I didn’t have too much information on Lauren. From what I’d gathered, Tiffany knew Jeannine through work—both having modeled for the same designer at one point in time—which was how she got on the show to begin with. Jeannine and Lauren were best friends, so Tiff had met Lauren a few times, but I didn’t think their interaction had gone beyond that. As for the rest of the girls, she’d either had brief encounters with them or had never met them before.
This ought to be interesting…
“Well, we just wanted a little more privacy.” Those were Tiff’s exact words in her notes. But then I decided to elaborate by adding, “When we found the new house, I just had to have it. I love the neighborhood and location. You can’t get much better than that.”
Lauren regarded me with narrowed eyes, almost confused by what I said, though I had no idea why. That was until Shari—actress on America’s longest-running daytime soap opera—spoke up, asking the question that seemed to be on everyone’s minds. “I thought I heard somewhere that Adam bought it for you as an early wedding present. I didn’t think you knew anything about it.”
Now that she mentioned it, I also recalled hearing something about that.
Oh, right…it was in my notes.
Crap!
“Oops…I guess I wasn’t supposed to let that slip.” I covered my mouth with my napkin and widened my eyes, hoping my new friends would fall for the overly dramatic display of surprise.
Nicole, who was to my right, leaned in and whispered, “If you make a big deal about it, the show will more than likely air it. They tend to choose things that bring about more headlines, drawing more attention to the show. So if you ever let anything slip that you shouldn’t, just act like it’s nothing and move on.”
I glanced to my side and offered a sincere smile of gratitude.
Aside from things anyone could find from a simple internet search, I didn’t know much about Nicole. It seemed she had a few television roles when she was younger, but nothing that really took off. Once she caught the eye of real estate developer, Trent Rigger, there was no need for her to ever work another day in her life. Tiffany had made a few derogatory remarks in the notes, but after that one simple exchange with her just now, I immediately dismissed anything my sister had to say about these girls.
Thankfully, the conversation around me had switched to something else—a topic I could not join in because I didn’t have kids. So instead, I just sat there and listened to what everyone else was talking about. And before I knew it, I had the baby bug.
Lord, help me.
By the end of brunch, I genuinely liked these ladies. There was no way I’d make it out of this alive, because I couldn’t find it in me to be nasty to them. When I read through Tiff’s notes, I thought, this is totally doable, but then I met them. Maybe it was easy for my sister to be ugly to nice people, but I just didn’t have it in me.
And the worst part was that I’d have to keep hanging out with them until filming concluded, then they’d get the real Tiffany at the taping of the after show. These poor, poor women. They wouldn’t have a clue what hit them.
I wondered if maybe I could tape the tell-all and just let them endure the other one next season. That would at least give Tiffany a chance to watch the show when it aired, so she wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
Then again…why would I want to pretend to be Tiffany longer than necessary?
* * *
Ty had been at the house for hours after the car had dropped me off at home. He wanted to know everything that was said. Actually, I had started to believe that he wanted to hear everything three or four times, because he made me repeat it until I threatened to punch him in his jugular. He’d had some concerns, but for the most part, he left satisfied.
And about ten seconds after he drove away, I saw Jacoby walk along the side of his sister’s yard toward the pool house. This was the first opportunity in ten days to actually meet up with him. There were a few nights we had attempted to talk on the phone, but that hadn’t worked out because I couldn’t stay awake long enough to get past hello.
Refusing to wait any longer, I ran outside and stopped him before he made it to the pool house. The smile on his face nearly made me trip and fall, but it’s not like that would’ve been the first time he’d have to pick me up off the ground.
“I’m really gross, so you might want to hold off on touching me until after my shower,” he said with his hand out, holding me off. It bothered me a little, even though anyone could see that he was covered in dirt and sweat.
I really couldn’t wait for the day when I could just jump on him, not at all caring how dirty he was. It’d been forever since my last relationship, but it didn’t take long to remember how much I hated the beginning stages, the getting used to each other part. It was enough to make me avoid relationships—well, that and the pain that came along with the breakup. I think the only reason I even decided to give this a shot with Jacoby was because I wasn’t in my right frame of mind.
I was stuck somewhere between heaven and hell—my life and Tiff’s.
“Then hurry up and go take a shower,” I teased.
His smile grew even bigger, and for a second, I didn’t think I had enough strength in me to resist. “All right. I’ll do that and then come over. How does that sound?”
We quickly made plans for dinner—he’d cook for us
