Lizzie shook her head. “She’ll understand. Especially if this puts us on even footing with the Wild Cajuns.”
We arrived at the studio around eight and were waved in by the guards who’d come to know us by face and by name. Lizzie led the way to the offices and then specifically to Kat’s office where, as God would have it, the door was opened revealing Kat and—what do you know?—Amy going over notes on clipboards. Hot drinks from Starbucks were on the desk before them. They looked up, apparently hearing us stop at the door. Kat smiled. Amy did not.
“Lizzie. Evangeline,” Kat said. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” Lizzie said. “May we come in?”
“Uh …” Kat looked around nervously. “I’m not sure how kosher that is. What’s this about?”
Lizzie stepped in, and I followed. She looked at Amy. “Actually, it’s about Amy.”
“Me?” Amy blushed and straightened her shoulders. “What about me?”
Lizzie crossed her arms. “Amy, we all know that I saw you and Bubba at Seppi’s that night, and we both know what you said.”
Amy coughed out a giggle. “What I said? What did I say?” She looked from Lizzie to Kat and then back to Lizzie.
“You said, and I quote, ‘Believe me, my love, I have it all arranged.’ ”
“Have what all arranged, Amy?” Kat asked.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Amy glared at Lizzie and me. “And neither do you. You might have seen me there, but you and I certainly were never close enough for you to hear me.”
Lizzie smiled just so. “That’s where having a deaf daughter comes in, Amy. I can read lips, just as my daughter does. And I read yours plainly. You were kissing Bubba, you called him ‘my love,’ and you indicated you had something arranged.” She looked back at Kat. “I’m here to make sure that whatever it is she has arranged is not the final outcome of the show. I’m here”—she turned slightly to me—“we’re here to make sure that should the Wild Cajuns win, it is because they deserve to win, not because of any relationship between Amy and Bubba.”
Kat crossed her arms and cocked a hip. “Amy? What about you and Bubba?”
“Then you didn’t know?” I asked. “This isn’t part of the ratings booster?”
Kat gave me a harsh look. “Of course not. We need a ratings booster, yes, but we’ve gotten that by playing the Donna-Wade-David card.”
“What role have you played,” Lizzie asked Amy, “in some of the shenanigans that have taken place at our events?”
Again Amy pinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then obviously you haven’t watched the show. Because all of America knows some of the problems we’ve had. Especially at our last event.”
“What I want to know,” Kat interjected, “is what the relationship between you and Bubba is.”
“Kat!” Amy all but squealed as though she were a schoolgirl standing before a parent, pretending she hadn’t been caught slipping out her window on a school night.
“Amy!” Kat parroted, looking none too happy.
Amy blew air from her lungs. “Oh, all right. Bubba and I have been seeing each other. So what? I have nothing to hide. Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s not a crime, you know.”
“But it is against the rules, Amy. You know that.” Kat paused. “How long?”
“How long what?”
“Don’t play games, Amy. How long have you been seeing Bubba?”
Amy didn’t answer right away. If my suspicions were correct, the love affair and the show’s season beginnings probably ran hand in hand. “Not long,” she finally said. Then quickly added, “But you don’t understand, Kat. We met just before the season started. We just happened to meet at a restaurant. He didn’t know who I was, and I certainly didn’t know who he was and … well … you’ve seen him. He’s gorgeous! I’m single, he’s single, and …”
“Oh, Amy,” Lizzie said. I suppose as the mother of two daughters she has had to deal with this kind of thing in the past. As a woman who stayed single nearly all her life, I wanted to walk over and bop her in the head. How dumb can you be? But Lizzie has that sweet way of talking to the young people. Sweet but firm. Amy, I knew, was about to get a taste of it. “Amy, surely you don’t believe his meeting you was accidental.”
“Yes, I do.”
Kat shook her head. “Oh, Amy,” she said, repeating Lizzie’s words but giving them more of a “what an idiot you are” tone. Then her shoulders dropped, and she said, “Let’s all sit down, shall we?”
There were just enough chairs in the room for each of us. We sat. Lizzie crossed her legs and leaned over in a non-intimidating way. “Amy, listen to me. I’ve raised daughters. I’ve been a high school teacher for a lot of years. Maybe even more than you’ve been alive. I have also raised sons. If there is one thing I know— besides books—it’s the way young men—some of them—try to work their way around young ladies such as yourself. You are a pretty girl, Amy …”
Amy began to cry. Actually began to cry. She shook her head as though to say no, she was not a pretty girl. But Lizzie didn’t hesitate. “Yes, you are, Amy. But something tells me you don’t see it. That’s why you let men like Bubba walk into your life when you know better. When you know the rules forbid it.”
Kat reached for a tissue box on her desk and handed it to Amy. Her actions were kind, but her demeanor showed a different attitude. Kat was ticked. The message was written all over her face. If this got out, it could kill her show, not raise the ratings.
Amy sniffled as she took a tissue, then blew her nose. “You don’t understand,” she said again. “We saw each other for a week before he even asked me what I did for a living. When he found out, he was shocked. He was hurt. He told me we’d have to break off our relationship. I’m the one who insisted we keep it going. I’m the one who said I’d help them get to the top.”
“Then you’re the one who is going to be in the unemployment line,” Kat said.
Lizzie raised her hand as Amy gasped. “Wait a minute, Kat. Hold on.” She looked at Amy again. “Amy, there is no doubt in my mind that Bubba knew who you were, what you did for a living, everything. What do you really think are the chances he met you in a city of millions by happenstance?”
Amy took a moment to process the question. “Probably very slim.”
“Right.” Lizzie looked at Kat. “You do what you have to do when it comes to firing or keeping Amy. Personally, I hope you don’t fire her. She’s young and naïve and this is all in the process of learning. Evangeline and I both could fill this room with stories of past mistakes under the category of love.”
I shifted in my chair. Maybe Lizzie could “fill the room.” I had but one story. My whole life had been spent loving and pining away and sitting at home bitter because of Vernon Vesey until he finally saw the light and asked me to marry him. So what did I know?
“But I would suggest, Amy,” Lizzie continued, “that you stop the affair now and leave Bubba’s team to win or lose the show on their own merits.”
“Have you altered the results in any way, Amy?” Kat answered.
Amy didn’t answer, which was, of course, an answer.
Kat nodded. “I see. Amy, I’ve given you a list of things to do for the day. Go do them. You and I will discuss your job later. In the meantime, contact your friend Bubba and tell him the affair is off. Do you hear me?”
Again Amy pinked. “I hear you.”
Lizzie softened the blow by adding, “When you do end it, Amy, you will see by the way Bubba reacts whether or not his love for you is real. I’d be willing to bet you’ll be hurt by it. Allow me, please, to encourage you now. Stay strong. Know you are not the first woman to be duped by a man. You won’t be the last. But from now on, you’ll be a lot wiser in your choices.”
Amy nodded, reached for her coffee cup as she stood, and said, “Well, if you will excuse me.” She left the room, leaving the door open behind her.
&nb
sp; Kat asked me to close the door, and I did. As I returned to my seat she said to Lizzie, “I have to fire her, Lizzie.”
“Do that,” Lizzie said, “and you can bet she’ll go to the tabloids with anything and everything. True or not.”
“She signed a contract,” Kat said. “It prohibits her from talking about the show.”
“Never underestimate a woman scorned. Especially a young woman.”
“Amen to that,” I said.
Kat nodded. “I’ll have to talk to Jay. See what he says. Maybe he’ll insist she keep her job until this season is over. After that her contract is up for renewal, anyway.”
Lizzie stood. “Thank you, Kat. We’ll leave you now. I’m sure you have a lot to do, and I know we do.” Lizzie smiled.
I stood too. “Thank you,” I said to Kat.
“Thank you, ladies. Have a good day.”
We left by the same path we’d entered, neither of us saying anything until we reached the sidewalk outside. “Let’s walk,” I said.
“Maybe stop and get something to eat,” I added. “I’m a little hungry now.”
“Sounds good.”
Lizzie and I turned to the left and strolled up the avenue, both of us silent. Finally she said, “A penny for your thoughts.”
“Well,” I said, “since you asked. I was thinking about what you said about a young woman scorned.”
“Okay.”
“And I was wondering what would happen if Amy called Bubba and told him they had to stop seeing each other. Bubba will, no doubt, work his charm on her, talk her into continuing with things the way they are. Amy is not stupid. She’ll realize she’s going to lose her job eventually. So what does she have to lose? Staying with Bubba at least guarantees her his love, or so she’ll think. You and I both know he’ll drop her like yesterday’s newspaper as soon as all this is over. He’s a player, not a true man at all.”
“I know.”
“So, she tells us she has ended it with Bubba but in fact she has not. That’s what I suspect will happen.”
Lizzie walked quietly beside me for a half block before she said, “In other words, we’ve got to watch our backs even more now than before.”
“Exactly,” I said.
Lizzie sighed. “Great.” Then she nodded. “We’d better alert the girls and the guys to this.”
“All’s fair in love and war, Liz,” I said.
“Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world,” she countered.
“Amen,” I said. “Amen.”
Vonnie
33
Team Brunch
Saturday morning found Team Potluck dining on an early breakfast we’d prepared in our catering kitchen in the GE building. We’d chosen to eat together so we could discuss the last-minute details for that night’s event. As I slathered melting butter and peach preserves onto my steaming buttermilk biscuit, Lisa Leann continued her briefing in our war room. “Since the entertainment and door prizes fell into our laps, we’re blowing our entire five thousand dollar stipend on food and décor,” she said.
“We have door prizes?” Donna asked.
“We have some nice things from Tiffany’s, Macy’s, as well as some restaurant gift certificates,” Lisa Leann said as she grinned at her son. “All thanks to Nelson’s hard work and phone calls.”
“Great job, Nelson,” I said as the young man crunched into a slice of thick bacon.
Nelson wiped his mouth with his napkin. “It was easy, really. Everybody wanted to help.”
“That’s terrific,” Evie said. “But what I want to know is the really important thing: what are we wearing tonight?”
Our team laughed. Mike, the ever-present cameraman, zeroed in on our smiling faces.
“Along with the Rescue Mission’s aprons and our new giant buttons that say ‘Vote Team Potluck,’ we’re wearing black eveningwear. Tuxes are being sent over for our guys, and Macy’s is sending over a complimentary selection of gowns for us girls.”
“Gowns?” Donna asked, wrinkling her nose. She poured herself another cup of coffee.
“The gowns are a must,” Lisa Leann said with a giggle. “Especially for you, Donna. Because you’re as cute as a bug’s ear, you’re playing our Vanna when I do the door prize drawing at the end of the evening. Didn’t I tell you?”
Donna shook her head and grimaced. Lisa Leann, oblivious to Donna’s angst at dressing up, began to rattle off our menu. “Most of you already know what we’re serving, but for those of you who don’t, we’re dishing up a chilled tomato soup, then triple A prime rib with sides of new potatoes, fresh lemon-zinger asparagus, and hot, homemade rolls.”
“And for dessert?” David asked, licking his lips in anticipation.
Lisa Leann actually glowed as she announced, “Peppermint patty stuffed brownies.”
I hadn’t heard this news, so I gasped. “Brownies? For such an elegant event?”
Lisa Leann nodded solemnly. “Peppermint patty brownies with real York Peppermint Patties have always been my ultimate secret weapon.” She lowered her voice. “These treats have even won me a couple of best dessert blue ribbons at a few prestigious contests back in Houston. So, I’m thinking they may be the very thing that unlocks the vault to the grand prize.”
“It’s not unlocked yet, Lisa Leann. We do have a competition to win first, you know,” Lizzie said under her breath.
“As you know, the event we’re serving tonight airs on next Tuesday night’s regular show. That’s also when the final voting occurs. Then, the following night, Wednesday, The Great Party Showdown airs a special grand finale where the winner will be announced.”
“That means two shows next week. That’s a lot of pressure,” Wade commented.
Lisa Leann grinned. “Try not to think about it like that. With the results show two hoots and a holler away, all we can do today is our best. In fact, I got a call from Pastor Kevin last night, and he told me there’s a church prayer team praying for us around the clock today.”
“Really?” Donna asked.
“Pastor Kevin said he didn’t want to put any extra pressure on us, but winning the prize will keep the church from losing our building, since we’ll be able to pay off our mortgage.”
“Plus, we’ll be able to start building that youth wing,” I added, beaming.
Nelson practically laughed. “From where I sit, I can’t imagine why God would want us to lose.”
I smiled. Nelson was only a young man, so how could he possibly know what lesson God really wanted to teach us. For all we knew, God was looking for us to respond to this event by simply trusting him with or without the bonus of a reward.
The day was an absolute blur as we carted our food and equipment back and forth to the museum in the van we’d rented. Then, once we finally got moved in to the Powerhouse event room, we still had to oversee setting up the tables and chairs, make sure everything was in place for our guest entertainers, work with the florist to display their gorgeous sunflower bouquets on the tables, and carve our roast beef.
As the afternoon drew to a close, I surveyed our chocolate-colored linen-draped tables topped with our sunflower arrangements.
I have to say the effect was stunning, especially combined with the table candles and the golden, blue, and lime green lights that backlit the room’s many columns.
With the doors scheduled to open at four, we were already in makeup and dressed in our finery, topped with our Rescue Mission aprons. We scurried to finish presetting our strawberry salads at each place setting. We were almost done when Lisa Leann called us to the terrace.
As soon as I saw her, I knew something was wrong. “What happened?” I cried.
Her face pale, Lisa Leann announced, “I just got word from Goldie that Jack is about to go into surgery for his bypass.”
Our huddled group gasped as one. “Now?” Donna asked.
Lisa Leann nodded solemnly. “The poor dear didn’t call me to tell me because she didn’t want to worry us. But Pasto
r Kevin called me, and I just got off the phone with Goldie.”
“How’s she doing?” Lizzie asked.
“She’s scared. I mean, she knows very well sometimes things go wrong in surgeries. She knows this could be it for Jack. But at the same time, she’s leaning as hard as she can on God, thanking him for the turnaround their marriage has seen this past year and for whatever time they have left.”
I spoke up. “Lisa Leann, do you mind if I lead off in prayer now? I don’t think I can face tonight if we don’t stop and pray.”
Donna, who was standing next to me, reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Vonnie, go for it,” she said.
I bowed my head. “Lord, somehow this news puts everything into perspective, for we see that life is not always about living for the future, but living in the now as we trust in you. So first and foremost, we come to you on behalf of the Dippels. Please comfort Goldie as we can’t. Please protect Jack as he faces this hour. Please bring him safely through the procedure.”
One by one, the other team members prayed prayers much the same as mine before Lisa Leann concluded, “Amen, and Lord, bless us tonight, win or lose, help us to shine for you.”
As the team parted to rush back to their tasks, Donna wiped a tear from her eye. “Donna, are you okay, dear?” I asked.
She nodded. “Kinda.”
Noticing we were miraculously alone as the camera crew had followed the other members back into the Powerhouse room, I pointed to a nearby cluster of chairs that overlooked the Rose Center and motioned for Donna to sit with me. “You wanna tell me what you’re feeling?”
Donna hesitated. “We don’t have time, do we?”
I sat down and patted the chair next to mine. “Let’s make time, especially now that the camera crew is following our friends.”
Donna’s laughter was strained as she sat down next to me. She took a deep breath and said, “Vonnie, this time in New York hasn’t been easy for me. But what’s happening to Goldie and Jack makes me realize I’m living my whole life on the bypass.”
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