CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

LET THE SHOW BEGIN!

"So, did you win the selection round?" asked Maddie as Ava talked her through the day's event. She was just getting off work and was stuck in traffic for almost an hour. That was the Atlanta life for you. It was in the cab that the call came in. To keep herself from dozing off, she had engaged the cabman in petty chat. The man could relate to the Atlanta lifestyle himself. He pitied her busy work schedule. "I have to wake up at 5 a.m. Because of this," she complained to the man. To this, he had responded that she should be thankful.

"I have a friend who's been applying at that place for a long while now," said the cabman. "He got no reply."

That made Maddison scoff. "What's special working at the governor's office?" she laughed. A lot of people just wanted the affluence of working there. If only they knew how stressful it was. "I've got friends working in other places, and they don't get overworked." She told the man.

"He loves working there. He's been saying that even before he graduated." The man replied as he tried navigating the car through another short drive.

"He likes the lifestyle is more like it."

"I wish he could meet you. He listens to no one. And he's broke but won't work anywhere else." Complained the cabman. He shook his head tiredly. "His wife always had to plead with him to go get something doing."

"How long has he been jobless?" she asked, wondering why anyone's life ambition would be to work for the governor.

"Four years, and counting."

Maddison laughed, "Really? And he's been married how long?"

"Two years, and counting." The man smiled now.

"I pity that poor lady," she chuckled, "How can I help?"

A car honked annoyingly behind them. The cabman looked up to see that the line was moving now. He wound down and waved at the driver. "Sorry," he said and started driving. He didn't drive long before they were stuck again. When he sighed in frustration, Maddison smiled sympathetically at him through the rear mirror. "I'm used to it," he said with a smile. "It's just too much to handle sometimes. I'm supposed to pick up a client in," stopping to check his wristwatch, he said, "Thirty minutes," he shrugged, "Now, I'll have to move it up."

Before Maddison could respond to that, her phone began to ring, and it was her cousin. And excusing herself from the conversation, she had picked up. Ava had chatted with her last night, telling her about the show's commencement. And she was rooting for her. "How did it go?" she asked again as Ava peered, trying to get a hold of where she was. "I'm in a cab, heading home." She told her, flipping her camera so she could see the cabman. He was busy now trying to get a few headways. The road seems to have cleared now that they were leaving the busy route.

"Oh, do you want me to call back then?"

"No, it's fine," she told her cousin, eager to get the juicy detail, "I might be here a while anyway. So did you win?"

"That's not what winning looks like," Ava rolled her eyes at her cousin. "This was just a qualification test."

"Did you win?" she asked again, then stopped to rephrase the question. "Did you qualify then?" It was a stupid question, really. Ava was good at cooking. While she had gotten grandma Davis's cooking skill, Maddie had inherited her witty nature. If anyone could ace the cooking challenge, it would be her.

"Now, she's talking," sighed Ava, "What do you think?"

Maddie looked at her cousin intently. She did look happy. If she didn't get picked, her cousin wouldn't FaceTime her. She would have left a voice note not call. And if she were ever bent on calling, it wouldn't be video call. Ava had a shy way of avoiding video calls when she was upset. "I think you got selected."

"Hmmn," she said, putting on a sad face. "You see, the last question almost did me in. I failed woefully."

"What?" Maddie gasped, though she found it hard to believe. Her cousin was still the best chef she knew, no cap. To have failed, something must have been wrong. Plus, this thing about tests not being the actual test of one's ability. "What was the last question again?"

That got Ava into launching back into the whole story all over again. She told her about the French cooking and how that was easy pitzy. "Remember how I was all about French cooking last year?"

Maddie nodded, "Yeah, of course," she said quickly, urging Ava to proceed to the real gist.

"It helped. I floored the question. After that, the panelist dug out a terrible question for me…." she started to sob.

"Ava?" Maddie called, looking worriedly at her cousin. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'll be fine," replied Ava, brushing off a tear. "I was asked which cooking method is best for preserving meat without refrigerating." She wailed.

Knowing nothing about that, she sighed, "Oh! That must be a tough one."

"Yes, it was," she lamented

"So, what did you pick?"

"I chose salting."

Maddie stopped to ponder on that. Wasn't Salting the best way to keep the meat since no freezing was allowed? "Well, isn't that the answer?"

"It is," she replied swiftly, "Only there's a better way to name it."

When she stopped talking, Maddie almost jumped out into the phone to wriggle her neck. Ava was deliberately testing her patience. "And that would be?" she pressed.

"Curing."

"Curing?" she asked, "As in to cure?"

"Yes," Ava replied, "See what I mean?" she groaned.

'Oh, I'm so sorry, baby…."

"Apparently, I should have known as a chef that salting is curing. It's like a neatly wrapped fashion. Do you get the drill? They're the same. But curing is the posh term."

"And the chef term too." She finished off.

"Stop looking so sad for me," Ava laughed out loud. "I aced that too."

"I knew it!" Maddie shrieked excitedly. The cabman who had been listening too smiled.

"I did it, Darling, I got selected, and it's with a capital approval." She beamed proudly.

"I'm proud of you, babe," Maddie said, smiling. "Now, we just can't wait to see you on air."

"That's it, baby. I'm gonna be on national TV."

"Don't forget to send me the stations airing it and the time for the show. I'm going to be rooting for you all the way."

"Thank you," Ava said, blowing Maddie some kisses. "Are you almost home now?" she asked.

"Not even in a while. The traffic is terrible." She complained.

"Do you want me to stay on the line then, keep you busy?"

Maddie looked at the cabman, feeling bad for ignoring him since. She had, after all, been the one to draw him into a conversation. "No, it's fine," she told Ava, "You should get some rest, and prepare for the big day."

"All right then," she smiled, "And oh, almost all the stations will be airing it. I'll just send the date it's starting and time."

"Please do."

"Any word from Mike?" she asked. That got Maddie screwing her face.

"Ava," she called in a high pitch voice. "I'm in a cab."

"Oops," said Ava, covering her mouth. "Laters." She disconnected the call quickly before the other lady could have her head. Mike was her boyfriend. And he had gone AWOL on her some couple of months ago. Her cousin's theory was that he had a wife. And that the woman must have found out about his side chic. Which was Maddison. She had refused to reach out even though she wasn't sure her theory was correct.

"Sorry, that was my cousin," Maddie smiled at the cabman. "She's a chef."

"Yeah, I heard that bit." He smiled apologetically for eavesdropping. There was nothing much to do with this traffic. And he was one man who didn't use his phone while driving. That could have kept him busy. "Where's she? And what's this show you were talking about?"

"You were indeed listening," she laughed. "It's Seattle. And the show is a cooking show. It will be airing sometime next week."

"All right, I'll make sure to tune in," he promised.

"Great." she said, watching the road now, "It's clear," she smiled.

"We should get you home in five."

As he drove her home, Maddie couldn't help but think of the friend the man mentioned earlier. She should enlighten him. Or help him somehow. "What did he study?" she asked the driver.

"Who?"

"Your friend who wants to work at the governor's office. What did he read?"

"Human relations."

She said nothing while he drove on. When the car stopped at her place, she reached for her card. "Here's my card," she said, handing the cabman her card. "Let that friend of yours come down to the office. I should talk to him about this passion of his."

"Oh, that would be great. Thank you." The cabman took the card, smiled his thanks again, and drove off.

➢

Peter McGuire cleared his desk as he prepared to head home. He shut down his laptop and packed it with the other items in his brief. Then he cleared with his PA and handed his brief to the driver who walked ahead of him. He had barely stepped in the elevator when his phone rang. "Hi," he said with a frown. He had warned the wolf severally about calling him unnecessarily. "What's this about?"

He stepped out of the elevator and headed for the car. A few staff stopped to greet him when he walked past them. He never bothered himself with acknowledging that. His driver had started the car already. He stepped down to get the door, and Peterson walked in. The lady spending the night with him was already in the car. He didn't acknowledge her either. Neither did she, he noted but said nothing. Nodding at him, he told him to drive since he knew already where to go.

"The game show is starting?" he repeated. As one of the show's sponsors, he was called to be notified, "Good then," he said. "Did a certain Marie Jones make it to the house?" he asked. "Great, keep me informed, okay?" when the assistant on the other end responded, he said, "That would be nice." Dropping the phone, he sighed and leaned his back against the wall.

She better win; his wolf came out to taunt him. Marie was a joke. His friends had sent him the lady as collateral damage. Turns out her mother was owing someone in the higher-ups. A wolf. And he was using her to send a message to Peterson, knowing her mother was a good friend of his. He could have given her the money. But that was against the rule. Plus, the lady in question had his hands tied. She had intentionally signed a petition, claiming she would pay their bills. But it was all because she wanted no part in Peter's bloody money, as she said. Even so, this wasn't the answer. He had to step in somehow.

Calling his PI, he said, "I want every information about that man," he said to the PI. "Every dirty detail you can find." Ending the call, he sat up straighter. "Take me to the club." He told his driver, not wanting to be home yet. He hated when his hands were forced. That wolf was making him feel drained with his demands.

Turning to the lady beside him, he asked. She was getting undressed in the car. What is she doing now? He hissed. He wasn't in the right frame of mind for this. He wanted normal. This wasn't it. "Where the hell did they get you from?"

The lady didn't bestow him with a smile. She was completely naked now. "I was told how you like it," she said seductively. Standing now, she gave him the full view. Though the expression on his face remained placid, the lady looked down to see something different. There was no indifference there. And then she smiled.