out where he went on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Had he heard about this yet?
“Are you listening?” Liz asked, anxiously.
“Yes. Go on.” Jodi gripped the edge of the counter behind the bar with her fingers.
“Some of the people who gathered outside that apartment building lived there. After Dawson left, they moved their excited gossiping to the pool and huddled around their phones, posting what they’d seen and heard and all the pics they took.”
Jodi winced. This was bad. She glanced at her watch. Tuck would be there in a few minutes.
Liz grabbed Jodi’s arm. “Guess who came stomping outside half an hour later to confront them at the pool?”
Jodi groaned. “Do I even want to know?”
“Brittany. Brittany B, that is. The one with the big boobs.”
Liz’s gaze widened. There were three Brittanys in the bridal party on that show. That fact alone had caused more than one instance of confusion. It had also been the source of many jokes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, it looks like Katia isn’t just having an affair with Dawson. I’d bet she’s also sleeping with Brittany B. After all, Brittany is the one who lived there. The other two left quickly in their own cars.”
“So, Brittany realized they were posting about her from her own apartment pool and confronted them?” The entire story was incredulous. And not surprising. The ratings would be through the roof if this scandal was all true.
Liz nodded. “Yep. They filmed her. She was livid. She went after them, grabbing for their phones. She was screaming at them about her violation of privacy and that she was going to sue them and how they had no right to interfere in people’s personal lives. They fought like cats and dogs just like on the show. Three of them fell in the pool. So many cameras were running that the footage is all over social media with the rest of the story.”
“My God.” Jodi swallowed hard. She wondered what would happen next. How would the show add this twist into their plot?
Just then the front door opened and Roxie, the other waitress, walked in. She looked frazzled as she crossed the room. That wasn’t unusual. Roxie was hard to read.
“I see she’s in a mood again,” Liz muttered under her breath.
She was more disheveled than usual too. She normally wore her bleach blond shoulder length hair with fuchsia tips up in a high ponytail. Tonight, it was still down around her shoulders. Jodi didn’t think she’d combed it today.
Seconds later, the front door opened again. This time Tuck walked inside. He held a thick folder against his side under his arm. His movements were jerky. His face was red. His fists were balled. He took several stomping steps across the floor before noticing Jodi and Liz behind the counter and halting.
For several moments he stared at them, and then he groaned and ran a hand over his face. “Fuck,” he muttered before continuing through the bar and disappearing into the hallway where the restrooms and main office were located.
“Maybe you should go talk to him,” Liz suggested softly.
“Yeah.” Begrudgingly.
Chapter 7
Jodi found him in the office. He was sitting on the brown leather loveseat, elbows on his knees, face in his palms, gaze toward the floor. The folder was on the coffee table. That part wasn’t odd. He often carried a folder of papers with him. He looked over them when he was on break. She figured they contained information about the next day’s plans from the producer. She never asked. She never looked.
Jodi shut the door behind her and inched closer. “I didn’t see what happened firsthand, but Liz told me the gist. Are you okay?”
He groaned and leaned back against the cushion, meeting Jodi’s gaze. “I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking getting myself into this mess. That bitch. I’m so stupid. All I heard was dollar signs. I let myself get roped into the craziest shitshow in the world for eighty thousand dollars. Who does that?”
Jodi perched on the edge of the loveseat next to him but not touching him. “That’s a lot of money.”
“Yeah. I’m definitely not permitted to talk about it either. The initial amount was five thousand to be on the show and then twenty-five thousand to marry her. They added fifty if I would stay ninety days.” He winced. “Not sure it was worth it.”
She recognized that he was furious and needed to vent. He also had no one to vent to. She could do