Chapter 22
I feel like I’m walking on air as we walk up the beach toward our shelter a short time later.
Not only did I just guarantee my spot at the final tribal council, but I also ensured I don’t have to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to convince Rhonda or Katie to take me with them.
I think I could have done it, but it would have been an incredible amount of stress to deal with over the next few hours.
Of course, the afternoon won’t be completely stress-free, because I still have to make an incredibly tough decision—namely, who I want to sit next to in the final two.
It might not matter who I pick in the end.
Maybe I’m going to lose no matter which of them I choose, or maybe I’m going to win either way.
But I have no way of knowing that for sure, so I have to act like this is a million-dollar decision.
The first thing I need to do is talk to Rhonda and Katie, since I’m sure they have quite a bit to say on the matter, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t hear them both out.
“I’d love to talk to both of you separately,” I tell them as we approach the shelter.
“It doesn’t have to be right now, if you’d rather recover from the challenge, but preferably sooner rather than later. ”
Katie shrugs. “No time like the present,” she says. “Rhonda, do you want to go first, or should I?”
Rhonda shakes her head. “You go ahead, dear. I’m going to go to the well and get some water. Save the best for last, I always say.”
She takes our canteens and walks off while Katie and I sit on the beach in front of the shelter, joined by one of the ever-present cameramen. “First off, congratulations,” Katie says, holding out her hand. “You did a great job back there.”
I take her hand and shake it, grinning. “Same to you. I thought I was going to have to stand there until midnight.”
“Ugh. That would have been horrible. Three and a half hours was more than enough.” She sighs. “But I digress. What are you thinking for tonight?”
“In all honesty, I haven’t decided yet. I’m betting you have some thoughts on the matter, though.”
“Oh, I sure do,” she agrees, giving me a hint of a smile.
“I know you want to win, and I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you should take me to the end because I deserve it more than Rhonda does or whatever.
That would be bullshit, and we both know it.
What I am going to tell you is that you have a better chance against me than her.
” She leans back. “Honestly, once she was out of the challenge, from your perspective, it didn’t really matter who won, because I was going to take you to the end no matter what. She’d crush us both.”
I don’t know if she’s lying about taking me to the end had she won, but that’s irrelevant. “Really? You think Rhonda would beat us?”
“Think about it. You love her. I love her.” She spreads her arms wide.
“But more importantly, the jury loves her. She didn’t get on anybody’s bad side this entire game.
Well, maybe Ashley, but she’s not on the jury.
They’ll be falling all over themselves to give Rhonda the win. Can either of us say the same?”
I lightly punch her shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short. Maybe they all think I’m a curmudgeon, but you’re pretty likable.”
She shakes her head. “Not like Rhonda. You and I … well, no offense, but we can be a little standoffish at times. I mean, did either of us even say more than two words to Jenny or Ashraf?”
“I did have a conversation with Jenny,” I allow. “But it was just the one time, and we voted her out the next day. So, point taken.”
“Exactly. Meanwhile, right after we merged, Rhonda was doing her thing—getting to know them, making them feel at home, just like she did with everyone else.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” Again, she could be lying, but this time it matters.
I was too preoccupied with making sure we didn’t get voted out—and, yes, also with Cole—to notice whether Rhonda was building relationships with the Sikas.
If she really did get close to them, they might be more willing to vote for her.
“Did she really have enough time to make them love her?”
She shrugs. “Okay, maybe saying Jenny and Ashraf love her is an exaggeration. But they certainly have more of a reason to vote for her than they do for you or me.”
“That’s fair.” So many things to consider. “Well, you’ve certainly given me a lot to think about.”
“I should hope so.” She smiles, then stands up and offers me her hand. “Come on, let’s get back to camp. I’m sure Rhonda has a lot to say, too.”
We head back to the camp, and Rhonda returns with the canteens a little while later. Not long after that, Rhonda and I head down to the beach, the eye of the camera once again trained on us. “I don’t envy you,” she says. “You got a tough decision to make tonight.”
“Don’t remind me,” I reply, shaking my head. “I have a feeling you’re not going to make it any easier.”
“You’re right about that.” She gives me a tight smile. “I got some thoughts, and I’m gonna share ‘em with you.”
I laugh. “Hit me with your best shot.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, I will.” She tilts her chin up, fixing me with a strong gaze. “There’s no denying you’re a smart man. But believe me, Katie’s no slouch either. God’s honest truth, she might even be smarter than you. No offense, of course.”
“None taken.” She’s not wrong, from what I’ve seen. “Do you think it matters, though?”
“Oh, of course it does. You and whoever you sit next to are gonna have to explain your games to the jury, and that takes a lot of smarts to do well. Now, I know you’re a big-city lawyer and she’s still just a student, but don’t underestimate her.
Me, on the other hand …” She shrugs. “Well, I’m no dummy, but I’m perfectly willin’ to admit I’m nowhere near y’all’s level.
Besides, you know she and Marina were pretty close, so that might be one vote you lose already. ”
I think that last part is an exaggeration, but I can’t dismiss her out of hand. She might be right, and with only seven jurors, every vote counts. “What about the Sikas?” I ask. “You were closer to them than she was, except for maybe Tamika.”
“Maybe I was, but that ain’t saying much.
I don’t think the jury is gonna vote for someone just because they spent a few minutes talking to ‘em on the beach. They’re gonna be looking for someone who can show that they were on top of the game, from beginnin’ to end.
That might be you, and it might be Katie, but it ain’t me. ”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” I tell her. “You were right there when we were strategizing, same as me and Katie.”
She shakes her head. “Oh, I was there physically, but you two were the ones who came up with the plans. I just sat back and did what y’all told me to do.”
“I still think you’re underestimating yourself, but I’m not going to argue with you.” I lean my head back and look up to the sky, just in case the answer is written in the clouds. “You weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t going to make this easy for me, huh?”
I look down just in time to see her grin.
“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” she replies.
Her grin vanishes, leaving behind a serious expression.
“Listen, Ryan, I can’t tell you what to do.
I mean, I want you to take me along with you, but at the end of the day, the decision is yours.
You just gotta trust yourself to make the right decision.
” She stands up, wiping sand off her legs. “And I’m sure you will.”
She turns to go, but I’m not quite done yet. “How can you be sure?” I ask, genuinely curious.
She pauses and looks at me, smiling once again. “Oh, that’s easy,” she says. “I bet on you all the way back on day three, and I won that bet. Things may have changed since then, but I’m bettin’ on you again, and I got a feelin’ the outcome will be the same tonight.”
I spend the next few hours lost in thought. Katie and Rhonda have each said their piece, and they’re kind enough to leave me alone while I consider my choice. They’ve already given me more than enough to consider, and I doubt anything they’d say at this point would sway me.
The truth is that there are good reasons to keep them both, and good reasons to get rid of them both.
Rhonda was less involved in the strategy aspect of the game, and the jury might not look favorably on that.
Besides, we did make a deal to go to the end together, even if I didn’t always intend to honor that.
If I vote her out tonight, right before the final tribal council, she could hold it against me.
On the other hand, she’s charming as hell, and she probably has stronger personal relationships with the jury than I do, except Cole.
She definitely has better connections with the former Sikas.
For better or worse, I didn’t really get to know them, and I bet she did.
Meanwhile, Katie isn’t as much of a social threat, at least compared to Rhonda.
Her main drawback is her intelligence. I’d like to think that I played a pretty strategic game, but Katie could certainly argue that she was with me every step of the way.
I want to be able to take credit for all the moves that got me to the end, even if there were a few hiccups along the way, and that would be harder with Katie sitting next to me.
The only question is whether her strategy outweighs Rhonda’s charm.
As with most things in life, there’s no easy answer.
As I mull my options, it strikes me how similar this feels to right before our very first tribal council, nearly a month ago.
Then, it was my vote that decided who went home, just as it will be tonight.
The calculus is a little different—then, it was who could help me get to the end, and now it’s who gives me the best chance of winning—but the pressure, the sense that I have to get this right, is the same.