Page 134 of Mistaken Impression

“Oh.” I can tell how much that hurts, and I almost want to smile.

“Still… I understand you’re doing well for yourself,” she says. “I’ve heard rumours about a possible TV show based on your books. Is that correct?”

“I leave all that to my agent.”

She smiles. “Very diplomatic.”

Ruby leans in to me and I turn to face her. “You’re doing okay, though, aren’t you?”

I smile. “Yes. For a second-rate actor and would-be author, I’m doing great, thanks.” I know that was a cheap jibe, but I can’t help it, and I glance over at Ella. She must have heard me, but she doesn’t react. She doesn’t even raise her head.

Kennedy coughs, and I turn around again. “I—I’m sorry about that,” she says, confusing me.

“Sorry about what?”

“The press took some of my words out of context.”

“Some ofyourwords?” What’s she talking about?

“Yes. I had to put some space between you and the show, but…”

I sit forward, clenching my hands together on the table in front of me. “What do you mean, Kennedy? It was Ella who spoke to the press.”

She frowns, shaking her head. “Ella? Why would Ella have done that?”

Dear God… what have I done?My stomach feels like lead, and even though I know Ella’s still there, I can’t look at her now. I’m too ashamed of everything I said… everything I did. “W—Why would you?”

“Because when the network told me they were going to recommission the show, they also revealed that they wanted us to use real members of the public for the second season. There was no way I could keep you on… not when you couldn’t cook and barely knew your way around the kitchen. They wanted us to let the guests ask questions during the show, too, instead of working to a script. It was going to be impossible with you at the helm, so rather than having someone else ‘out’ you during production, I did it myself.”

“And painted the studio as the victims of my supposed fraud while destroying my reputation?” She didn’t just destroy my reputation, she destroyed my life, but I can’t say that here… and anyway, I’m the one to blame for what happened. I’m the one who jumped to conclusions.

“I had no choice.”

Is she kidding?“What about coming to see me? What about talking it through with me? Did that ever occur to you?”

She shrugs her shoulders, shaking her head. “No. Not really. We needed a quick change of personnel… one the public wouldbuy. There wasn’t time for negotiations. And besides, that wasn’t the only reason I had to let you go.”

“Oh? What else had I done wrong?”

She places her hand over mine, but I pull them both away. “You’d become too damned popular.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. By the end of the first season, over ninety percent of the correspondence we were getting was about you. It had nothing to do with the recipes, or with future questions. It was just about you.”

“Perhaps because you’d made me pose semi-naked in all the publicity material. You made it about me, Kennedy. I didn’t. You made it about how I look, and I was never comfortable with that. But I’m not responsible for the way you marketed the show, or me.”

“Maybe, but you’re what made the show popular. So, I had no choice other than to drop you. The studio wanted to franchise ‘Meal Masters’ in other countries, and that meant the star couldn’t be bigger than the show. The only way for a franchise to work is for the show to be the star. That’s why we wanted Ella.”

I always knew the woman was a bitch, but that takes the cake. I lean over slightly. “Didn’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“I was just a front… an actor playing a part. Ella was always the star, not me.”

I hear a cry from the other side of the table and look up in time to see Ella leap from her seat, revealing the most beautiful dress. It’s a dusky grey, with a sash around the waist, which draws my attention to the fact that where she once had a perfectly flat stomach, there’s now a definite bump. I suck in a gasp, just as she places her hand over it, with all the protective instincts of a mother-to-be, and then she turns and runs.

My mouth drops open and I jump up, staring after her as she ducks between the tables.

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