Page 188 of Between the Lines

He sighs against my temple, and chest to chest, I feel the pounding of his heart. “It’s going to be all right, sweetheart. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Later that day, I meet Audrey Kingsley at a small café in Westwood. She’s got auburn hair and a wide smile, and she asks if she can give me a hug. Usually, I’d find that sort of thing fake or an over-the-top attempt to win me over, but something about her genuine excitement rubs off on me.

It lessens the nerves roiling inside me like a winter storm.

She asks me what I want to drink and tells me it’s on her. “No strings,” she adds and laughs a little.

I order an iced coffee. “That sounds delicious,” she says and orders the same, but asks for an extra shot of caffeine.

“I’ve got a toddler at home,” she says with a small shrug. “I’m working part time now, trying to juggle both, and I’malwaysin need of caffeine”

“That sounds hard.”

“It can be, so I’m really enjoying this trip to LA,” she says. “But that also means I’m extra careful about the stories I choose to investigate. I want them to really mean something.”

I look down at my hands, knotted together on the wooden table. “Right. What made you think of… well. Of this topic?”

The waiter arrives with our drinks, and I grab my coffee with grateful hands. Something to do, something to hold.

Audrey takes a sip of hers. “Good question. I mean, it landed on my desk as a tip from the beginning. But I’d been interested in the ethics of reality shows for a long time, especially dating shows. There are different kinds of them, right?The Gambleis definitely one of the…” She looks at me then gives an awkward little shrug. “Sorry.”

“You can say it,” I say dryly. “It’s a trashy one. Alcohol, youngsters, hotness on the beach.”

“Yes,” she admits. “Exactly. With a focus on hookups for short-term gain rather than actually making meaningful connections.”

I nod. It’s easier than I expected, talking about it. To hear her mentionThe Gambleand know she must have watched my season in preparation for this.

“A lot of them are heavily produced. We’re talking young people, often sensitive situations, unsupervised but constantly filmed—every drop of drama milked.” She shrugs. “It feels like the industry hasn’t been properly investigated. What are the safeguards in place? Especially for young women?”

“So you decided to take the job. When Aiden called you,” I say.

A tiny frown appears on her lips. “He didn’t offer me a job. He suggested I write a story and agreed to provide funding. I did the rest.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Unusual, to be sure. But it’s not the first time a company’s top executive has welcomed scrutiny of his firm. Some have done it to force the change they couldn’t implement because of their Boards.” She gives another shrug, and a smile replaces her slight frown. “I have a feeling, Charlotte, that so much of yourstory was left untold. It’s there, though, if you look carefully between the frames of the neatly edited season you were on.”

This is everything I never wanted to talk about.

All this time, to be naive felt almost worse than looking crazy. And to be so openly vulnerable, to share what happened and what it meant to me… To admit that I was told and believed that I was going to get vindicated once the show aired. And that while filming, I was egged on and encouraged by producers, and my wineglass always kept full.

But I find myself nodding to the woman across from me.

“There was a lot more that happened than was shown,” I say. “But here’s the thing… I’ve never told my story. And I’m a writer, too.”

Audrey’s eyes light up. “That’s right. I did some searches on your name—you’ve written a lot.”

“I’d like to tell my story,” I say. “But I want to be a part of writing it, too.”

She looks at me for a split second before she extends a hand. “Deal,” she says.

I shake it, feeling better about myself than I have in a long while.

And then I tell her everything.

CHAPTER 67

AIDEN

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