Nick turned on his heel and stomped away from her. “Lois, you and I need to talk, right now,” he said.
“Be right there, Nick,” said Lois. She turned to Kenny, her eyes shining with excitement. “Did you get all that?”
Another thumbs-up from Kenny. Lois clenched her fists triumphantly. “This is great television,” she exclaimed, trotting after Nick.
Jessie put her head in her hands. Welcome to paradise.
JESSIE UNDID THE STRAPS of her shoes and took them off before she stood up. Okay, that was a start. There were strands of hair sticking to her face and she wiped them back while she looked properly for the first time at the two people who were going to be her companions for the next ten days, as well as her competition.
“Hi, there,” said the woman. “Is that your own dress?”
Jessie looked down. “Gosh, no. There’s no way I would have worn this.”
“It’s beautiful,” said the woman. “I wish they’d given it to me.” She put out her hand. “I’m Cindi Todd. That’s Cindi with an i.”
Jessie shook hands with her, frowning slightly. “Isn’t Cindy usually spelt with an i?”
The two women looked at each other.
“I mean, with an i at the end,” said Cindi.
“Oh, okay.” Jessie nodded. She laughed. “So it’s really Cindi with two is.”
Cindi’s smile tightened. “I’ve found that people usually know what I mean.”
Jessie raised her eyebrows at the condescending tone and there was an awkward pause before Cindi spoke again, pointing down at her own attire. “I think I’m supposed to be one of the ship’s crew. A chambermaid or cabin-maid or whatever they call it.” She was wearing a fitted black uniform with a white apron. It had long sleeves, Jessie noticed jealously.
She doubted that “Cindi with an i” was a chambermaid in real life. She had the look of someone who spent a lot of money looking after herself. Her short, platinum, tousled hair emphasized her big eyes, full lips and Slavic cheekbones. She was five and a half feet of slender, toned perfection and she made Jessie feel gangly and clumsy.
It didn’t help that Jessie was also an inch or two taller than the other contestant.
The man pushed his glasses up on his snub nose before he spoke.
“I’m Malcolm Talbot,” he said. “From Denver, Colorado.”
“Nice tuxedo,” said Jessie. It probably had been nice originally, and on a handsome man it might have looked rakish and dissolute, but Malcolm didn’t look as if he’d be comfortable in a tuxedo at the best of times. With his round face, receding hairline and owlish glasses he simply looked disheveled and lost.
“Did you guys get ‘washed-up,’ too?” asked Jessie.
Cindi and Malcolm looked at each other.
“Uh…no,” Cindi said apologetically. “We were brought to the shore.”
“I’m not a very good swimmer,” added Malcolm. “So I probably couldn’t have done it anyway.”
Jessie could see that he was trying to make her feel better and she smiled in appreciation.
“It really was quite a long swim,” chimed in Cindi. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed about getting into trouble.”
“But I didn’t,” said Jessie. She kept her voice pleasant but spoke firmly. “I only stopped because I thought I’d dropped my bag. I didn’t actually need to be rescued.” She turned to Kenny who was hovering silently nearby. “I mean, you were filming it. You saw that I wasn’t drowning, right?” She paused, waiting for an answer. “Kenny?”
Kenny’s head came away from the camera’s eyepiece and he grimaced apologetically. “Uh…I’m not really supposed to talk, you know. I’m just like, an independent observer. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“It’s okay,” Cindi said reassuringly. “I don’t have a clue about any of this survival stuff, either.” She shrugged. “That’s what we have the men for, right?”
Jessie’s mouth fell open but before she could respond, Malcolm spoke up.
“I’ve got lots of survival books at home and I love Nick’s show. I mean, I’ve never done anything like this before but I really wanted to come. Then, last night, we had to build our own shelters and go and find water and purify it. It was great!”
His eyes lit up as he talked and Jessie got the first inkling that Malcolm might actually be fun to be around.
Cindi laughed at his enthusiasm and put her hand on his arm. “Perfect! You can feel free to help me out any time you want. I won’t argue.”
“I’m really looking forward to doing stuff like that, too,” insisted Jessie, trying not to sound belligerent. “I think that’s part of the fun of being here.”
“Oh, I see,” said Cindi thoughtfully. “You guys are here for fun.” She lifted her eyebrows into two wicked darts. “It’s got nothing to do with winning a million bucks?”
Both Jessie and Malcolm laughed out loud.
“Let’s face it,” said Cindi, “we’ll probably end up backstabbing and betraying each other at the end but at least we can start out as friends, right?”
Jessie grinned, her misgivings about Cindi falling away. The girl was brash but at least she was up front about it.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Cindi went on, “I really don’t care about the money.”
“Yeah, right,” scoffed Jessie cheerfully.
“No, really,” laughed Cindi. “I’m in it for the fame. I’ve been trying to get my break as an actress for years and you can’t beat this kind of exposure.”
Malcolm and Jessie looked at each other.
“I believe her.” Malcolm shrugged. “I’m not really in it for the money, either. I just want to prove to myself that I can do it.”
Jessie spread her arms. “This is great. I am in it for the money, so why don’t we just agree that I’m the winner?”
Malcolm laughed. “I would but my wife would kill me. She’s pregnant and a million dollars would make a great nest egg.”
“Ooh, congratulations,” cooed Jessie and Cindi. Emboldened by their interest, Malcolm pulled out a photograph which was tucked into a small, plastic sleeve. “This is my Debbie,” he said bashfully. “That’s us on our honeymoon, in Miami.”
“She’s lovely,” said Jessie. Okay, Debbie wouldn’t be gracing the cover of Vogue anytime soon, but the couple had their arms around each other and the Malcolm in the photo looked just as besotted as the one standing in front of them. “You two look really happy.”
“We are,” said Malcolm, taking back the photo. “Married almost three years.”
“No husband or kids for me, thank you,” said Cindi. “I like the single life way too much. How about you, Jessie?” She picked up Jessie’s hand. “I don’t see a ring. You married? Or got anyone special?”
Jessie hesitated. That question would have been so much easier to answer only twenty-four hours earlier.
She was thinking about what to say when she realized that both Cindi and Malcolm were looking past her shoulders. She turned to see Nick bearing down on them, Lois hot on his heels.
2
JESSIE STRAIGHTENED HER spine and licked her lips nervously as Nick and Lois re-joined them. Kenny circled