“Oh, I don’t mind ball games,” Evan whispered.
Harry’s eyes widened.Holy shit! Is he flirting? Nah, it couldn’t be.
Evan grinned.
“Okay, then, quieten down. The faster I can get through this, the quicker we can get the formalities over with and you guys can get back out on deck.” Natalie smiled at the crowd, waited for the chatter to die down, then read from a clipboard. “We’ll film in groups, all the contestants having been divided into various episodes of the show. Each episode broadcast will feature five couples, and there will be a winning couple from that episode. The winning couple will receive fifteen thousand dollars.”
The cheer was loud.
“All ours, baby,” John whispered against his ear. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Andthe winning couple from each episode will compete for the fifty-thousand-dollar grand prize in the final.”
The noise was even more thunderous, clapping hands and stomping feet and hoots of excitement.
“That’s ours, too. Right, babe?”
Harry ignored the comment.I wish it was so easy to ignore John all the time.
“So, without further ado, let’s get to it. If you’ll all turn over yourSea of Loveidentification cards, you’ll see a number.”
Harry fumbled for the card that was hanging with his cruise card on a lanyard around his neck.4
“Hey, we’re episode 4,” Amber exclaimed. “That’s my lucky number!”
“We’re four too,” John replied. “That’s a shame. I would have liked to have gone first. Set the bar, you know? But I guess it’s better than going last. I wonder if I can ask the producers to change it? Who do you reckon I have to talk to?”
John continued to prattle on to poor Amber, but Harry tuned him out. Instead, he caught Evan’s eye. Evan was grinning, and Harry found himself mirroring the smile. After all, he had heaps to be happy about—he’d have so much time to spend with Evan over the coming weeks. “What are the odds? Us being on the same episode?”
Evan’s smile grew even wider. “Amber did say four was her lucky number.”
Harry could feel his cheeks heating. Did he interpret that as Evan feeling them doing their segments together was a win too? What was going on?
* * *
The first filmingfor group four wasn’t scheduled for a couple of hours, so they took their places in the audience, alongside some of the ship’s general passengers who’d elected to watch the filming as part of their day’s activities. Harry assumed it was similar to filming a TV show in a studio, although in this case the “studio” was the theatre at sea.
It was amusing to watch the couples on stage. The questions were fun and the responses, at times, downright hilarious. Harry chanced a glance at John seated beside him. From John’s stiff shoulders and pursed lips, Harry assumed he’d finally realised that they weren’t a shoo-in to win a competition as the perfect couple. And this segment—how well do you know each other?—was going to be the first step in proving it.
They met the rest of their group during a filming break. They were faced off against three other couples alongside Evan and Amber. Susan and Melanie were newlyweds from Sydney. They were using the shipboard show as a paid honeymoon. Both girls were friendly and chatty. Stavros and Stephanie were also a married couple. They didn’t touch much but finished each other’s sentences, and the smiles didn’t leave their faces. The final couple was Dennis and Mei, who couldn’t take their hands off each other. If Harry was to guess, he’d say that were in the first flush of love. Harry couldn’t blame Mei for her permanent flash of white teeth and tight grip on her boyfriend’s arm—Dennis washot. John seemed to share that view, his gaze glued to every flex of Dennis’s muscles. John’s wandering eye didn’t go unnoticed, given the sympathetic looks Harry received from both Stephanie and Evan. Harry bit back the wave of frustration at John’s behaviour.So much for wanting to prove our devotion to each other. But at least he can’t call me out.
Before too long they were pulled aside, along with the rest of group four. They each had a session in hair and makeup before being brought onto the stage for their turn to be put under the microscope.
Even though he knew what was coming up, butterflies danced in Harry’s belly as soon as filming started—a flock of the damn things. He was sure sweat beaded his forehead, but he resisted the temptation to mop at his brow, hoping the powder stuff the make-up guy had put on his face was up to the job. John sat in the seat next to him, the other contestants further along, all of them seated in a curved row facing the audience. Harry could only see the side of Evan’s face but could see Amber clutching his hand. From the looks of things, Evan was as nervous as he was.
Harry looked out over the crowd as the show’s host, Brian Donohue, a loud guy with an obnoxious laugh, and his co-host, Louise, made the introductions. Each of the couples was introduced with a prepared spiel from Louise, followed by Brian who asked some irritating questions. Thank God there were three couples before them, giving Harry a chance to calm his nerves before he had to speak. Luckily he was saved from having to say more than a sentence by John’s natural propensity to take over any discussion. At least listening to John gush about their “amazing” and “meant-to-be” relationship took his mind off his nerves, although he hoped they’d edit out half the bullshit John was sprouting.
“And our final couple this week is Amber and Evan. Amber is a nurse, and Evan is a finance manager. They are both from Sydney, although Amber tells us the dream is to travel the world.”
Harry found himself leaning forearms on his knees, listening as Amber spoke about her hopes of living and working overseas, maybe doing some mission work. He didn’t recall Evan ever mentioning a desire to work in another country; in fact, if he recalled correctly, Evan was super close to his sister and had bought an apartment in the same suburb as her.Maybe it was just an investment?
“So, Evan, what countries are you looking forward to visiting most?” Brian asked.
“Err…” Evan glanced at Amber then back at Brian. “Cambodia?”
“Great,” John hissed under this breath. “We’re up against Mother Teresa and her idiot boyfriend.”
Harry was never happier than when Brian announced one half of each couple would be leaving the stage. “For this section of the show, one of you will be put in our soundproof booth—” Brian turned to the audience and mocked whispered, “—not really, it’s just a dressing room out the back.” The audience laughed on cue, and Brian addressed the contestants again. “And while your partner is in the cone of silence, you’ll be answering a couple of questions. When your partner returns, we’ll see how well you know each other based on each of your responses. So let’s get this show on the road.”
