turned toward us, I recognized her immediately. I grabbed Dana's arm. "Hey, is that who I think it is?"
Dana shielded her eyes against the sun. "Looks like Aunty Mae." She shot me a meaningful look. "Dog's costar."
We watched Mae stuff something into her purse and beep her car locked before she headed in our direction. She was wearing a long, floral printed dress in a soft rose color that billowed around her stout frame. It fell just above her ankles and was paired with frilly white socks and canvas sneakers. A bright pink flower was tucked into the side of her hair, which, as she got closer, I could see was shot through with silver highlights.
"Aunty Mae?" I asked, approaching her.
She paused, pulling out a bright perky smile that I'd seen many times on TV. "Well, howdy, that's me."
"It's so nice to meet you. We're huge fans of your show." I extended my hand. "I'm Maddie, and this is my friend, Dana."
Mae hesitated for a second, then brushed a couple of soft fingers against mine. "Well, that just makes my day. It tickles me pink to meet fans."
She started to move on, but I held up a hand to stop her. "We wanted to offer our condolences about your co-host's death. What a tragedy."
Mae's smile faded on cue, and she bit into her lower lip. "Thank you. Yes, it was a horrible shock. We'll all miss Doggy Z terribly. He added a certain flavor to my show."
"No pun intended," I said.
She gave me a blank look.
"Uh, you two must have been close?" Dana asked.
"Close?" Mae frowned. "I don't know what you mean by that, but we worked together."
"On Around the Kitchen with Aunty Mae and the Dog, right?" I said.
Her frown deepened. "It's In the Kitchen with Aunty Mae and the Dog. I thought you said you were fans."
Oops. "Uh, we are. Very big. Huge."
"How long had you known Dog?" Dana asked, thankfully jumping in to save me.
Mae inhaled deeply, as if trying to pull in strength from somewhere before she answered. "I only met him when we started filming the show together. That was two years ago. Before that I had a solo show. Aunty Mae's Kitchen."
"I remember watching that. What made you want to co-host with Doggy Z?" I asked.
"Want?" Mae laughed. "You must not be in the business, sweetie. It's not about wanting. It's about ratings."
"And bringing Dog on boosted those for you?" Dana surmised.
Again Mae sucked in a deep breath. I wondered if it was some anger management technique. "Well, I certainly could have boosted them on my own. But, yes, people seemed to enjoy his antics."
Antics. Not necessarily a compliment.
"It didn't seem like you particularly enjoyed them, though," Dana pointed out, giving me a meaningful glance out of the corner of her eye. "At least not on the show, anyway."
Mae wavered again before answering, her pleasant smile faltering. "We had our"—more pausing—"creative differences," she finally settled on. "But that's all they were. Not surprising, coming from such different backgrounds as we do."
"So there was no tension between you?" I asked, not quite believing it. The way she spoke of him was careful, as if choosing just the right words to keep from spilling her true emotion on the subject.
"Why would there be?" she asked, her perky smile back in its usual place. "Besides, Dog's contract was coming to an end, and my husband was working on a new show for me where I'd once again be solo hosting. This whole Dog thing had nearly run its course as a novelty."
"Your husband?" I asked, not quite understanding her meaning.
"Yes." She looked from me to Dana, as if we should both know who that was. Our blank expressions must have told her otherwise, as she went on. "Rupert Blick? He's an executive with the network." She gestured toward the building we'd just come from.
"You're married to Rupert Blick?" I asked, shooting a glance at Dana.
Dana shrugged, obviously as surprised as I was.
"Yes." Mae drew herself up to her full height. Which was just barely taller than mine. "Eighteen years. Almost as long as he's been with the network."
Suddenly it made sense. "So, I'm guessing the idea for adding Dog to your show for higher ratings was his?"
She did more anger-managing breathing before answering. "Yes, well, Rupert thought Dog might attract a different demographic to the show. That he'd—how did he put it?—shake things up a bit. Personally, I didn't think things needed shaken up." There was a