I get up. “Hold on, sorry, I can’t hear you. Just let me go outside. Just … gonna … okay.” I close the glass door behind me and flop on a bench in the parking lot. “Sorry, hi, who is this?”

“Gwendolyn Bushman, calling from Bushman and Siegal Productions. I’m reaching out because we have an exciting opportunity for you we think you’d love to be involved in.”

I’ve never heard of this production company in my life, and I’m pretty sure this is a scam call. Any second now they’re gonna ask for my credit card details, right?

“Sorry, where did you get my number?” I ask, hovering my finger over the “end call” button.

“From Jordy Miller.”

If I weren’t sitting down already, I would’ve dropped from shock. “Jordy?”

“Yes. Our team has produced some of the top-rated reality shows from the past few years. Are you familiar with Nerds in the Jungle, Dating Without Caffeine, and Extreme Bathroom Makeovers?”

“Who isn’t?”

“All ours. We have an exciting new project coming up this year; a show called Second-Chance Romance. Each season will follow a leading suitor and their exes, as they re-date each other to see if any of that spark that made them fall hard the first time around is still there now that both parties have grown and matured. This year, we’re thrilled to have Jordy signed on as our first-ever suitor!”

I take a second to process this. “Jordy Miller’s gonna be on a reality show?” I ask finally.

“Yes. And, we hope, so will you?”

I look instinctively inside, where I can see the table full of my friends. I have a sudden, wild urge to sprint to them and demand they pile on top of me to bury me under their collective body weight and press out the sheer rage that’s bubbling within me. “You want me to date Jordy Miller again? On TV?”

“Yes. The series will be filmed in Loreux, Chalonne, and you’ll be accommodated in a gorgeous lakeside mansion, it’s really something. All meals will, of course, be provided, and you’ll receive a small amount of compensation for your participation—”

“Look, I don’t know why Jordy put me forward,” I interrupt her. “But I’m not interested, and he would know that.”

“I know it can feel that way when a relationship doesn’t work out. But the thing is, something drew the two of you together in the first place. When people grow, they usually change for the better. Chances are, he’ll have retained that special something, but perhaps some of those differences that separated you will—”

“Let me be clear, Gwendolyn. I would rather be swallowed up into the bowels of hell and enter an arrangement with the fallen angel Lucifer than date Jordy Miller again.”