Chapter 9: The Envelope

I dressed in the dark, in yesterday's slacks and Ray's flannel shirt.

I didn't wake him.

He lay on his back with one arm flung over his eyes, snoring softly.

I let myself out into the cold and walked the shore path to the production trailer with my fists in my pockets.

Renata's door was open.

She sat at a folding desk with three monitors and a cup of black coffee, and she did not look the least bit surprised.

"Good morning, Lorna. You look rested."

"What's in the envelope?"

"Which envelope?"

"The one you handed my husband on the dock at six o'clock this morning."

She picked up her coffee.

"Our guests receive an appearance fee," she said. "Five thousand dollars. Every ex who comes to the finale is paid."

"Five thousand."

"It's in the contract. All the exes sign."

"So you're paying the man who took my house to come back and talk about it on your show."

"I'm paying a man to be honest on camera," Renata said. "That's what makes it television."

I laid both hands on her desk.

A cameraman by the door looked up from his sandwich and quietly stopped chewing.

"I want out," I said.

"You can leave anytime."

"With my bed?"

"Without it. The contract is on page six, which you've read." She smiled. "Lodging ends when your participation ends. So does the appearance fee."

I thought about the nine hundred and forty dollars in my checking account.

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