Three hours, then Arabella and I will be out of each other’s lives forever. And after that, I can get back to lone-wolfing it. “The truth is, I’m better off without her.”
“Absolutely,” Dwight says, sounding utterly unconvincing.
I stuff my hands into the pockets of my jeans to shield them from the chilly fall air. It nips at my nose and makes me long for the warmth of home. “I think I’ll head back to Paradise Bay when this is over. I can really focus on working out and preparing for the survivor challenge there.”
“I’ll see if I can make that happen for you, but I’m pretty sure Dylan has you booked up until almost the last day before you go to Greenland.”
We reach the door, and I stop to tie my dress shoe, even though the laces aren’t technically undone.
Come on, Belle. Just pick up the phone and call me.
Nope. Still nothing. “Yeah, I’m definitely better off without her, don’t you think?”
“You already said that,” Dwight says gently. He turns to me. “Go in there tonight with an open mind. You never know what could happen.”
“As much as I’d like to have an open mind, I don’t think my heart can take it.” It was over when she left me at the beach house. “It’s for the best. Really, it is. We’re just too different.”
He reaches for the door handle and gives it a tug, saying, “Then why haven’t you taken the ring back yet?”
With that, he walks inside before I can say anything, leaving that thought hanging in the wind.
* * *
“We’ve got about twenty minutes until show time,” the assistant director says as she leads us down the hall. Bellford stands just off to the side of the room we shared last time, and thankfully, he gives me a quick nod, then stares past me, his face expressionless. My heart lurches at the sight of him because it means she’s really here.
“Your dressing room is fully stocked with beverages and hors d’oeuvres, but if you need anything else, just let me know. My name is Rainy. Pick up the phone, hit three, and you’ll get me.”
“Thank you, Rainy,” I say, giving her a broad smile.
“Princess Arabella is already in there,” she says. “But I suppose you already knew that.”
“Right, of course I did.”
My palms start to feel clammy as Rainy opens the door, and I glance over my shoulder to make sure Dwight is with me, only to see him going back the way we came in. He turns and gives me a thumbs-up.That wanker.
I walk in, expecting to see Arabella sitting at the makeup table or perhaps on the couch, but she’s nowhere. The door closes behind me, and I realize I’m alone so I let out a long exhale, leaning with both hands on the back of an armchair. “Just get through this and whatever you do,do nottry to get her to come back.”
I hear a flushing sound and realize that she must be in the loo. Oh great, she probably heard me. If she did, it’ll be considerably more difficult for me to pretend I’m not as pitiful as I am. A fuzzy memory of me calling her my sweet Belle on the phone creeps forward in my brain, causing my face and neck to feel flushed.
The door to the loo opens and Arabella starts to walk out, then stops in her tracks when she sees me. “Hello,” she says softly.
“Hey,” I say, sounding stiffer than I’d like. I’m supposed to be the happy-go-lucky, everything rolls off my back guy. “How’ve you been?”
“Really well, thank you,” she says, tilting her head and using that tone she does when she’s greeting someone new. Polite. Detached. Beautiful. “You?”
“Busy. Lots of promotional stuff going on every day… and I’ve been working out pretty hard for the survivor challenge show next month, so...”So what? Finish your sentence, you tit!
“I’m glad we’re able to have a moment alone,” she says.
My heart speeds up, but then she continues with, “I suppose we should decide how we’re going to play this.”
And my heart is crushed again. “Oh right, because we haven’t made it public yet that we’re both back on the market.”
She stiffens slightly at the ‘back on the market.’ “Precisely.”
“I think we should just be honest,” I say, fidgeting with the button on my suit jacket. “Pretending never works out. You end up getting caught anyway because the truth has a way of getting out.”
“Agreed,” she says. “Although some secrets can be kept longer than others.”
