Page 97 of Surprise Baby for Mr. Fischer
I nodded.
I told the hosts ahead of time to address it all, including my time onThe Greatest Loserand the lies being spread about me even still.
“It wasn’t an easy decision.” I tried to smile at Megan and James, hoping it didn’t look like a grimace. “The episode that aired has been like an albatross around my neck.”
“How so?” Megan asked.
“It was difficult enough to try and lose weight in front of an audience, but to be tricked into thinking my team had won a prize we hadn’t to get me to disqualify myself, have the event filmed and aired was humiliating.”
“Is this the first time you’ve tried to set the record straight about what really happened?” James questioned.
“It is.” My voice took on an angry edge. “Recently I spoke to a person that used to work on the set ofThe Greatest Loser, who let me know the show had found the culprit.”
“You’re kidding,” Megan gasped. “And they still aired that show, blaming you for what happened. That’s horrible. Can you tell us who it was?”
I gave her a sad smile. “The person was someone who, even though our friendship had grown apart, I never thought was capable of stabbing me in the back like she did.”
“No—” Megan drew out the o, staring at me in shock.
James looked from Megan to me. “What am I missing?”
“Yes, Megan. It was my partner and now-former friend, Whitney Ursula Grant.” Inwardly, I gave an evil chuckle at using her middle name. “That’s not the only thing she did. She was the one who leaked to the press that Lincoln and I were at the ER the day I thought I might be miscarrying.”
“Does that woman have no shame?” Megan jumped in. I was happy to hear the outraged gasps that came from the audience as well.
Take that, Whitney!
“Harper, how awful it must have been to find all of that out,” James said sympathetically, pausing a moment before continuing. “Since you brought up Lincoln, let’s talk about the real reason you’re here.”
Panic squeezed my chest, making breathing difficult.
“It’s well known now that you had a secret relationship with actor Lincoln Erickson.”
“I did. Until recently, anyway.” I only had to wait a moment for the familiar pain to lance through me at the reminder that I chose to end our relationship.
“Tell us, how did you meet?” James asked, genuinely interested.
“He thought he’d saved me from drowning.” At the memory, a laugh escaped me.
“Oh, this sounds like a fascinating tale.” Megan smiled, encouraging me to continue.
Heat filled my cheeks when I thought about that day. “I’d gotten knocked over by a wave, and while I was tumbling through the water, my bathing suit bottoms fell to my ankles. I was mortified and was kind of a jerk to him because of it.”
Megan and James both laughed.
“I bet he didn’t appreciate that,” Megan added.
I shook my head.
“Did you know who he was then?” James asked once their laughter and that of our audience died down.
I shifted in my seat, becoming more comfortable with the questioning. “No, I’m not much of a movie buff and had no idea who Lincoln was. Not even that night when he had to save me again from a drunken asshole—” I stopped. “Oh, sh—I mean shoot, I didn’t mean to swear like that.”
“It’s okay, Harper. When we film these episodes, there’s always a few seconds’ delay that will allow us to filter it out.” James gave me a smile of reassurance.
“What a knight in shining armor,” Megan gushed. “A realprinceof a guy.”
“He is.” Lincoln had protected me until he came up against the one battle he couldn’t fight: me. “We spent the whole weekend together. I think I began to fall in love with him then, but I was too afraid and didn’t believe I could fall that quickly for a guy I’d only known a few days.”
