Page 120 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“I think you’ll want to stay for this,” Dawn Taylor says, her lips curling into a smile.

“We’ve got a problem here,” Peter Dixon says, folding his hands. “We’ve got a finale to film, but we need two couples for that to happen. We were planning on bringing Selena and Chase back, but…”

“They just broke up,” Dawn Taylor says. “Apparently, Selena didn’t like that Chase is still in love with you.”

“So you see the pickle we’re in,” Peter Dixon says. “But Chase wants a second chance.”

My breath catches in my throat. “Wait, does that mean—”

I hear a soft, uncertain voice behind me.

“Hey, babe.”

Chase stands in the doorway. Chase, with his horribleRick and MortyT-shirt over a pair of truly atrocious cargo shorts. His hair is sticking up at all angles and he looks like he’s been through hell.

“Babe, I’m so sorry,” Chase says. “I don’t know who I am anymore. All I know is that I just want to be with you again.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Peter Dixon says kindly. “It’s the producers. They’re great, don’t get me wrong. We’ve got some of the best in the biz. But sometimes they go too far.”

Dawn Taylor scoffs. “They know how to get a good show out of people. That’s all.”

“Let me guess, Chase,” Peter Dixon says, sighing. “They pushed you to drink and then said all kinds of things to you to manipulate how you felt.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “DT, I thought I told you that we weren’t going to be doing that on this show.”

“What?” Dawn Taylor looks outraged. “Oh, come on—”

Chase raises his hand, looking penitent. “It’s okay. I don’t blame the producers. It’s not an excuse for what I did. Alice, I want you to know that I take full responsibility.”

It’s true that Chase cheated on me, and I haven’t forgiven him for that. But Dawn Taylor directed her producers to make it happen, all because she wanted to eliminate Selena. She messed with my entire life for this. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I have to call her out for it. I don’t think I could live with myself if I just bowed my head and let Dawn Taylor walk all over me. What do I have to lose at this point?

“Chase, yes, you made a mistake,” I say, infusing calm into my voice, “but we were both pawns in a much bigger game. Dawn Taylor has been pulling as many strings as she can to get Selena eliminated.”

“Great. Here we go,” Dawn Taylor says, rolling her eyes.

Peter Dixon steeples his hands. “Is that so?”

“She ordered the producers to poison the peppers specifically so that Selena would get food poisoning. Then she had them kill the generator during the storm to scare Selena. And of course, she had her producers push Chase and Selena together to get Selena eliminated.” As I recount what Dawn Taylor’s done so far, I wonder what else she could have been doing behind the scenes.

The woman in question huffs out a laugh. She settles back in her chair, clearly shifting from “caught” to “owning it” in real time.

“Fine. You got me. I’d do anything to make this show a hit,” Dawn Taylor says. She turns a withering glare on Peter Dixon. “And please, Pete, don’t play innocent here. You’ve made it beyond obvious that you want to replace me with a hot young thing who’d take a fraction of my salary and never say no to you. I know Selena’s been gunning for my job since she got on set, and it’s all thanks to you.”

“Now, DT, that still doesn’t excuse whatyoudid.”

“Well,Pete, we’re both professionals. We both know what it takes to make good TV. I heard what happened on the set ofMatchmakerMayhem.That show makes everything I did look tame in comparison. And if I were a man like you, the fact that I’d be willing to do whatever it takes would be applauded,” Dawn Taylor says. She glances at her phone. “Look, we can take turns dragging our skeletons out of the closet, or we can go film this finale before the set literally melts down.”

Peter Dixon looks conflicted, and I can almost see him weighing the thought of dragging Dawn Taylor through all the things she did against getting the finale filmed.

“You’re right,” Peter Dixon says finally. “We’re on the clock. If we don’t wrap filming in the next hour, everything the crew spent all night setting up will be ruined. Let’s stick the landing here, and then we can hash this out later.”

“Deal.” Dawn Taylor nods.

“So how about it?” Peter Dixon turns to me and Chase. “Want another chance at winning a million dollars?”

“I’m in,” Chase says eagerly. “If Alice is, of course.”

“Yes,” I say quickly. Warning bells are going off in my head, but I ignore them. I have to seize this chance to get back in the game. “Let’s do this.”

I reach for Chase’s hand, but he’s already barreling toward me. He tackles me in a bear hug.

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