The Ex-Change novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Earpieces Out

At eleven-forty, the new producer cleared his throat in my ear.

By then the barge had been through a ballad and an ad break.

Colton and Vanessa had played a game where they guessed each other's favorite foods.

Jude and I had stood on the black mark for most of it, being looked at.

"Callie," the producer said, in his weather voice. "Here is your line."

The host had stepped forward with a card in his hand and a sorrowful face.

"We come now to the moment of truth," he said.

"Callie. Jude. The network has evidence of an affair that began before this show."

The screens behind him glowed with the words "THE REVEAL."

"Say it," said the producer in my ear.

"Say, 'I'm sorry, I did it, I couldn't help myself.' Slowly. Then lower your head."

Eight hundred people waited, in the dark, for me to lower it.

I took the earpiece out.

I held it high in my fist, where the cameras could see it.

A tiny voice came out of it, going tinny and furious.

"Callie, put that back, put that back."

The speakers on the towers hummed, and a click went through every one of them.

The sound tech had opened my mic.

My own voice rolled out across the lake.

"My name is Callie Radcliff," I said. "I'm not going to say that."

The host's smile cracked down the middle.

"Ms. Radcliff, if we could just go to a break."

"I asked for the divorce. I was told tonight I'd be given my words. These are mine."

The grandstand had gone strangely quiet.

"I'd like to ask Vanessa for a favor," I said.

Vanessa stood a few feet away, in white, with her hand frozen in Colton's.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Ex-Change from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.