“Then come home and do it.” Her phone rang. She grabbed it, then raised a finger. “Just a sec,” she said, taking the call. “Hey, honey.”
Must’ve been Jeff. Andrew took the opportunity to text a friend in Paris to cover for him with Francois, telling him he was dealing with a family emergency that might take longer than he’d originally planned before he’d get back, and asking him to cover the staff, along with a reminder to stick to the menu.
He’d played it safe by asking for just the first week off, which hadn’t gone over all that well as it was. Hopefully, it would all pay off in the end.
“That was Jeff. He said hello, and thanks for coming home so he could do the Ag show without Dad.”
“He’s welcome,” Andrew said.
“And so are you.”
“Welcome? For what?” He plated their breakfast.
“I heard you and Kelly spent a little time together. How’d that go for you?”
“It was a little awkward, but it was good. She’s a great gal.”
“And?”
“And you’re nosy.” He slid the plate in front of her. “Eat up before it gets cold.”
“Fine.” She took a bite. “This is really good. I don’t know how you made something this tasty out of the fake food Mom has in this house. I never eat over here anymore.”
“It was a challenge. But I always did like one.” He stabbed a forkful of potatoes. “I guess the challenge today will be finding something to do while Dad’s at work and Mom’s playing bridge.”
“We should go horseback riding. The weather is perfect for it.” Dawn ate her breakfast. “I have a couple of errands to run this morning, but I could be back over here by lunchtime.”
“Are you just trying to get me to cook for you again?”
“Well, you’re the only chef I know. Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
“I’ll fix a lunch to take with us. Does noon mean noon or twelve-thirty?”
She laughed as she pushed away from the table and put her plate in the dishwasher. “It’ll be a surprise.”
It would be a surprise if she was on time. At least the fresh air might get his mind off Kelly.
Chapter Fourteen
Kelly led Jennifer to her office, letting her sit down in the leather chair across from Kelly’s desk. “Is this really happening?” Kelly clung to the coveted red jacket.
Jennifer smiled broadly as she set her handbag on the desk and pulled out papers from her briefcase. “It certainly is.”
“Please make yourself comfortable.” Kelly was glad she’d taken the time and spent the money to create an office she could be proud of. The white bookshelves were filled with her favorite cookbooks and cooking magazines. Pictures of award-winning moments dotted the shelves, chronicling her successes. “Can I get you a cup of coffee? A pastry?”
“No, thank you. This won’t take long. Basically, you’re signing a non-disclosure that says you won’t divulge your involvement with the show prior to the airing date, or without express permission from us.”
Kelly signed that.
“We’ll give you a signing bonus of five thousand dollars. Kind of a good-faith thing. I’ve got that check right here.” She pulled it out of her designer briefcase and slid it across the desk.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll send you this itinerary in an email too.” She flipped the page toward Kelly and started going over it with her. “We ask that you get yourself to the airport to keep the anonymity, but we’ll schedule and fund your flight to New York, where we shoot the series. A driver will meet you at the airport. Meals and accommodations during the process. The location where you’ll be staying will be undisclosed. You agree to keep it that way. You’ll also receive a stipend for as long as you remain in the competition. Once you’re eliminated, we’ll send you back home.”
“Okay. Sounds simple enough.”
“You’ll arrive in New York on the seventh of February. The first day, we’ll get you settled in. A production assistant will be assigned to you. She’ll be your lifeline to the outside world, make sure you make it to everything on time, and get you anything you need. The second day, we’ll be doing photo shoots, and some preliminary interviews and questionnaires to use during production and for promotion for when the show airs. We go to great lengths to keep the contestants apart to ensure this truly is a blind competition. You’ll have to adhere to the itinerary we set.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“No exceptions. If you break the rules, you’ll be eliminated and lose the stipend and owe us that five thousand dollars back.”
“I understand,” Kelly said. There was no way she was breaking any rules. There was too much at stake.
“You could be home as early as the eleventh, or as late as the eighteenth, but honestly we usually wrap the post-show interviews up in just a day or two. So I think you can count on being home by the seventeenth. I’ll need you to sign here agreeing to appear on our network’s talk show and we have the right to use any footage for advertising. It’s pretty standard.”
“I love that show.” She read through the document, although really she was just staring at the words. Her thoughts swirled so fast she couldn’t even string the sentences together to comprehend much of anything.
“It’s a fun show to be a part of.” Jennifer smiled gently. “They’ll take good care of you while you’re there.”
“So about eleven days? That’s going to be hard to explain. This business is my whole life. I never go anywhere.” Suddenly the reality of sneaking away and making sure her friends and loved ones believed she was going somewhere was overwhelming. She’d never even been on a plane before. “How will I convince them?”
Jennifer pulled all the signed papers into a pile. “Well, some people have used the excuse of a sick friend, or going on vacation. This one guy told all his friends he’d been hired as a personal chef on a movie set. Everyone
