33. Jack
Jack
One Man Band by Old Dominion
T he sun sets behind the barn, casting golden light across the fields like the universe is trying to be romantic on purpose.
Which is probably good because none of this feels real or romantic in the least. Elena stands beside me in a pastel floral dress that matches her lipstick.
Her hair is curled, and her smile is camera-ready.
She's playing the part. The only problem is that I’m not. I’m struggling so badly with all of this.
I stare at the camera crew gathering by the gate, trying not to look like a man who’s about to commit televised emotional fraud.
“You ready?” Elena asks, looping her arm through mine like we’re prom dates instead of two people pretending we’re about to fall in love.
I nod. “Sure.”
She glances up at me. “That was… convincing. ”
I wince. “Sorry. I’m just tired.”
I’m not. I’m panicked.
Because tomorrow’s the big finale. The part where I’m supposed to stand in front of Bridger Falls and America and declare that I’ve found love. Only I have. It’s just not with the woman next to me.
It’s Cami, and it's always been Cami. And it will only ever be her.
And the thought of standing on camera and saying it’s Elena makes my stomach turn inside out. Even pretending just feels so wrong. I know what I need to say. I just don’t think I can say it.
Tucker sidles up next to me with a microphone clipped to his shirt and a hot dog in hand. “You look like you just watched someone run over your heart.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
He takes a bite. “This is what you get for signing up for a dating show, man. You fly too close to the drama sun, you get burned.”
“You okay?” Weston joins us, holding a clipboard Jenna shoved at him earlier, looking extremely done with all of it. “You look like you’re either gonna pass out or propose to the wrong woman.”
“I am about to propose to the wrong woman,” I hiss.
Tucker coughs on his hot dog. “Wait. You’re actually gonna do it?”
“I don’t know! I’m not proposing proposing. It’s like a… symbolic finale moment. But I don’t think I can even do that.”
Weston gives me a sympathetic look. “Because of Cami.”
I nod.
They both fall silent.
Then Weston sighs. “Man, you really are in love with her.”
“Of course I am.”
Tucker whistles. “You’re so screwed. ”
Gee, thanks, guys.
Later, when we're on a break and cameras aren't rolling, I’m in the barn when I hear Elena scream.
Not a terrified scream. A shrieky, joyful scream. Like someone just told her she won the lottery, and it comes with a year’s supply of eyelash extensions.
I walk outside just in time to see her run across the pasture like she’s in a rom-com. Straight into the arms of a tall, broad-shouldered guy in jeans and a button down who spins her in a full dramatic circle before kissing her full on the mouth.
Tucker walks up beside me, watching this scene in front of us unfold with disbelief. “Okay, uh… Jack?”
“That’s Logan,” I say, not taking my eyes off what's unfolding. “Her fiancé.”
There’s a beat of stunned silence. Tucker chokes. “Her what?!”
Weston appears as if he sensed a disturbance in the sibling force. “Did I just hear the word fiancé? Is someone getting punched?”
I hold up a hand and say dryly. “Nobody panic. I’ve known about this.”
Weston blinks at me. “You knew and didn’t tell us?”
"I couldn't. Jenna made me sign an NDA," I shrug.
“Pretty sure that little PDA right there violates her NDA,” Weston shakes his head, chuckling.
“Who would we have told?” Tucker says dryly.
"I don't know why you're making this a big deal. Reality television is mostly fake. Don't you guys know this?" I say, folding my arms over my chest.
“I don’t know, Jack ,” he says, dramatically waving. “Maybe give us a heads up that the finale is about to turn into The Notebook but with a surprise fiancé.”
Weston stares at Logan, who’s now twirling Elena like a Disney princess. “So… who is this guy? And why is he dressed like he’s about to fix a tractor?”
“He’s a wrangler, and he wants to work with us,” I explain. “Grew up on a ranch in Montana. He and Elena want to settle down around here and buy some land.”
Tucker’s still blinking. “What now?”
“Yeah,” I say. “We do need good wranglers.”
Weston throws up a hand. “I leave for one hour and come back to everything a mess again. Jenna is going to kill you."
“We’re hiring him,” I say.
At that exact moment, Logan turns around, walks up, and extends a hand. “Hey! I’m Logan. I hear y’all might need some help with ranch work. I’ve got references and a full resume if you want to take a look.”
Weston stares at the handshake and finally shakes his hand. He's still so confused. "This is so weird."
Tucker, however, leans over and mutters, “Okay, but… we really do need good wranglers.”
Weston sighs. “This is your mess with Jenna.”
“Nice to meet you,” Tucker says. “Look at him. He looks like he'd fit in here.”
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “So we’re all clear. You guys are not to tell anyone, right?”
“Elena just brought her fiancé to the finale,” Tucker says. “If that’s not a mic drop, I don’t know what is.”
Logan grins. “My momma sent down a few pies for y'all, too."
“Oh, hell yes,” Tucker says, instantly won over. “Welcome to the team, buddy.”
And that's how we hired my fake fiancé's fiancé.
It’s a circus out here.
Camera crews, PAs with clipboards, a catering table that’s somehow already out of the good sandwiches, and everyone walking around like we’re all pretending this is normal. This is the most awkward, tension-filled finale wrap-up in the history of reality TV.
Real actors would have a hard time making this believable. But we're real people, real ranchers who are not actors.
Jenna has her work cut out for her, that's for sure. She’s doing that high-pitched, fake laugh she reserves for when she’s fully spiraling. Weston and Tucker are by the horses with Logan, asking him about welding like they didn’t spend earlier scrutinizing him and his intentions.
Logan’s actually a solid guy. Which somehow makes this weirder.
I scan until I spot Cami near the back of one of the horse trailers, half-shielded by the shadow of the hauler and out of sight from the crew.
I make my way over, slow and steady, heart pounding like I’m walking into something fragile. She doesn’t turn around when I get close. Just crosses her arms tighter and stares off toward the pasture like she’s trying to breathe through the madness.
“Hey,” I say quietly.
She jumps a little. Then relaxes when she sees me. “Thought you were Jenna.”
I smirk. “Do I look like I’m about to demand someone do something?”
She huffs out a laugh, but it’s tired. Worn down. Real.
I step closer. “How you doing?”
She shrugs, arms still crossed. “Honestly? Just ready for whatever.”
There’s a beat of silence. Wind tugging at her hair. Dust kicking up in the gravel.
I reach out and gently touch her waist, turning her toward me. She lets me. I look her straight in the eyes.
“You know it’s you, Wilder,” I say, voice low and certain. “Always been you. And always will be you. There will never be anyone else for me.”
Her eyes flash with something, hope, maybe. Uncertainty. And I hate that uncertainty is there. I want her to have hope and love. She deserves that.
“This is almost over,” I add. “We’re almost out of this mess. And then we can finally just be us. No cameras. No pretending. Just… you and me.”
She doesn’t answer right away. Just looks up at me with that guarded softness that always makes me want to pull her closer.
And then slowly, carefully, she nods. “I’m trying to believe it’s real,” she whispers. “That it’ll actually end. That we’ll get to be normal.”
I lean in and kiss her. Not hard. Not rushed. Just… honest and real.
Her hands slide up my chest and into my shirt like she’s grounding herself. Like I’m the only thing holding her to the earth right now.
When we break apart, I rest my forehead against hers. “I’ve got you. No matter how weird this gets. No matter what.”
She exhales. “We just need the finale to be over.”
“Then it’s done,” I repeat. “And I’m yours.”
She finally smiles, just a little. “You’ve always been mine, Jessop.”
I kiss her again because I can. Because we’re almost through the storm. And we’re still standing.
There’s hay scattered across the makeshift stage inside the barn, fairy lights strung across the rafters like they can distract from the disaster about to happen.
Everything smells like sawdust and fake happiness.
The camera crew is whispering in frantic tones off to the side, and Jenna’s pacing like she’s one unflattering angle away from a nervous breakdown.
I’m standing under a big-ass wooden arch someone zip-tied roses to, wearing a clean flannel I hate and holding a ring box that feels like it weighs a hundred pounds.
Elena stands a few feet away in a flowy dress and heels that are completely impractical for the barn floor. She’s smiling.
Because she knows. We both do. It’s all for show. But that doesn’t make it any easier.
I shift my weight and scan the crowd gathered in the barn: family, neighbors, tourists, and half the crew all pressed in on hay bales like it’s opening night at the county fair.
And that’s when I see her. Front row. Cami. She’s sitting between Ollie and Logan, of all people, and my chest goes tight at the sight of her.
She’s wearing a red dress. Not just red.
Red . The kind of red that makes your brain short-circuit.
Her long black hair is down, curled, wild in a way that makes me want to bury my hands in it and never let go.
And that lipstick, God help me, is doing things to me that should be illegal on a family-friendly TV set.
She crosses her legs and smiles at something Ollie says, and it hits me like a punch to the ribs. I’m supposed to walk out there. Say Elena is my choice. Kiss her. Maybe even fake-propose. And the love of my life is sitting in the front row in a red dress, watching me do it.
My throat dries out. My heart’s pounding too fast. I take a step toward the center of the stage and almost stumble. Jenna appears beside me like a vision of stress and caffeine.
“Okay,” she hisses, fake-smiling at the cameras. “Remember the lines. Choose Elena. Say something swoony. Then we do the fake proposal. Big kiss. Crowd goes wild. We roll credits. You get your money, I get my finale, and no one dies.”
I nod numbly. “Right.” My hands are shaking. The box in my pocket feels like it’s burning a hole through my soul.
Elena walks up next to me, her smile soft. “You okay?”
I glance at her. “Not even a little.”
She squeezes my hand quickly, under the radar. “We can get through this. One more scene.”
I look back at Cami. She’s looking at me now. And she knows. I can see it in her face. In the way her smile slips just a little. In the way her fingers tighten around the armrest.
She knows I’m about to choose someone else. And she has no idea it’s all pretend. I take a step forward. The crowd quiets. The cameras zoom in. And I try to breathe. But I can’t.
I look at Elena. Then I look at Cami. And everything in me says no.
I take another step. Then stop. I can’t do this. I physically cannot say the words. My mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.
Elena shifts beside me.
Jenna hisses from offstage, “Say the damn line, Jack!”
I look out over the crowd again. At Cami. Beautiful. Brave. Mine.
I swallow, hard. Then I drop the script entirely. “This isn’t real love,” I say.
The crowd goes completely still.
“I’m supposed to say that I’ve found love. That I’ve made a choice. That I’ve fallen for someone over the course of this wild, chaotic show.” I glance at Elena. “And I have. But not with you. I'm sorry. ”
Elena nods softly, stepping back.
There are gasps in the audience.
I take a shaky breath. “The truth is, the woman I love has always been here. Long before the cameras showed up. Long before the show. Long before I ever knew what the hell I was doing.”
I step off the stage. Walk straight down the aisle.
People part like the Red Sea.
Cami looks up slowly, stunned.
“Jack…” she whispers.
I stop in front of her.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I tell her. “You don’t have to do anything. But I need you to know this whole time, it’s been you. Every second of it.”
She blinks up at me, wide-eyed. “You’re really doing this?”
“I already did.”
She stares at me for a long, breathless moment. The barn is dead silent. The cameras are rolling.
Then she says, “I love you, Jack.”
And she kisses me.
It’s not careful. It’s not neat.
It’s messy and red-lipstick-stained and real.
The barn erupts into noise. Someone wolf-whistles. Jenna screams, “CUT!” like it’s an exorcism. Logan leans over to Ollie and says, “Well, that took a turn.”
I pull back and rest my forehead against hers. “I love you,” I say.
“I love you too,” she breathes.
Jenna marches over, flinging her clipboard down. “Okay. FINE. Great. We’ll spin it. ‘Local cowboy finds unexpected love in childhood rival.’ We’ll use soft lighting. Maybe a voiceover. I hate all of you. ”
Tucker claps me on the back. “That was better than TV, man. That was, like, feelings .”
Weston smirks. “I’m telling you, if this ranch thing doesn’t work out, you’ve got a future in soap operas.”
Cami wraps her arm around my waist, eyes still locked on mine.
“Now, can we be done with all of this?” she asks.
I grin. “We’re done.”
She leans up, whispering in my ear, “Good. Because I’m taking you home.”
And just like that, we walk out of the barn.Hand in hand.Together.No cameras orpretending.Just us.
Because in the end, that's what really matters. Not the show, not the ranches, it's her. I want the world to know that she's my everything. I don't care what anyone thinks. She's my heart.