After admiring the kids' creativity, I flopped into the chair next to my stepfather. He looked more relaxed than the last time I'd seen him.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

He didn't answer, and for a second I thought he was purposely ignoring me.

Mom smiled and patted his hand. "He's in the zone," she informed me.

"Who is Aristotle?" Faux Dad shouted at the television.

I leaned forward for a better look. Three other celebrity contestants stood behind the podiums. One was a regular on Saturday Night Live, though I couldn't remember his name. The second one was a nineties rock star who looked like he wasn't aging well, and the third was the former child star Pippi Mississippi, who these days was trying to make a name for herself in the pop world, simply going by Pip. Double Jeopardy! was in progress, and the category was Famous Speeches. The next answer flashed across the screen. Today I consider myself the luckiest