Rose had never written a love letter before. The closest she’d come was a string of eggplant emojis during some late-night texting sessions. And her handwriting wasn’t the best, either; she’d hardly written more than a sentence or two by hand since she left high school, and not much more than that before then. But she wanted to do things properly, and tonight she was going to write a love letter, not a love printout.

It had been a weird day. After her chat with Leary, she’d returned to Dave and Michelle’s house and pushed herself to be a model tradie for them. It had helped that there hadn’t been any more dangerous situations around the house, and she’d been able to steer Dave away from some of his more unsafe ideas. He’d wanted to save space in the downstairs bathroom by moving the toilet into the laundry, and then he’d wanted to save space in the laundry by mounting the washing machine on the wall directly above the toilet. She’d eventually persuaded him to go with a smaller shower in the bathroom instead, but it had been close – and Michelle had been somewhere else during all of it.

When Rose had finally made it home, her family had been out of their rooms waiting for her. For once it wasn’t just because she’d bought home Thai; they wanted to find out more about her action-packed day on set. Renton had only surfaced long enough to collect his food, but he mumbled something about being glad she was okay before he darted back into his room.

‘I’m so pleased to see you’re taking control of the meaning-making assemblage of television,’ Sarah had said delightedly. ‘Those videos of you saving Dave are really disrupting the narrative of neoliberal competence that those shows are trying to project.’

‘Thanks, Mum,’ Rose said.

Alan, however, looked troubled. ‘I’m still struggling with the whole reality television matrix,’ he said. ‘I’m proud of you, because I didn’t raise you to be a heartless killer. But on the other hand, if people are foolish enough to compete on one of these shows, then they deserve to face the full consequences of their foolishness. But if their foolishness causes suffering for others, then it’s your moral duty to save those fools from themselves. It’s a conundrum.’

Rose kissed him on the cheek. ‘I’m going to eat dinner in my room,’ she said. She was touched that her parents were even following a reality show. It was nice to be reminded that their love for her ran deeper than their snobbery.

Now Rose was staring at a blank page. Maybe, she thought idly, I could ask Renton? Sarah had said she thought he had an online girlfriend: his downloading habit had dwindled; they constantly heard him talking to someone in his room; and when her mum had said the word ‘sexting’, Rose had stuffed her fingers in her ears. Now, she winced, dismissing the thought of her brother’s romantic expertise. A love letter from Renton would be like a spam email saying, ‘Renton69 sent u his latest s3xy video!’

It took a few false starts, but soon her writing was … well, it was readable, and it was hers. Dave would understand.

She had so much to tell him. She wanted to tell him about her day, about how she was feeling, what she was thinking, how it felt like he was at the centre of her life even though they’d barely exchanged more than a few honest sentences the whole time they’d been together. It helped when she thought of words as being like pieces of wood she was working with: she constructed her sentences piece by piece, like she was putting together a cabinet. And when she thought of Dave the words came so easily.

Eventually she ended up spending more time cutting things out than writing things down; it was meant to be a letter, not a novel. And after all, they’d be writing back and forth for weeks. There was plenty of time to let him know everything she felt.

Driving to work the next morning, she was the happiest she’d felt in a long time. The blue of the sky seemed softer today; and rather than its usual glare, the sun glowed with a friendly warmth. Even the long, boring drive out to the court flew by; after a fortnight she didn’t have to concentrate on remembering which turns to take on the endless curving roads, and when she saw the PENIS sign on the horizon it was like greeting an old friend.

When she pulled into the car park there was no sign of the fans. They were still there, but during the night someone on the Mansions production crew had put up thick woven plastic sheeting on this side of the chain-link fence blocking the view. Rose wasn’t sure how long the plastic would last – she could already see dents where the fans on the other side had tried to poke holes in it – but at the very least it would reduce the problem of fan filming. Which was definitely a good thing: she noticed that some time the previous night someone had scrawled I WISH MY WIFE WAS THIS DIRTY in the dust on the bonnet of her ute.

If only you knew, she thought with a smile.

She nodded to Daryl the security guard as she headed to the site office; they’d chatted briefly on her way out last night. He was a big fan of Grim Designs.

When Rose entered the site office through the back door, there was no one around – just a sheet of paper on the kitchen table that said STAFF MEETING IN MARQUEE. They’d never had a staff meeting before. Maybe the new tradies Donald had mentioned had finally arrived?

Just about everyone was already waiting out in the marquee by the food truck – maybe a dozen tradies plus Cody. Donald was there too, but there was no sign of Lightning Rod; presumably he was one of the ones they were waiting for.

‘Any idea what this is about?’ Rose asked Donald, sitting down next to him at one of the tables.

‘No idea,’ he said, looking around. ‘They’ve never had a big meeting mid-season before.’

‘While we’re waiting, I’m going to make a quick dash to the bathroom,’ Rose said, standing back up. ‘Don’t let them start without me.’

The portaloos were all empty. Rose patted the letter in her back pocket; maybe she should try and arrange a meeting with Dave here? But it was too risky for them both to be absent at the same time; maybe they could arrange something next week, when she was bound to be back working on someone else’s house. Plus the toilets were, quite frankly, rank; she really didn’t want to start to associate their stench with getting her hands on Dave.

It was while she was walking back to the marquee that she saw Michelle leave the site office, buttoning up her blouse. Michelle must have thought everyone was at the meeting, as she didn’t seem bothered that she only had two buttons done up so far. And then walking out right behind her was Leary, who rested a hand casually on her hip. Well well well, Rose thought, what have we got here? And since when did I become a clichéd British bobby?

Clearly Michelle wasn’t above sleeping with the boss. Well, he wasn’t exactly her boss. But Rose was pretty sure they were sleeping together, going by the way Michelle kissed Leary before scurrying off around the back of the food truck towards her house. Leary watched her leave, then turned and headed towards the marquee. Rose waited until he’d rounded the corner of the site office, then followed.

She was still trying to figure out if there was anything she could do with this information – she was pretty sure there wasn’t – when she rejoined Donald at the table. Lightning Rod had finally arrived, along with Josh, the dark-haired electrician who’d hung up the Sword of Damocles. That must have been everyone; Cody stood up directly in front of the food truck and banged a spoon against a metal cup until everyone fell silent and turned to her.

‘You’re all fired,’ she said loudly. ‘Effective immediately.’

The marquee exploded in an outraged hubbub.

‘This is bullshit!’ a tradie beside Rose shouted.

‘You can’t do this!’ another one yelled.

‘You suck!’ said a third.

‘You’re all independent contractors,’ Leary said, stepping forward to stand beside Cody. ‘Your work here is conditional on there being work for you to do. We’d please like you all to leave in an orderly fashion.’

‘We haven’t even started connecting the plumbing!’ Donald shouted.

‘If and when we need professional tradesmen again, your names will be at the top of our list,’ Cody said, raising her voice to be heard over the racket. ‘But for the foreseeable future, Mansions in the Sky can no longer afford a professional workforce.’

‘Please leave via Corona Court,’ Leary said loudly. ‘Don’t force us to have to call security.’

Grumbling and fuming, the tradies shuffled down the path from the food truck to the court. Rose was at the back of the mob; as the tradies at the front reached the court, she heard their grumbles turn into surprised conversation. And then she heard other voices.

When she reached the court, all the contestants were gathered there. They must have been able to hear Cody and Leary firing everyone, as they were clearly agitated. Rose looked for Dave; he was at the back of the group, looking down at the ground. Everyone else was glaring at the tradies. Rose had no idea what the contestants had been told to get them standing as a group waiting for the tradies to come out, but nobody looked happy about it.

‘Go on, get out of here!’ George shouted.

‘I can’t believe you’d do that!’ Karen Mueller yelled.

Rose was still looking at Dave, who couldn’t meet her eye. Behind him was a camera crew filming, guided by Steph the colour producer. Wait a minute, Rose thought, is this another setup?

‘You guys are bastards,’ Mick said. ‘Asking for more money when we’re repairing these houses for the homeless.’

Leary was moving through the tradies, urging them to keep walking. ‘It’s all for the show,’ he was saying quietly, ‘we needed authentic reactions. You’ll receive updates once you leave the set. It’s for the show, keep moving.’ The tradies were still grumbling, but they followed Leary’s instructions, still moving forward as the contestants kept shouting at them.

Leary reached Rose. He looked at her, but didn’t say anything. ‘This isn’t really an act, is it?’ she said. ‘I really am fired.’

He shrugged. ‘We’re cutting back.’

‘This is because I wouldn’t go along with your scheme, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘You just wanted an excuse to fire me, and this whole thing is a setup.’

Josh overheard this. ‘No shit it’s a setup – how long have you been working in reality television?’

Rose turned to him. ‘Leary’s only doing this because he wants to get rid of me.’

‘Oh that’s fucking great,’ Josh said. He tapped Lightning Rod on the shoulder. ‘Looks like we’re getting fired because Little Miss Short-Shorts over here messed up.’

‘Fucking great,’ Lightning Rod said. He glared at Rose. ‘You just cost us our jobs.’

‘Some of you will be hired back,’ Leary said, ‘subject to requirements. Now if you’ll just keep moving toward the car park, Cody will let you know about those requirements.’

Rose broke away from the pack and hurried over to Dave. He saw her coming, but refused to face her. He turned and took a few steps back towards his house.

‘Dave,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Look at me. What’s wrong?’

His face was set, and she could see a muscle in his jaw working. ‘Why would you try to wreck the show? You know how much it means to me to be on here.’

‘I don’t want to wreck Mansions,’ Rose said. ‘It’s not like that at all.’

‘Then why are they firing you?’

‘It’s part of the show, that’s all. They’ll try anything for ratings.’

At last he met her eyes. ‘So you’ll be back?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Rose looked over at Michelle. ‘I think they want me out of here.’

‘Oh. Oh, that sucks.’

‘I’ll be okay.’

‘I hope so,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’s not all bad news. It’s not like we could get up to much with all the cameras. And it’s only five more weeks.’ He smiled. ‘Will you wait for me?’

‘Of course,’ she said with a grin. ‘You promise me you’ll be careful.’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I’m really getting the hang of it here.’

A chill ran down Rose’s spine.

‘Seriously, really be careful,’ she said. ‘Just stick to the basics.’

‘Totally. I’m fine with the basics by now.’

‘Just please, be careful. I’m not going to be here to –’

He frowned. ‘To watch over me? I’m not a little kid.’

‘I know,’ she said.

He gave her a sad look. ‘You still don’t think I can handle myself?’

Rose took a second too long to reply. ‘Of course you –’

‘What kind of relationship have we got if you’re babying me all the time? We’ve got to be equals.’

‘We are equals,’ Rose said in a soothing voice. ‘We totally are. But this is my trade, and I’ve been doing it for years. I just know more about workplace safety than you. That’s not babying you.’

He didn’t seem to have heard her. ‘I’m not the kid who poisoned those people,’ he said. ‘I’m not the kid who thought he could do it all himself. I’ve come a long way since then.’

‘I know you have,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to see you throw all that progress away.’

‘Maybe spending some time apart will be a good thing,’ Dave said, his hands clenched. ‘Maybe I need this time to show you that I can do this on my own.’

‘Dave …’ Rose said, tears welling in her eyes.

‘You’d better go,’ he said flatly. He turned his head. Rose took a step towards him, then stopped.

Behind Dave, Michelle was grinning. She lifted a hand and made a little ‘bye-bye’ wave. For an instant, rage flushed through Rose and she wanted to hit Michelle with a hammer, but the camera crews were still filming – if there was the slightest chance that she’d misread the situation, she had to keep her cool. That way they might let her back on the set – they might let her get back to Dave …

The other tradies were gone. Rose turned her back on Dave and followed them towards the car park. The other contestants had finished shouting, but they glared angrily at her as she passed. Whatever Leary had told them, it had really whipped them into a frenzy; presumably that was an important skill when you were a reality show producer.

He was the last person she had to pass before she left. She couldn’t look at him. If she saw his smug face she was going to slap him, and that wouldn’t achieve anything. Well, apart from making her feel a whole lot better. So she kept her hands clenched by her sides as she passed him, and she didn’t react when he leant in close to her and whispered, ‘Your usefulness has come to an end.’

At the car park Cody couldn’t look her in the eye; Daryl shook her hand and wished her all the best. It wasn’t until she was sitting in her ute that she realised why Leary’s parting shot had sounded so familiar: Michelle had said something almost identical to her the previous day. The penny finally dropped. Whatever Leary’s plan was, Michelle was in it up to her neck.

Then Rose felt the letter in her back pocket, the letter she’d spent all night writing, which now Dave was never going to read.

She managed to hold back the tears until she was driving out of the car park.