Twenty Four Weeks - Episode 17 - "Twenty Eight" (PG)

by James David Denisson

you're really serious about this change then tell us where it came from."

  Wade sits back. "Alright," he says, and I just stand there. I just don't know what he's going to say.

  "So, you talked about your friend."

  "That's right."

  "You said that you hurt time in the worst possible way."

  "Yes."

  "Care to elaborate?"

  "No."

  "No?"

  "That's not really the issue. The fact is I did. I hurt him for a long time and he didn't deserve that. I was a different man then, and that came out in what I said to people and what I did. But I've changed. The show has changed."

  "You mentioned that your friend has his finger on a button - the button to mute you, I assume. So, your friend is your producer?"

  I can barely breathe.

  "This isn't about him."

  "But it is, because you've alluded on air that this friend of yours has been the inspiration for this change."

  "When did I say that?"

  "It's not hard to join the dots, Wade. You do this thing, this terrible thing, and he forgives you, and then you change. And he's your producer, so that kind of change comes out in the format of your show. And then, you get to demonstrate that change in a dramatic way."

  "I never said it was my producer." And then he thinks for a moment. "Are you suggesting that I set that up?"

  Jerry holds both his hands up. "Not at all. We know the caller is getting professional help, and rightly so. I'm just saying that your show gets a chance to prove itself."

  "Okay."

  "But the motivation is from your producer though, right?"

  Wade frowns. "You're not going to let this go? Okay. I admit it. Where is he? Where are you, Judd?"

  I realise, in that instant that the spotlight is about to fall directly on me and I have no idea what to do or what to say. I'm also aware that I'm not made up for the camera and I'm going to be all shiny.

  Wade stands up, looks to the side he came from. "Come on out, Judd," he commands. Without knowing just how he did it, I find my legs obeying him. I'm out on the set, walking towards them.

  "Please welcome Judd Altman," Jerry says, as if he's planned it all along.

  He motions for me to sit and I do, next to Wade.

  "What am I doing here?" I ask him through the side of my mouth. I don't have a lapel mike, not yet, but Wade does.

  "Relax. I've got this," he says, and it's broadcast over the whole country.

  A technician runs over and hooks me up while Jerry, the audience, and the nation, wait.

  "Judd Altman," Jerry says, "welcome to the show. Bit of a shock?"

  I stare at him. I don't need to answer, it's written all over my face. "You can say that."

  "How long have you been friends with Wade?"

  I look to the man that has kind of ambushed me. He's smiling. I have no idea what he's doing. I have to trust him. "Seven years," I tell Jerry.

  "And you've been the producer of the Man Up show for that time?"

  "I have." I feel like I'm being cross examined.

  "Wade mentioned that he hurt you, that he's done something to you. Any comment on that?"

  I raise my brows. "No," I say hesitantly.

  "Look," Wade says, "somethings are private, personal. There are other people involved that may or may not want to be outed on national television."

  "But what Wade said is true," I say.

  And this was our problem: that we've opened up this can of worms by making those changes and people want to know why and how, and that story will involve Quinn and our baby, and Chloe too for that matter.

  And so I go on: "There was something done and it was forgiven. And we're doing new and powerful things on the show, and that's because of what happened, I won't lie. Both of us have been through some pretty heavy issues these past months, and we've both changed. Was that because of me? Maybe. But Wade is making his own changes. It's his show and we're doing what he wants."

  Wade leans in. "So, keep listening. Good things are on the way."

  Jerry gets the signal to wind it up and he does. They jump to a break and the two of us let out a collective breath.

  "Good work, guys," Jerry says.

  "What the hell was that?" Wade asks him.

  "You went off the agreement," I say.

  "Just a little. But, you know I ask the hard questions," Jerry replies.

  "You set us up," I accuse him.

  "You didn't have to come out. And Wade could have just stormed off. He wouldn't have been the first one."

  "And that would have just ruined everything," I say. "You knew that."

  "I did," he confesses. "But relax. You guys just got the exposure you needed."

  Exposure. I think I got the exposure that I didn't need. Now my name was broadcast across the country and Quinn would be involved. I hoped that would be the end of it, but I knew that it wouldn't be. There was a story in there - one that involved an illicit affair, betrayal, a shock discovery and redemption. That kind of tale was too good not to tell.

  I drive Wade back through the evening traffic. He's rubbing his forehead, muttering under his breath. Finally he comes up for air.

  "We've got a problem," he says.

  "Yes, we do."

  "They're not going to let this go, are they?"

  I take a deep breath. "No."

  "I don't mind some controversy, and I guess you can handle it, but I don't want to bring Chloe and Quinn into this."

  "Neither do I."

  "So what are we going to do?"

  "Call Quinn," I say.

  "Really?"

  "You have my permission."

  He shrugs and pulls out his phone, dials a number the he, unfortunately, knows all too well. It rings. I hear Quinn's small voice on the other end.

  "Quinn... don't hang up," he says.

  She does.

  "Damn it," he says.

  Good girl, I think. "Try mine," I say.

  He does. She answers this time. "It's Wade. Don't hang up. I'm with Judd." He looks over to me.

  "Ask her where she is," I say.

  He does. "She's at my apartment with Chloe, watching the show."

  "Tell her to stay there. We're coming over."

  We get there in twenty minutes, head up to his floor. The women are sitting on the sofa waiting for us, when we stumble into the room. They clap us as we stand there feeling like fools.

  "What is it?" Quinn asks when she sees that we're not at all pleased with the outcome of the interview.

  "You saw it, right?" I ask her. Of course she has.

  "Yes."

  "Then you have to know that there's going to be some unintentional repercussions from what we said to night."

  "Repercussions?" Chloe asks, sitting forward.

  "Forget unintentional," Wade says. "Try disastrous."

  "What are you two talking about?" Quinn says, pulling herself carefully to her feet.

  "There's a story there," Wade tells her. "They can smell it. And they won't let it go until it's been told."

  "What story?"

  "You, me, Judd, Chloe. All of us. Tangled together."

  "This is the kind of thing they'll be all over," I tell Quinn sadly.

  She is shaking her head now. She's realising that all our names will be plastered all over the news in a matter of days.

  "What do we do?" Chloe asks - her eyes wide.

  "Well," Wade says, "that is the question."

  "And we'd better answer it tonight," I say. "We need to get ahead of this, tell the story our way, before someone else tells it theirs."

  Friday

  It is well after midnight when Quinn and I leave the Beaufort's apartment. We have a plan of sorts. It's the truth, well, mostly the truth.

  "I'm sorry about this," I tell Quinn. She's looking out the window at the city lights. She turns to me and her eyes are downcast.

  "I know. I suppose we should have known that this would happen eventually."r />
  "Are you alright?"

  She nods. "I did a terrible thing, Judd. And I guess this is just a consequence of that. And I have to live with it."

  "It'll be alright. We won't mention your name. Wade and I will take all the heat."

  "But people who know me will know." And then she laughs. "They already knew anyway. I guess the people that can connect all of this together are the one's that know and have forgiven me. It's just that I'll be hurting them all over again. And you have to answer those questions."

  "I won't be alone up there. I think Wade will come off looking worse than me. Do you trust me?"

  "Of course, Judd."

  "Good. Then we'll get through this. It'll all be just like a bad dream."

  Right back at the start, when I came back to the city to save Quinn, I had hoped that all of this - the betrayal, the loss, the pain - would be just a bad dream. And although I was still seeing the ramifications of all of that, it was all starting to lose its sting. This is what I'd been praying for.

  And I'm impressed by my wife. She knows that some of this is her doing and she's prepared to accept that. She isn't running away. She isn't blaming me for it all like she did when she told me about our baby. But regardless I'm going to protect her. I'm going to shield her from all of this.

  Wade enacts the first phase of our plan. He rings Jerry Jones and offers the exclusive that he wanted. There are conditions. It will be recorded. Wade and I will appear, and only us. We will see the questions before hand. Jerry will not depart from the script.

  He sets it up quickly. We head down to the studio straight after our show and find ourselves sitting in a simple set, both of us made up this time, in front of Jerry and a camera.

  "So, I'm here with Wade Beaufort and Judd Altman of the Man Up show. I interviewed them both last night and there were some questions left unanswered. They're back tonight to answer them - to clear the air - in this exclusive interview. So, I'll start with Wade. Welcome."

  "Thanks, Jerry," Wade says.

  "I guess the question that