Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
RHETT
When Connor finally slinks away, I pull Savannah out into the courtyard. Since we’re on camera and she said our code word, I can’t really ask her why she changed her mind in the last week.
“Do you believe me now?” she asks when we sit down.
“I do. I’m so sorry, Sunny. I had no idea that Lainey would be so childish as to hide in the shower. Who does that?”
She laughs. “This is Lainey we’re talking about.”
“True. Gosh, I feel like I can breathe again.”
“I would never do anything to purposely hurt you, Rhett.” She reaches over and puts her hand on my arm. Part of me wants to think it’s real, but I also know we’re now fully pretending to be a couple. This might be the best week of my life.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Well, since we only have one week left, if we’re lucky, I’d like to ask if you’d go on a date with me tonight?”
Her eyes widen. “A date? Really?”
“Well, we are a couple…” I feel the need to remind her of this fact.
“I’d love to go on a date with you.”
This is so hard. Is she looking at me that way because she’s great at acting? Or is she looking at me that way because she has the same feelings I do?
“Okay, how about I pick you up at five?”
She laughs. “Pick me up?”
“I will arrive at your door at five o’clock.”
“And how should I dress for this date?”
I smile. “You look stunning in anything, Savannah Greene.”
Oh yeah. I’m in trouble here.
SAVANNAH
I stand in the bathroom, staring at my face in the mirror. I’ve never been one for lots of makeup, but right now, I feel naked. I wish I’d brought more than mascara and lipstick.
Suddenly, the door opens, and a crying Lainey basically falls into me.
“What on earth are you doing?” I yelp, pulling back from her. She stares at the mirror, mascara running down her face. She looks like a panda bear.
“Connor is a jerk!”
“Well, I could’ve told you that,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“He broke up with me!”
“Oh no,” I say flatly. “You must be devastated.” My voice sounds like a robot.
She stares at me in the mirror. “Have some compassion!”
I sigh and lean against the counter. “Like you had compassion for me and Rhett when you hid in the shower and then gave that information to Connor?”
She crosses her arms. “Fine. I guess that wasn’t all that nice.” Her breath shudders as she tries to stop crying.
“Look, Lainey, we’re not going to be best friends, but I never want to see anyone get their heart broken. Connor is a dead end. He doesn’t have feelings like a normal person. Trust me, you dodged a bullet.” I turn back toward the mirror and put on mascara.
“Why are you so nice all the time?”
“I guess it’s the way God made me.”
She sighs. “I don’t think I’m ever going to find true love. What’s wrong with me?”
I struggle with what to say without sounding overly mean. I’m not one to kick someone when they’re down.
“Well, you’re not always nice, Lainey. And you like to brag about yourself.”
“That’s just who I am!” she says, dramatically throwing her hands in the air.
“I don’t think so. I think you act this way because someone hurt you. Somebody made you think it wasn’t safe to be a nice person. Somebody taught you that you need to tear others down to build yourself up.”
She stands there for a moment, sniffling. “What are you getting ready for, anyway?”
I grin. “I have a date.”
“A date? With Rhett?”
“Yes. He realized I didn’t betray his trust after he found out you were hiding in the shower.”
“You know, he’s not bad to look at,” she says, smiling.
“Back off, Lainey. I will fight you.”
She waves her hand at me. “Fine. I’m just joking, anyway. He’s not my type. I like to be the best-looking one in my relationships.”
“I can see that.”
She stands behind me and looks at both of us in the mirror. “You can’t go like this, Savannah.”
I look down at my basic white t-shirt and tan capri pants. “Why?”
“It’s a date !”
“I mean, it’s kind of a date. It’s in a house that we can’t leave.”
“You need to look hot!”
“I do?”
“Of course. What else do you have to wear?”
“Um, more T-shirts and pants? Pajamas?”
“Ugh. How did you ever snag this man?”
I want to tell her all I had to do was say hippopotamus, but I don’t think she’d get it.
“And your makeup… or lack thereof.”
“Okay, this is why people don’t like you, Lainey.”
She’s dried her tears at this point and is now solely focused on me. “I’ll help you.”
“I don’t need help…”
“Yes, you do. Now, come on. First, we’ll look at my wardrobe.”
RHETT
Why am I so nervous? I’ve taken New York socialites on dates. I’ve taken the daughter of the head of a NYC hospital to her college dance. I’ve even taken the daughter of a well-known DC politician on a coffee date. This is Savannah from pastry chef school, and it feels like the most important night of my life.
I walk up the stairs and pause at the top. My heart is thumping in my chest, and I feel my hands shaking.
For some reason, I can't figure out whether I'm nervous because we're playing pretend about our relationship for the audience at home, or if it's because I'm going on an actual date with Savannah. Either way, I don't want to be late, so I walk over to her door and knock.
When she opens it, I'm stunned. This doesn't look like the Savannah I normally see, with very little makeup and her hair pulled up into a ponytail. Instead, she's got it down, curled and flowing across her shoulders—her bare shoulders. She’s wearing a red dress with the shoulders cut out, and the dress comes just above her knees. She has on a pair of black high heels. I’ve never seen her wear heels before.
Either way—dressy or plain—she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in real life.
"Wow," I say when she opens the door.
She smiles slightly. "Do I look okay?"
"You look great. It's just… different."
She laughs. "Yeah. Believe it or not, Lainey helped me."
"I helped her!” Lainey yells in the background, smiling from her bed.
"Wait, what? I don't understand."
Savannah holds up her hand. "We'll talk later. It's best not to ask questions right now."
I hand her the bouquet of flowers that I picked from the garden area, a mixture of purples, reds, and yellows. I have no idea what the flowers are called, but I thought they looked nice together. “These are for you."
"Thank you. These are beautiful." She leans in and smells them.
“I’ll put them in water," Lainey says, walking up behind her. I don't know what happened between these two, but I feel like I'm in the twilight zone.
"So, where are we going?"
"I have some special things planned," I say. "Shall we?" I hold out my elbow like one of those men in an old movie, and she takes it. She looks back at Lainey and then walks out the door. We go down the stairs slowly because she's wearing high heels now. It's weird to have her taller. I'm used to looking way down at her.
I guide her to the garden area. Most people don't go out there because everybody spends a lot of time in the courtyard since it's way bigger, but the garden area is actually very nice. It's a small area off the side of the house that is surrounded by old brick walls. They're covered in ivy, and production has strung twinkle lights all over the area.
The ground is old pavers. I've had help setting up a small table in the center, and I spent the last few hours cooking us a special dinner. When we walk out, and she sees the candle in the middle of the table and hears music, she turns to me and smiles.
"You did all of this for me?" she says, putting her hand on her chest.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. No one's ever done anything like this. I mean, I've been taken out to nice dinners before, but nobody ever went out of their way to set up something so romantic."
I look down at her and then run my thumb across her cheek. I don't know why I do it. It just feels natural. "Well, you deserve the very best."
She smiles, and then I lead her over to the chair, pulling it out so she can sit down. "So, what are we having?"
I sit down across from her. "Well, I planned a very special menu. I made stuffed mushrooms with garlic and herb cream cheese stuffing for our appetizer. And then, for our main course, I made pan-seared salmon with a lemon butter sauce. I also made garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with a Hollandaise sauce. For dessert, I made my famous strawberry tiramisu."
Her mouth falls open. "Wow. I had no idea you could cook all of that."
"What? Did you think I was just a pastry chef? Of course, I can cook." I pour her a glass of sparkling water with lemon and mint. We also have a bottle of wine, but I'm saving that for dessert.
"Well, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy everything."
I stand and walk over to the table where the food is ready. I tried to convince the producers to get me somebody to serve us, but they weren't willing to go that far. I walk over to the table and uncover the mushrooms, handing her the spoon so she can dish them onto her plate.
As we eat, she compliments my food and we talk about all sorts of things. Our favorite TV shows as kids, our favorite books that we've ever read, our favorite movies. Even her favorite animal, which is a dog.
Everything she tells me about herself seems interesting. I hang on her every word. The audience is probably eating this up, but I don't care anymore. I'm just glad to spend this time with her. Every time I think about leaving this house and going back to our normal lives, I get a pain in the pit of my stomach.
Of course, she has no idea. She thinks we're just pretending. She'll return to her normal life with her sister, and I'll get onto another cruise ship with thousands of people I don't know.
The only difference will be that I'll be missing her. I'll be thinking about her for the rest of my life. So, right now, I'm happy to be sitting here and enjoying this time with Savannah. I’m already pre-grieving what it's going to be like when we leave this house.
SAVANNAH
I cannot believe he did all of this for me. Our dinner conversation is fun and engaging. We talk about all kinds of things. I tell him stories from when I was in middle school. He tells me stories from when he was in high school.
We laugh at how different our opinions are on movies and books. He likes to read; I do, too. He likes to watch movies. That's one of my favorite things to do, although I usually can't afford to see them in the theater. He loves action-adventure movies. I like horror movies.
I talk about Sadie, our past, and growing up with our mother. I also talk about my grandmother and how much I loved her. He talks about his grandmother, too. Learning to bake from our grandmothers is something we have in common.
Once we’ve finished eating and have dessert, we sit at the table, laughing and chatting. I will miss this when the competition ends, but I know it's not real.
I know he's just playing pretend for the cameras to get us votes, and I appreciate it. I would like to get to the final two and battle it out, just me and him.
But I'm going to miss this interaction. I have a feeling that once we leave, maybe we'll text a few times, and then I'll never hear from Rhett again. He'll be on cruise ships or working in a fancy restaurant. I'll be back at the grocery store bakery, or if I'm lucky and win the competition, I'll start my own bakery. We have very different lives and very different plans.
Our lives would never work together. Not that he wants it to, anyway. I think he's doing all of this to get votes. But still, it's the most romantic evening I've ever had, so I'm going to soak it in. Between the food, the conversation, the twinkling lights, and the soft music, I don't think I ever want to go upstairs again.
"So, tell me about Lainey. How exactly did she end up helping you get dressed? You two hate each other.”
“Yeah, I thought so, too. Apparently, Connor broke up with her and told her he didn't want a serious relationship with anyone. Plus, he was mad that she told me about being in the shower. So she came into the bathroom crying while I was getting ready. We had a short conversation in which she asked why people don't like her.”
“And did you tell her?”
“Yeah, I gave her the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I didn't want to crush her completely."
He laughs. "You're a very nice person, Savannah. Nicer than most.”
“I try to be. I think that Lainey has been led to believe that the only thing she has to offer is her looks.”
“Well, her personality isn't exactly the best," he says, chuckling.
"True, but I think that's a defense mechanism.”
“Maybe you should have become a psychologist."
I shrug my shoulders. "I've thought about it, but I like baking more.”
“Well, you could be the baking psychologist. Ask people all kinds of questions about their problems, and then instead of giving them real advice, just give them a doughnut."
I laugh out loud at that. "That might be a good idea. People like doughnuts more than advice.”
“Very true."
We sit there for a few more minutes when a slow song comes on the radio. "Oh, I love this song. It's one of my favorites," I say.
He stands up and reaches out his hand. "Shall we have our final slow dance in the house?"
I was hoping he would ask me. "Of course," I say, touching his large, warm hand. We stand up and walk away from the table a few feet beside the twinkle lights. I can't believe this is my life right now.
Rhett's arm slides around my waist, pulling me close, while his other hand holds mine gently but firmly. My free hand rests on his shoulder. His massive shoulder. I feel the strength of his muscles under the fabric of his dress shirt.
As we begin to sway to the music, I'm acutely aware of every point of contact between us. I can feel the warmth of his hand on my back, the slight pressure of his fingers intertwined with mine, and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. The world seems to narrow down to just the two of us moving in perfect harmony.
"Remember when we used to argue about everything in pastry chef school?" Rhett says, his breath warm against my ear.
"Yes, I do. You were such a know-it-all," I say, resting my head against his chest. Wearing heels makes me much taller, so I can almost reach his shoulder.
"And you were so stubborn," he counters in a playful tone. "Still are, actually."
We fall silent, allowing the music and moment to speak for us. The rhythmic sway of our bodies feels like a silent conversation, one that's been building over the weeks we’ve been here. His hand on my back moves in slow, soothing circles, and I can't help but relax into his touch.
The song reaches a particularly tender moment, and Rhett pulls back slightly, just enough to look into my eyes. The intensity of his gaze takes my breath away. There are no pretenses, no barriers between us at this moment. He leans in, his forehead resting against mine.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad we got to do this competition together, Sunny.”
"Me too," I whisper, my voice barely audible over the music. Time seems to stop in its tracks as he tilts his head slightly, his lips brushing against my cheek, then my temple, in a series of feather-light kisses.
I have never felt my heart race so fast, but I'm not afraid. I close my eyes, savoring how it feels to be close to him. To drink him in. To smell his cologne.
Finally, in what seems like the longest lead-up in history, his lips find mine in a chaste, almost hesitant kiss. It's soft and sweet. There's the promise of something more. The simplicity of it makes my heart swell with emotion, and I realize how much I've come to care for this man who once drove me crazy. We pull back slowly, our foreheads touching again.
I open my eyes to see Rhett watching me, which makes my heart ache in the best way possible. The song ends.
"Thank you for the dance," I whisper.
"Anytime," he replies, his lips curling into a smile. “Literally anytime, Sunny."
We stand there for a moment longer, wrapped in each other's arms, letting another song start. This is a memory I'll always cherish, a glimpse of what could have been.