Chapter 22
Zander kept his head in his hands as the sound of Grandma Lo’s paced footsteps bounced off the hardwood floor of the greenroom.
Click-click, swoosh.
Click-click, swoosh.
“It’s a good thing the great Lord blessed me with a strong heart,” the woman declared.
Click-click, swoosh. “I’d have been dead a hundred times over with all the junk we’ve had to deal with the last few years.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to outlive us all, Lorraine,” Zander’s mom, Claudia, mumbled.
“What time is Marsha supposed to be here?” James asked. “And do you really think it’s necessary that we’re all here? Why can’t we just let this be between Zander and Duke?”
Zander sighed heavily as answers came from every direction of the room.
“That’s what I was going to ask,” Michael said under his breath.
“Go ahead and leave,” Duke hissed at the same time.
But Betzy’s response was loudest. “Because you went along with it,” she blurted. “Just like the rest of us.”
“Right,” James’ wife, Camila, agreed.
“Zander?” came Betzy again. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.” How could he be okay when he’d destroyed the trust of the woman he loved? A woman who refused, despite his attempts in the last three days, to hear him out.
He inhaled slowly, allowing the crushing ache that accompanied each breath to do its worst. He hurt everywhere.
His head, his heart, and parts that couldn’t even be reached—his spirit, he guessed, if he still had one.
It seemed more likely that his very soul had jumped ship, gone off in search of its mate once they were split.
He deserved this, that much was true. But he also deserved a chance to make it right. And that—his chance to speak with Kat—was Zander’s glue, the only thing holding him together.
Three nights had gone by. And without question, they’d been the loneliest nights of Zander’s life. It turned out that, once a man found his other half, he no longer felt whole on his own.
Zander had resorted to stacking dozens of pillows in her place and curling up to them, desperate to recall the peace he felt while sleeping with her in his arms.
“Sorry I’m late,” Marsha said as she pushed open the door.
Zander looked up in time to see Randall step in behind Marsha. The two moved to the front of the room next to a whiteboard. “Thanks for coming, Duke, Zander, and…the rest of you.”
Grandma clicked her way over to Zander and perched herself on the loveseat beside him. “You’re welcome. Now, how are we going to fix this?”
Marsha tipped her chin up and grinned. “Ah, a woman after my own heart. I’m not one to beat around any bushes either. So let’s get right to it.” She snatched a bright red marker off the shallow tray, popped off the lid, and wrote one single word across the board.
Redemption.
“I’m a firm believer that everyone deserves a shot at redemption.
And if you look at my credentials—taking note of the success my reality TV shows have seen—you’ll find that America feels the same way.
Sure, it hurts to see things go awry. To witness perfect strangers get their hearts crushed into oblivion. ”
She tossed the marker back onto the tray and folded her arms. “But that’s what makes the moment of redemption that much sweeter.”
“You think Kat’s going to forgive him for this?” Betzy asked.
Zander kept his eyes pasted on Marsha as she tipped her head to one side. Her green eyes narrowed in concentration. “Yes,” she finally said. “I do. But we have to give her options.” She popped out the last word like it was a creation of her own.
This time Marsha grabbed the blue marker. She proceeded to write the word trust on the board. She tapped the marker beside it three distinct times. “Here’s the key. Kat said yes to this experiment because she thought she couldn’t trust herself.”
Marsha capped the marker but held it in her grip while continuing. “She let herself fall in love with a man she believed was hand-picked for her. One that matched up with her in all the right ways. One that she hadn’t used her faulty feelings to pick out herself.”
She uncapped the lid, spun back around, and crossed out the word with thick, angry lines. The sight added to the ripping ache in Zander’s chest. He forced his next breath out through pursed lips.
“In her mind,” Marsha continued, “this—the trust—is shot. Gone. It doesn’t exist anymore.
She trusted him and he lied. She trusted the show and we failed her.
She trusted her own feelings and now thinks they’re false too.
Meanwhile, she hasn’t even met the man we selected for her.
And I think there’s a part of her that’s… unsettled about that fact.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Michael blurted. “Let those two go to dinner and see if they hit it off?”
“Michael,” Claudia scolded. “Shh.”
A hint of amusement pulled at the corner of Marsha’s lips. “Actually…we are going to give her the choice of who she’d like to stay with during the remainder of the eight-week trial period. Zander or Duke.”
“What makes you think she’ll choose either of those?” Duke asked with a laugh.
“The fact that Kat doesn’t have billions of dollars to defend herself against a lawsuit,” Grandma Lo chimed.
Another sharp twist of pain pricked Zander’s core.
“And there she does it again,” Marsha said. “Why haven’t you and I put our great minds together, Ms. Benton? We’d make an impressive team.”
“Can we get on with this?” Michael urged. “I’m in desperate need of a bathroom break.”
Marsha cleared her throat. “This is our offer to Kat. A way for her to stay true to the contract and avoid repercussion.”
“I don’t want to come between her and Zander,” Duke said. “They’re freaking in love with each other. That’s whack.”
“Then hopefully she won’t choose that option, Duke. But you have obligations of your own. Either you or Zander step in for the remainder of your commitment, or we explore how deep the Benton bank really goes.”
Zander straightened up as the options sank in. “So you’re saying that she has to spend the next six weeks with either me or Duke?”
“Yes, which she would have done anyway had this whole thing not blown up,” Marsha said.
“And either one of those options will satisfy her contract?” Zander asked.
“Correct.”
“You catch on quick,” Duke said under his breath.
Zander shot a look at him, irritation replacing the hurt. “You can just shut up,” he snapped. “This whole thing is your fault.”
“So what?” Duke’s voice rose as he shot to his feet. “What are you complaining about? You stepped in for me—boo hoo. It’s what led you to the love of your freaking life. Meanwhile, I’m the schmuck who probably lost his chance at the one good thing that might have happened to him in life.”
It wasn’t nighttime by any means, but Zander could’ve sworn that crickets started chirping in the silence that followed.
He shot to his feet and squared a look at his twin. “Well, you might actually get that chance now. Kat’s so obsessed with the formula behind the experiment, she’s probably dying to figure out what you’re like.”
“I already told you I don’t want to do that since you guys are already falling all over each other,” Duke said.
“So what are you going to do if she chooses Duke?” Michael asked. “Swap again?”
Groans filled the space. Zander shot a glare at him across the room. “Yeah. That’s exactly what we’ll do.” Guilt, hot and heavy, pressed at him from every angle. If he didn’t get out of there now, get some fresh blood pumping through his veins, Zander would combust.
“Great,” he said, hurrying toward the door. “Why don’t you fill us in on which one she picks.” He reached for the doorknob as Marsha piped up.
“You’ll be there to hear her answer for yourself,” she assured. “We’re airing a live special. Tonight.”
Zander clenched his eyes shut.
Several gasps sounded over the room.
And one desperate plea lifted from none other than Grandma Lo. “Lord, help us.”