Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Reality Investments has begun filming the seventy-sixth season of LOVE GALAXY, featuring the mysterious new Human females, never before seen on a broadcast. Their resident Human expert, Chloe, sat down with one of the males to give him a few helpful tips for navigating a romantic relationship with this brand-new intergalactic species.
COMMENTATOR CHLOE
Hi Killan, it’s great to have some time to chat.
I saw this morning that you had your first introduction to the three female contestants.
But I sensed you were at a loss to know what to say.
That’s perfectly normal. It can be an overwhelming experience meeting the potential love of your life.
How are you feeling now that you’ve had some time to adjust?
Farmer Killan leans back in his chair, crossing his upper arms over his chest and watching Commentator Chloe through narrowed eyes.
Commentator Chloe laughs.
COMMENTATOR CHLOE
Still tongue-tied. Well, there’s nothing to worry about.
Humans are a friendly species, and we’re so new to intergalactic travel that it doesn’t take much to impress us.
Show a girl a good time and make sure to feed her, and you’ll have your pick of the bunch.
Between you and me, which of the three females caught your attention?
I know Sorin has already put in a claim on Briar, but considering you’re the eldest, I’m sure you could get him to back down, if that’s where your interest lies.
Lydia
Pick of the bunch! I repeat to myself. Swooning at his feet!
I’m lying on the kitchen floor, Killan’s tablet on the ground beside my head, as it reads aloud the search results.
I’m feeling a confusing mix of disgust at hearing what Chloe said in one of her numerous sham interviews, and tiredness, lulled toward sleep by the computer’s hypnotically monotone voice.
Most of what I’ve listened to so far hasn’t been of any help.
Apparently LOVE GALAXY was the only TV show Reality Investments funded, and after seventy-five seasons, there are a lot of contestant interviews online, including a few from our unfinished season, which Smith must have published during filming in the hopes of hyping up audience awareness.
“What are you doing?” Chloe steps over me, crossing the kitchen to the sink, where she refills her cup with water.
Ugh. I don’t bother sitting up. She’s the last person I want to see. Well, the second to last person, counting Killan.
“Kind of pathetic, don’t you think?” she says, coming to stand beside my head so she can stare down at me. “Lying on the floor.”
“Better than being in hiding,” I retaliate.
At first, we kept her locked in one of the spare downstairs bedrooms in Killan’s house, but none of us liked having to act as her prison guard, bringing Chloe her meals and making sure she always had water, so we let her out again.
Now, she spends most of her time hiding in that same room, but with the door unlocked. Where else is there for her to go? The algae farm? Sorin’s house? Being on Ril II is a whole new type of punishment. One that we’re both suffering.
“I’m not hiding,” she says, tapping the toe of one high heel on the floor.
She’s wearing the same strapless dress she had on when Smith escaped, because all her spare clothes were on his ship.
There are finger smudges on the lenses of her usually clean glasses, and her blonde hair, which she used to keep gelled back in a sleek ponytail, is hanging limp around her shoulders.
“Yeah, right,” I scoff. If I knew how to turn the tablet volume up, I would, just so I could drown out her voice.
“I’m planning something. Something big.” She steps over me again, heading for the stairs that lead to the underground bedrooms. She’s only baiting me, I tell myself, pushing for an argument because she’s bored.
I’m bored too, but there’s no way I’m admitting that to her.
“Keep dreaming.” I roll over to face Killan’s tablet, presenting Chloe with my back.
She’s no closer to escaping Ril II than I am. There’s no way she’ll come up with a working plan. Neither of us knows the location of Earth. And if we don’t know where Earth is, then there’s no way to return.
She stamps her way down the stairs, as if she thinks that’ll get a reaction out of me, but her fits of grumpiness have nothing on Killan’s, so I pay her no heed.
Tucking my hands under my cheek as a pillow, I let the computer voice wash over me.
Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll fall asleep for a few hours. Anything’s got to be better than this.
“I’m engaged!” Harlee squeals as she comes running into Killan’s kitchen. “Lydia—”
She stops when she sees me clambering to my feet, brushing dirt from my jeans. I quickly pick up Killan’s tablet before someone accidentally steps on it. It’s still reading aloud, but I don’t know how to stop it, so I abandon the tablet on the kitchen counter and plaster a smile onto my face.
“Congratulations!” For a second I think I’ve overdone the excitement, because Harlee gives me a searching look. But then she grins, holding her arms wide to hug me.
I bury my face in her silky black hair. “Congratulations,” I repeat, and I’m relieved to hear I sound more like I actually mean it this time. “I’m so happy for you.”
Roan wasted no time asking. I’d thought…I’d stupidly thought he’d wait a few days.
She pulls back a fraction so she can see my face. “This doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on our mission. I’m still going to help you get home.”
“I know,” I lie. I hold her tighter, squeezing her to me, before releasing her and letting my hands fall back to my sides.
What I know is that she won't have nearly so much free time to spend with me now that she’s got a wedding to plan.
And after the wedding, she’ll have a whole new life ahead of her.
I’m not so selfish that I begrudge Harlee her happily-ever-after romance. It’s what she’s always wanted.
It’s what I thought I wanted. Until I got engaged and discovered that I loved the idea of owning a bakery more than I liked the idea of being someone’s wife.
Lucas…hadn’t understood when I’d asked to postpone our wedding.
Hadn’t understood why I wanted to quit my safe job working at Rolling Scones to open my own shop.
Hadn’t understood why I’d take such a big risk borrowing so much money when I could be safe with him.
He'd always been risk averse.
He’d always been too good for me.
And then I’d broken his heart by breaking our engagement entirely.
Harlee and I aren’t the same, though. When I got engaged, I became miserable.
Harlee has flourished. She’s more confident than when we first met.
It’s like falling in love with Roan has made her more comfortable with herself.
She isn’t always second-guessing everything she says, and she doesn’t step back and let everyone else do the talking for her anymore.
“I can’t believe I’m going to be getting married!” She clasps her hands together, as if there’s a ring on her finger, even though there isn’t.
Maybe I should’ve made sure Roan didn’t really think weddings were about exchanging fingers before sending him back to Harlee.
Hopefully, the lack of a ring is more of a logistical error than a translation misunderstanding.
It’s not as if there are any shops on Ril II from which Roan can purchase jewelry.
“Bride to be,” Harlee says, trying the words on for size. “Mrs Roan...” She frowns. “I don’t know the brothers’ surname. Do you?”
“Maybe they don’t have one. Anyway, he could always take your surname.”
“Mr. Roan Jun. Mr. Jun.” But she shakes her head. “That sounds too much like my dad. Maybe we’ll stick with first names only.”
Mrs. Lydia Papadopoulos.
And now the entire Papadopoulos family hates me for making Lucas cry.
I bet they’d be pleased if I never made it back to Earth.
I bet they’d be pleased to never see me again.
And I can’t blame them. They welcomed me into their family the first time Lucas took me home to meet them, and I spat on their hospitality seventeen months later when I returned my wedding dress.
That’s exactly why I’ve got to get back to Earth. I can’t have broken Lucas’s heart for no good reason. I need to follow my dream. I need to open my bakery. I need to make a success of my life to justify all the crappy decisions I’ve made.
“Roan asking came as a real shock, did it?” I ask, raising my eyebrows suggestively.
She giggles. “Well, I had to coach him on what to say, and then he tried asking me in the middle of sex, so I made him ask again later. It’s like when you first confess to being in love. It doesn’t count when you’re in bed together.”
“It counts,” Roan says, coming into the kitchen and bending down to kiss Harlee’s cheek.
She blushes. “Does not.”
I meet Roan’s gaze, half expecting that Harlee will ask me to be her bridesmaid, but instead, she glances over my shoulder at the talking tablet. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing much.” I take a half step back, trying to block her direct line of sight, but considering she’s taller than me, I don’t think I manage.
“Research.” I wave a dismissive hand, feeling…
uncomfortable all of a sudden. How can I have more in common with Chloe than with my friends?
“Can you make it stop?” I ask Roan, passing him the tablet, and a second later silence falls over the kitchen.
I struggle for something to say. Harlee and Roan glance at each other.
It’s one of those looks couples share when they’re silently communicating.
I can imagine Harlee is saying, I feel guilty for telling Lydia about our engagement when she’s so lonely.
And Roan is probably replying with a sympathetic We can’t put our lives on hold forever because Lydia doesn’t want to be here.
He’s right. Knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better.