Birdie couldn’t believe it.
But why shouldn’t she? Why was she so surprised that she had gotten a lavender bouquet tonight? After last night, today, after the smiles, the conversation, the light airy chuckles over sweating rosé and deliciously pungent goat cheese, she should’ve known she would get picked. She should’ve known that their conversation during the car ride didn’t matter anymore. Still, she was shuddering with adrenaline, which had nothing to do with Danielle glowering at her on the way out like it was somehow Birdie’s fault that she was being sent home tonight, and everything to do with the way Alexis had said her name.
Drawn out. Careful. Deliberate. Like Alexis wanted Birdie’s name to settle on her tongue.
Birdie felt it was her solemn duty to thank Alexis, except she knew the after-lavender-ceremony-cocktail party would make it nearly impossible. Cameras would be everywhere. Other contestants would be vying for her attention. Birdie wouldn’t be the only grateful one.
But still. She felt obligated.
The party took place in one of the quieter gardens of the estate. It was surrounded by a rectangle of clipped boxwood hedges, and the gravel paths were lined with lavender, hydrangeas, and clusters of pale pink roses that leaned heavy with the day’s heat. A long table stretched down the center with nine chairs. Glass pitchers of lemon water beaded with condensation sat beside platters of figs, hunks of Comté, and tiny ramekins of tapenade. Candles set in mismatched brassholders had already begun to droop, their wax softening into lazy rivulets on the runner that stretched across the table.
It was gorgeous. Like a fairytale in some old Balzac novel and she would’ve loved to relish in it, spend a good amount of time taking mental snapshots to hold on to forever, except now, she really wanted to leave.
And she wanted Alexis to follow her.
Birdie spotted Alexis near the far hedge, turned toward Louise and Kinley. The three of them were deep in conversation. She caught only snippets of their conversation. There was some chatter about the ride earlier, and Magnum, Alexis’s horse. And then Kinley mentioned how she’d once nearly had her pinky bitten off by a particularly aggressive donkey at the local fair. This had Alexis laughing and Birdie longing to stand there and soak that laugh in.
But Alexis’s laugh was quickly drowned out by Nina’s voice.
“It just feels unfair,” Nina said. “Danielle barely had a chance, you know. She never got to show Alexis who she was.”
“She’s probably crushed,” Bianca replied, flicking her golden hair over her shoulder with equally golden fingers. “Birdie’s been on two dates already; she could’ve given her that chance.”
“Would you have?” Nina asked, twirling a tight curl even tighter around her finger.
Bianca took a second to answer, and in that second Birdie drifted past. They both noticed her, and the conversation was cut off like a switch had been flipped. But it didn’t bother Birdie. In fact, nothing seemed to bother her in that moment, and she couldn’t care less about Danielle going home. It didn’t make her heartless; she was sure of that.
Her eyes tracked Alexis again. The bachelorette had broken free from Kinley and Louise, and she was heading towardthe table. Birdie felt the moment crack open like it had been waiting for her. She said a quick thank you to the universe just as Alexis set her glass down on the table and reached for the pitcher of lemon water. Birdie then took that moment to step in close enough so the cameras couldn’t catch her lips. “My bedroom. Fourth on the right. Five minutes.”
She didn’t wait to see if Alexis had even heard her. She didn’t wait to find out if Alexis even wanted to follow. Birdie didn’t wait at all. With her pulse hammering and her vision blurring, she turned and walked off. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she headed back toward the villa.
She reached her bedroom, threw the door open, and slid inside before immediately going to work. Pillows were fluffed, the mauve colored throw tossed just so, and any trace of her earlier mess of a crumpled robe, a stray water glass, half-eaten granola bar, and bra she decided to skip for plaster tape, was whisked into the closet and out of sight. She then collapsed onto the edge of the bed and ran her hand over her face to straighten her bangs before she checked her watch.
Three minutes had passed. And then five. Then ten. Okay, fine, maybe Alexis wasn’t coming. Maybe she didn’t want to see Birdie like Birdie wanted to see her. She tried to distract herself by rearranging the pillows on her bed, but she couldn’t pretend her pulse wasn’t in overdrive. Or that the disappointment of Alexis not showing up was so great that she considered not going back to the party. She’d just have to make up some excuse of why she had left.
Three sharp knocks rattled the door. Birdie inhaled sharply.
“Birdie,” Alexis’s voice came through softly. But somehow loud enough that Birdie’s stomach did an acrobatic flip. “Are you in there?”
Birdie scrambled off the bed so fast she almost tripped over her own feet. She was nervous and excited, but when she opened the door, she did it with a calm, collected smile as if she had never doubted Alexis would show up.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Alexis said back. She wasn’t smiling, which should’ve caught Birdie off guard, except she’d spent enough time with her over the last few days to know that the bachelorette’s smiles didn’t come that easily.
“You should come in before anyone sees,” Birdie said, stepping aside before any of the other contestants came trotting down that hallway to their bedrooms.
Alexis hesitated and half-glanced over her shoulder as if she expected just that. And for a very long, somewhat terrifying second, Birdie thought Alexis was going to step back instead of forward. But she didn’t. Alexis slipped in and closed the door behind her, and Birdie held back a sigh of relief.
“You know they’re going to notice if I’m gone,” Alexis said, smoothing a hand over the side of her champagne-colored satin slip dress.
“I know,” Birdie said, nodding so hard she probably looked like one of those dashboard bobbleheads. “But I wanted to say thank you for not sending me home tonight.”
“You could’ve thanked me at the party.”
“I wanted to do it in private.”
Alexis’s jaw twitched, like she was about to say something sharp enough to pop Birdie’s ridiculous little bubble of giddiness. She couldn’t let that happen. Not now. Not in her bedroom, with Alexis standing only a foot away. So, Birdie rushed on with words tumbling over themselves. “I really… I really enjoyed today. Like more than I expected, honestly. The horses were great. The view and the picnic, too. But my favorite part was you.”
