Chapter 21
Jen in the Guppy Gabber, Saturday:
Crap. Crap crap crap crap. I need to find Janine. Sure, I was pissed at Ariana, but I wasn’t really going to broadcast that video. Aren’t there children on the Lido Deck? Part of me wants to show it to Justin, since he was asking for proof, but . . . does it even matter anymore? We’ve finally worked things out. Why beat a dead horse?
All I really want is for Ariana to know I have the video, as insurance, so she leaves us alone. Leanna will still get her showdown. As soon as I get Ed’s phone back from Janine. And with that? I gotta go. Thanks for ambushing me, guys. Now let me out of here.
Fuck. Fucking fuckity fuck fuck. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
My phone buzzed again.
Jen, are you there?
Yeah. Dying. Pleaz find her. I’m on my way.
I didn’t bother to fix the typo before sending.
My mind raced. Warn Ariana. Find Justin. Text Justin, then warn Ariana. Find Janine. Stop Janine. Steal Ed’s phone back. Get to the Lido Deck. There wasn’t time to do everything at once.
Would Ariana believe me? If I knocked on her door, in the middle of sex, when I wasn’t supposed to know where she was staying, would she thank me? Or would she call me a stalker and tell America I was trying to ruin her “big moment” by keeping her from watching her movie with everyone else?
She wouldn’t listen to me, but she might listen to Justin. My fingers flew over the keyboard of my phone, asking him to meet me in our cabin ASAP. Across the room, Justin’s phone buzzed, sitting on the desk. Lovely.
I sent another message.
Never mind. Going to the Lido Deck. Whatever happens, I didn’t want this. I’m sorry.
Thudding inside the wall told me the pipes had been engaged in the cabin beside us. Ariana and Dominic must be in the shower. Hopefully, that gave me time to find Janine before she aired the video. Would she wait for me and Ariana to appear on deck to make the drama complete? I didn’t know, but I didn’t have much time.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I raced up to the Lido Deck, silently congratulating myself for all the exercise I’d been getting onboard. Seven floors up felt like nothing. At the top of the stairs, a couple of staff members pulled me aside and insisted I give an interview. Clearly, they knew what was up. There was no way to get away from them until I said a few words. The second they gave me an opening, though, I dashed away.
Cruise staff had already arranged the deck chairs to face the large screen, which hung on the back of the spa on the sixteenth floor. I scanned the area. Tammy Rae sat on the other side of the pool, reading, but I ignored her. Danielle waved, and I flashed her a brief smile, wondering if she could possibly help in any way. Janine, Ed, and Connor were nowhere in sight. I hoped that meant they were off somewhere, stopping her from handing over the phone, but I didn’t want to put too much faith in my luck this week.
How did the screen work? I’d thought there was a projector, but didn’t see anything like that out here. I raced for the stairs again, making it up to the sixteenth deck in seconds. But then I realized there wasn’t any way to get to the screen itself. A railing separated me from it, and there was no walkway in front of where the movies aired. The whole thing must be controlled remotely. That’s where I needed to be.
“Nice try, Jen, but you’re too late.”
I spun around at the familiar voice to find myself face-to-face with Janine. “I thought you left the ship in Jamaica after you got stung by a jellyfish.”
“That’s what everyone thought,” she said. “No one really looks at the producers, did you ever notice that? No one but you and your friends, anyway. After the tour group left the beach, I took a cab back to the port. Bought one of those stupid, racist I LOVE JAMAICA hats with dreadlocks, and got in line with a bunch of tourists. No one talked to me. Leanna gave me a couple of days off for a job well done. And a big bonus. Thanks for that kiss. It was beautiful.”
“You’re disgusting. Give me Ed’s phone.”
“Sure thing.” The metal device flew through the air. In my surprise, I nearly ducked, but managed to catch it at the last second. “Of course, I’ve already forwarded the video to Leanna. She’s improving the resolution and the lighting as we speak.”
“She won’t be able to play it. I’ll stand here and stop her.”
Janine laughed. “Do you think they’ve got a Blu-ray player up here or something? This screen’s controlled by the media room, deep in the belly of the ship. Even if I were going to tell you where it is—which I won’t—it’s too late.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I’ll talk to Connor.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Leanna said if he interferes with the show again, he’s out. How would your best friend feel if you got his boyfriend fired? They live in a pretty nice house. I’m not sure they could afford it on Ed’s sporadic comedian income alone.”
She was distracting me. I didn’t have time to tell her that Ed and Connor would be just fine. But I also didn’t have any idea how to get to the media room, or where to find Connor (who was probably in the media room at that moment, anyway), and the deck below me was filling up with people. I had to do something, anything, but time was running out.
Janine laughed at the expression on my face.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“It’s not personal, Jen. We’re in the business of making an entertaining show. Watching you guys bake and zip-line and hang out wasn’t that exciting. We weren’t going to get the ratings we need to beat The Bachelor. And if the show doesn’t do well, we’re all out of jobs.”
“So my life is just a thing for you to play with?”
“It’s not your life anymore, Jen! You signed it over. This is our story, and we’re allowed to do whatever we want with it,” she said. “But come on, this is the best part. We’ve watched Ariana beat you, over and over and over. Finally, you’re about to get your revenge! Aren’t you excited? Don’t you want this?”
I shook my head. “I wanted people to know the truth. But not like this. What you’re doing is wrong, and if you had any kind of a soul, you’d know it.”
“People with souls don’t go far in Los Angeles, kid. When we get back, I’m getting a huge promotion. The next new show, I’m running it.”
Across the open space below, the sound of high heels clacking on wood caught my attention. Ariana entered the pool area, wearing a glittering evening gown that seemed a bit much for the Lido Deck, with her long, black hair artfully arranged on top of her head. She could’ve been ready to walk the red carpet. Some people applauded when she appeared, and she beamed. I swallowed my rising nausea. Dominic trailed a few steps behind her, dressed much more appropriately for the occasion in a pair of khakis, a green linen shirt, and sandals.
They stood with their back to the screen, which had begun moving. The start of the video was quiet; she must not have heard her own voice above the crowd. Since there was nothing I could do to stop the video, I raced down the stairs to warn her.
When Ariana spotted me, she flinched as if slapped and jumped back with a shriek. I stopped dead in my tracks, afraid to get any closer. Yet afraid not to.
“What the hell happened to your head? Did Justin tell you? Are you making fun of me?”
Telling Ariana all about my recipe woes sat high on the list of things I’d get around to right after Hell froze over. “Making fun of what? Your perfect hair? By shaving my head?”
She planted her hands on her hips and tossed her head. “Whatever. Never mind. What are you doing here?”
“We have to talk, Ariana. Now. It’s important.”
“Of course now is the moment you’d want to talk. When all the attention is on me,” Ariana said.
All the attention would stay on her for at least the next five minutes, but not in the way anyone wanted.
“That’s not it, I promise. But you need to come with me, and we need to talk over there.”
“Anything you say to me, you can say here.”
Above her head, the video screen flickered. Ariana’s face moved, but no sound came out. The screen paused. I tried not to smirk at the realization that Janine’s attempts to ruin my life were being hindered by technical difficulties. Still, the image on the screen didn’t have movie clarity. Shadows covered much of the screen, but the chairs, table, and ocean in the background clearly established that she was somewhere on the cruise ship.
The doors leading to the elevator bank parted, and Justin appeared. For the first time all cruise, I wished he’d been as far away from me as possible. I didn’t want him to see this, especially when I couldn’t get to him to explain first. He came and stood beside me, kissing my cheek. “Is everything okay? I got a weird message from you.”
“No, it’s not okay. I made a video and the producers stole it and I can’t make it stop. We need to get Ariana off this deck now.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ariana asked.
At the same time, Justin said, “Slow down. Start over from the beginning.”
But there was no time. Gasps echoed around the deck when the video started to play again, this time with sound. Whispers buzzed all around us. The audience had grown while we were talking. People were catching on that this video wasn’t part of the scheduled entertainment.
Helplessly, I pointed at the screen. The color drained from Justin’s face. In front of me, the much smaller Ariana whirled around to see everyone watching her and Dominic on the big screen. When she turned back, rage contorted her face. “How dare you? You had no right to spy on me. You had no right to air my personal business to everyone.”
“I didn’t! I mean, yeah, I made the tape, but I only ever meant to show it to you. I was going to tell you that, if you tried to get between us again, I’d tell Justin that you only brought Dominic on the cruise to break us up.”
“That’s not why Dominic’s here.” A tear trickled down her face, but she didn’t wipe it away. She’d probably taught herself to cry on command. “Obviously, you know the truth, since you were watching us.”
Her voice cracked, and for the first time since we met, I believed she was showing true emotion. A wave of pity hit me. “Yeah, I saw you with my ex-boyfriend. Thanks for the visual.”
She sniffled. “This was never about you. It was about me.”
Something in her tone set my hackles up. “Really? Trying to break up me and my boyfriend wasn’t about me?”
Justin stood horrified a few feet away, eyes swiveling from the show on the screen, now replaying from the beginning, to me and back. Other people’s eyes remained riveted to the screen as if I hadn’t spoken, so I turned to my foe.
“You had your shot with Justin, Ariana, on the show. You lost. He picked me. You had a chance to figure out a way to deal with it and move on. Instead, you set out to ruin my cruise. I didn’t want it to happen this way, and I’m sorry for that. But I’m not sorry that finally, people will see who you really are.”
Instead of watching the screen, I watched the Ariana in front of me as the video continued to play. Her jaw dropped, but no sound came out. Over her shoulder, Justin’s face moved as he watched the film. When his mouth dropped open in horror, I knew he’d gotten to the part where Dominic kneeled between her legs.
Ariana’s face turned white. With one hand over her mouth, eyes glistening, she turned and raced inside.
Before I could follow her, Justin and Dominic appeared at my side.
Not surprisingly, Justin’s wide eyes and clenched jaw told me he was furious. My heart sank. I’d wanted him to see who she really was when the cameras weren’t on her, but not like this. No one deserved this type of public humiliation.
“What the hell did you just do?” He asked.
“I’m so sorry, Justin. I tried to stop it. I just wanted her to leave us alone.” I summarized what Ed told me and my conversation with Janine.
He shook his head, his entire body practically shaking. “You don’t know what you’ve got there. Dominic, tell her.”
My ex’s face turned red, and he stared at the ground. “You know I can’t. I’m sorry, man.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“He can’t tell you because of medical privacy laws,” Justin said.
I blinked at him a few times, but those words didn’t start to make any more sense. “Dominic’s Ariana’s date. They’re sleeping together. She’s pregnant, and they’re getting married. Medical privacy laws don’t stop him from talking about his own baby. Besides, it’s all on the video.”
“No, it’s not,” Dominic said. “Jen, think about it. What do I do for a living?”
The missing pieces of this puzzle started to click into place. “You’re a traveling nurse?”
“Exactly.”
Lightbulbs started flashing: almost running into Ariana in the infirmary the first day; the weight loss; the fact that she’d brought my ex here in the first place. Rachel saying she was stumbling and looking ill at the rum factory tour. The reason both she and Justin had such a negative reaction to my newly shaved head, at least until Justin got the full story.
“Is Ariana sick?” I asked, feeling like the world’s biggest asshole.
Dominic avoided my gaze, which gave me all the answer I needed. Thanks, HIPAA.
Justin pressed his lips together in a firm line. “She’s got about three months to live, Jen.”