“This is amazing.”
Ophelia dropped onto one of the chaise lounges and accepted a piña colada from the server who took our orders before the cameras started rolling. I hated the word amazing. Reality shows overused it, so I told myself not to say it around the cameras. I smiled. “You don’t get tired of this climate even though you live here?”
“I do a lot of my life-coaching sessions on the beach. Nothing says peace and harmony like hearing the soft waves of the ocean or feeling the sun on your body.” Ophelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You live in Arizona, right? Do you ever get around water?”
“We have several lakes, and my best friend has a boat. Sometimes I go out with her and her family,” I said. I’d been out only twice, but having a business was a lot of work, and I couldn’t afford to hire many employees. Until now.
“Your skin is so fair. I bet you burn, don’t you?”
“I love the sun, but it doesn’t love me.” Our conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “Tell me what you do as a life coach. Is it rewarding?” I honestly didn’t know a lot about her job.
“It’s extremely empowering to help people achieve personal and professional goals. I have a dozen long-term clients,” she said.
“It was probably hard to get away from your job to come here.”
“I want to focus more on me right now. I’m financially set, but I don’t have a girlfriend. Haven’t had one in a few years.”
I raised my eyebrows before I realized what I was doing. “A few years?”
“Well, I’ve dated over the last two years, but nothing serious. My last relationship ended because my career isn’t nine-to-five, and my ex-girlfriend didn’t like my phone ringing at all hours. She thought I was having an affair.” I must’ve given her a look because she waved her hands in front of me. “Which I wasn’t. One of my clients needed personal advice a lot, and I picked my career over my girlfriend. I need somebody who’s understanding and knows what it’s like to work hard. Having your own business, I’m sure you know exactly what I mean.”
“Definitely. It’s not easy to be away from my business, but I also know I have to do this in order to take care of myself and my heart. I’m hopeful, even though I just started this process.” I held my drink up and waited until she did the same. “Here’s to new beginnings and possibilities.” I clinked her glass, and we both took a drink. Ophelia’s eyes sparkled when she smiled. Only two percent of the population has green eyes, and Ophelia was definitely in that category.
“You have beautiful eyes,” I said.
“So do you.”
She was being nice. My brown eyes weren’t anything special, but since the camera was trained on me, I smiled. “Thank you.”
“I thought you were cute ten years ago with your short hair, but the longer hair suits you now.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Mandee deserved all the credit. Most days I threw it in a ponytail. Makeup was a luxury. “Thank you.” I was uncomfortable and didn’t know what to say. It was hard to have a normal conversation with cameras everywhere. They didn’t seem to bother her though.
“Do you want to go for a swim?”
Ugh. That meant a bikini reveal. I was a little soft in the middle, but my morning jogs helped keep me toned. I didn’t have time for the gym, but nothing beat the high of a three-mile run every day. I had Neanderthal shoulders because I played box Tetris in the inventory room at the shop that was so tiny Jane and I couldn’t be in it at the same time.
“Sure. Let’s go.” We weren’t planning to swim, but more like splash in the water. At least the cameramen would be shooting from a distance so we could have a normal conversation without a camera two feet from our faces. Ophelia dropped her wrap into the sand before reaching for my hand. I slipped out of my shorts, shrugged out of my shirt, and locked my fingers with hers.
We walked into the ocean hand in hand, and I prayed we didn’t look terribly awkward. I was already self-conscious and desperately wanted to straighten my bikini bottom, but cameras were on me, and Ophelia was holding one hand. I could feel a tiny bit of my ass cheek hanging out as we waded in. Once the water was at our torsos, we broke apart. I fixed my bottom and treaded water.
“The water feels so good,” she said.
“Yes. Lovely.”
“I have to be on the beach every day. It’s so soothing.”
“Do you do any water sports? Surfing? Sailing?”
“I don’t go in the water much, but I do yoga and Pilates in the sand,” she said. “Watching and listening to the ocean is very therapeutic.”
Ophelia had a lovely body, toned and tight. Her dark hair was piled high on her head so she didn’t get it wet. I had mine in a long French braid, knowing full well that Mandee would have her hands full getting the salt out of it. I still tried to keep it dry by pulling it over one shoulder. “I’m not around water a lot, so my only form of exercise is jogging. I try to run every morning before it gets unbearably hot.”
“Well, you look great. I can tell you keep in shape.”
She was going to have to stop with the compliments. I needed a meatier conversation, so I smiled my thanks and changed the subject. “What do you like to do for fun? What does a night out or a free weekend look like to you?”
“I like to dance. My friends and I hit the clubs sometimes. I’m also close with my family, so we get together on the weekends.”
“Do you have a big family?” I was an only child. It was just me and my mom. She was going to be pissed that I took three months off work but couldn’t spare her a weekend because I was too busy. Plus, she hated that I’d gone on the show the first season. Convincing her this was the right thing to do was going to be tricky.
“I have two older brothers and one younger sister, who all live around Miami.”
“Big families are nice. Do you spend a lot of time together?” I moved closer to hear her better, but when our hands accidentally touched under the surface, she evidently took that as some kind of sign.
“We do. I’m sad that I won’t get to see them for a bit, but I’m glad that I’m here and getting to know you better.”
She pulled me closer until it became clear to me and probably five million viewers that she was about to kiss me. I licked my lips out of habit and accepted her gentle kiss as gracefully as I could while treading water, kicking her a few times by accident.
“That was nice,” she said as she ended the kiss. “Let’s go back under the umbrella. You’re starting to turn pink.”
I felt warm, but it could have been from the kiss. I hadn’t kissed a woman in months, and Ophelia’s lips were full and soft against mine. It wasn’t the best first kiss, but it was nice and exactly what I expected. “I could use some more sunscreen and maybe a water.” I was used to the heat in Arizona but always wore a hat and huge sunglasses. They didn’t want us to wear sunglasses in the water because they wanted to see our expressions, but it was virtually impossible not to squint with the sun reflecting off it.
“Here’s a towel.” Ophelia handed me a large, fluffy one but not before giving me a full up-and-down, slow gaze. She seemed unapologetic and lifted one eyebrow when I caught her staring. She carefully poked my shoulder. “Yes. Let’s get back under the umbrella. You’re going to need more sunscreen.”
We spent the final hour of our date talking about life goals, college experiences, coming out to our families, our first relationship, and the last one. When our allocated time was up, she had to leave since we were on my mansion’s private beach. I slipped into a wrap conveniently there and walked her up to the driveway. Mandee intercepted us before the big walk to fix my makeup and tame my braid that had gone full rogue from the elastic tie. Editing would have fun with that drastic change. The car was waiting for Ophelia in the driveway, and we were at the obligatory end-of-date, awkward-good-bye moment.
“I had a great time getting to know you better,” she said and looked around at the front of the mansion. “And you have a beautiful place.”
“Too bad it’s not really mine,” I joked. I knew that remark would be edited out because it was awkward. She didn’t look amused, so I recovered quickly. “I mean, thank you. And I had a nice time, too.” I went in for a hug, and she quickly kissed my cheek.
“I’ll see you later at the house,” Ophelia said.
She squeezed my hand, and I waited until she slipped into the car to go back inside. Lauren, who hadn’t been around at all today, was sitting on the sofa in the living room when I returned. Even though camera people were everywhere, her appearance startled me.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“You want to talk about the date, don’t you?” I asked.
Like clockwork, Mandee swooped in and put something in my hair and fixed the thin collar of my cover-up.
“Should I change? This swimsuit feels very revealing.”
Lauren leaned forward. “You can put on your shorts and shirt from earlier if you feel more comfortable.”
“See? Even the host thinks I should wear more,” I said as Mandee shook her head.
“Let’s get her clothes from the beach,” Lauren said.
Mandee spoke into her headset, and within a minute, her brother skidded to a stop in front of her and handed her my outfit, still sandy and wrinkled from lying in a pile at the foot of the lounge chair. “Evelyn? I need you,” Mandee said.
I didn’t know Evelyn, but she, too, came out of nowhere, took the outfit, and promised to return in five minutes.
“Have a seat. We can chat until Evelyn returns,” Lauren said.
Nobody was filming. The camera people were standing around quietly chatting among themselves. “Sure. When did you get here?”
“While you were out on your date. I was watching from the video village.” Lauren had already shown me the master suite on the bottom floor that housed a lot of monitors and sound equipment, as well as live video feeds. During waking hours, as many as thirty crew members could be in the mansion at once.
“What do you do when you’re not chatting with me or the group?” I asked. I didn’t know if Lauren lived in Florida or the show put her up somewhere swanky during filming. “Do you live in Florida?”
“The show owns an apartment not far away. I get it when Sparks is filming, so roughly half my life is here. My permanent address is in California.”
“Do you live on the beach in California?”
“Yes. I have a condo that I Airbnb while I’m filming. Doesn’t make sense to let it go empty.”
“That’s smart.” My garage was full of candle supplies, so doing that with my house was impossible. Not that I’d even thought about it.
“When Evelyn comes back with your clothes, we’ll discuss the date in detail, including the first kiss.”
I wanted to ask her if it looked as awkward as I thought it did or if the world saw my ass hanging out of my bikini, but she was being so professional that I just ignored my concerns and nodded. “Are we headed over to the contestants’ place tonight?”
“Yes. Josef will make dinner, and then you’ll have drinks with the sparkettes so they can vie for alone time with you. At the end of the night, you pick one person for your dinner date and four for your group date. Start thinking ahead of time about who you want on that one. It should be easy to do.”
“Are you and I having dinner again?” I asked. My stomach dropped at her surprised expression. She masked it quickly, but I saw it and didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “We don’t have to. I just meant if you didn’t have plans, we could do what we did the other night. We can invite Denise.” Before I could get an answer, Evelyn showed up with my pressed clothes.
“Follow me, and I’ll fix your hair and makeup,” Mandee said.
My answer would have to wait until after the interview. A part of me wanted to take the invitation back, but then I was confused, because what was the difference between doughnuts at four in the morning and a light dinner at seven? Did our friendship embarrass her?
“Don’t worry,” Mandee said. “I’m going to make sure you still look like you were at the beach, but you won’t be as shiny and pink.”
She helped me into the shirt I swore was brand new and fixed my braid, keeping a few strands out to make it look like I’d spent the afternoon at the beach. She bent over and scrutinized my makeup and my clothes but barely noticed me.
“Okay. You’re all set.”
Lauren was exactly where I left her. I decided to play it cool and pretend my super-awkward invitation didn’t really happen. “Hey. I’m ready.”
“Great.” She stood and signaled Denise that we were ready.
“Comms check, everyone,” Denise said.
The boom operators had already mounted large microphones above us and out of sight of the shot.
“Lauren, give me a check.” Scott Raymond, sound engineer, pointed at Lauren for her to talk.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” she said.
I snorted. “Eleanor Roosevelt?”
“Savannah, we’re going to need you to not talk during Lauren’s sound check,” he said.
I winced and mouthed the word sorry to everyone. Lauren smiled at me, said a few more lines, and waited.
“Savannah, it’s your turn,” he said.
I recited the chorus of “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-N-Effect. It seemed appropriate for a mic check. I considered it timeless, but Jane hated when I blasted it while we were boxing up shipments.
Nobody moved a muscle. I cleared my throat at my embarrassment. “This is a test. Can everyone hear me clearly?” I stared down Scott until he gave me the thumbs-up.
“Well, that wasn’t fun at all,” I said to Lauren.
“They’re not listening to anything we’re saying. All Scott cares about is the sound quality. They have a different set of problems than we do.”
“I get that.” I really didn’t, but I didn’t want to be an attention hog. Everyone had a role. Mine just happened to be looking good in front of the cameras.
“Are you ready?” Lauren wore a cream-colored blouse and light gray skirt that hit above her knee when she crossed her legs. Her legs were tanned, toned, and stunning. Her gray peep-toe heels showed bright red toenail polish. For the first time during filming, Lauren wore her hair down. It was hard not to smile at her because she was so attractive.
“I’m ready.”
“Savannah, you picked Ophelia for your first one-on-one date. How did it go?”
“It was a very nice first date.”
“It looked like you were having fun and sad to see the date come to an end.”
I wasn’t sad, but I played along. “I need every minute to count because I’m trying to find my perfect match, and time is so valuable. Even though Ophelia and I got to know each other better, I needed longer.”
“Did I see a kiss out there in the ocean?”
I lowered my head in embarrassment. The kiss had made it onto the show, which meant it wasn’t as bad as I thought. “We had a brief one. I’m not going to lie. It’s hard to tread water and kiss at the same time.” Lauren’s small laugh was captivating and genuine. I loved that tiny dimple.
“We were all excited to see it happen. I think you have a lot of fans who are cheering you on during this process. Did you feel a connection with Ophelia, or is it too early to tell?”
“Ophelia is very smart, sophisticated, and career-oriented. I like those traits. We had a good time together. I’m happy I chose her first.” She was impressive, but I hadn’t really formed an opinion. She had nice qualities, but some things worried me, too. Ophelia was thirty-three and still went clubbing. Her active lifestyle sounded exhausting. I was a Netflix-and-chill kind of girl. Ophelia liked attention and enjoyed going out. I hoped my actions from ten years ago didn’t attract partiers, because I wasn’t that person now.
“Tonight’s cocktail party will be fun. You have to decide who you want to invite on your one-on-one dinner date and also pick four sparkettes to join you at The Dolphin Research Center, where you will swim and learn how to communicate with dolphins.”
“That sounds enjoyable, because I live in Arizona and have never seen a dolphin in the wild there.”
Lauren smiled. “It’ll be a great group date, then.”
“I’m also excited about the dinner date.”
“Do you have a contestant already in mind?”
I smiled and lifted an eyebrow. Lauren laughed. Our back-and-forth banter probably made for good television. We chatted for a total of twenty minutes, even though only about five would be used for the show.
“Okay,” Denise said. “Let’s all break. Grab some dinner. We have a long night ahead.”
The camera people scattered, and I made my way quickly to the kitchen to avoid an awkward conversation with Lauren. I had two hours to kill before Mandee returned to prepare me for the cocktail party.
“Hi, Josef. What’s on the menu for tonight?” I would forever, in my mind, say “with an ef” every time I said his name.
“Lemon-garlic-butter chicken and green beans. I also have a side salad.”
“Please tell me we have dessert, too.” I sat at the kitchen island to watch him. Life was boring when I wasn’t in front of the cameras. I was never idle at home so didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t scroll on my phone or turn on the television. I could go rest or watch Josef work.
“Fruit salad.”
My shoulders slumped.
“I heard doughnuts were consumed last night, so low-calorie tonight.” He shrugged, seeming apologetic.
“Guilty, but worth it,” I said.
“I don’t blame you. I can’t imagine what you do to entertain yourself around here.”
“They’ve kept me pretty busy most days. How much time do I have before dinner is ready?”
“However long you’d like,” he said.
“I think I’ll go upstairs and rest. Long night ahead.” I left off the “of drinking” part because it was implied. Always implied. I made my way up to my room and set the alarm clock to wake me up in an hour. Between the sun and the alcohol, I was exhausted. I barely remembered slipping under the covers. This schedule was grueling.