“Well, I’m in,” Louise said, grinning. She flopped back against the sofa with her arms and legs splayed over the cushions. “I’ve always wanted to go to Nice. I certainly would never be able to afford this kind of trip.”
All eyes shifted to Bianca, who was perched on the loveseat. She had one impossibly long leg tucked under her, and her fingers drummed on her knee. She didn’t look as convinced as Louise, but she also didn’t look unconvinced.
“I need your answer,” Vivian said, folding her arms across her chest.
“Fine,” Bianca said with a hard breath out. “I haven’t been to Nice in years. It will be nice to visit the Cours Saleya market again.”
Vivian looked satisfied, if not a little pleased. “Good. Then the show goes on.” She turned toward Birdie, and her expression hardened like cement. “And as for you, no more sneaking around.”
“Of course, understood.”
Vivian dropped her arms and smiled that plasticky host smile that the audience probably ate up like cheesecake. Birdie, however, did not. Not anymore, at least. “There won’t be a date today. Let’s call it a free day, shall we? You can do whatever you please.” Vivian flourished an arm out to the deck, and Birdieknew what that meant. Do whatever you want, but don’t venture anywhere beyond the four walls of the villa.
And then, just like that, Vivian left.
Birdie should’ve felt relief at seeing her go, but she didn’t, because as soon as the front door clicked shut, both Louise and Bianca turned toward her, probably ready to bombard her with a gazillion questions. And she had no choice but to answer.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alexis Wolf was a failure.
She’d failed at the spelling bee when she spelled onomatopoeia wrong in fourth grade. She’d failed her driver’s test twice. Once for forgetting her turn signal and once for clipping a cone during parallel parking. And she’d failed out of college entirely. The liar that she was, she had pretended it was a planned gap year while she booked herself a flight to the Caribbean for what she told everyone was a wellness cleanse. In reality, she’d spent a month drinking piña coladas out of coconuts and developed a tan so aggressive she resembled leather.
And now, dressed in a blush-colored gown dusted head to toe with Swarovski crystals, her hair styled into glossy, old Hollywood waves that brushed her collarbone, she had failed at the whole redemption thing.
If one had to search for the definition of redemption, it would mention the act of regaining or restoring something. In other words, her dignity or making amends for past faults. Alexis wasn’t in the neighborhood of either. In fact, she was as close to recovering her reputation as a shipwreck still rusting on the ocean floor. And it was all her own damn fault.
The thought of fucking up once again pressed down on her chest so hard it might go straight through her. How had Louise and Bianca reacted to the whole thing? Were their feelings hurt? Did they hate her? Could she ever make it up to them?
Apparently, or according to Vivian, Bianca had spotted Alexis and Birdie outside at the pool two nights ago. She’d seenthem canoodle, which wasn’t true; they’d just held hands before Birdie kissed her on the forehead and retreated back to bed.
But still, there had been plenty of canoodling before, and now Alexis wished she had come out sooner, on her own terms, because this felt worse. Way worse. And she hadn’t even been allowed to apologize. She hadn’t been allowed to explain. And most unbearably, she hadn’t been allowed to see Birdie.
Alexis glanced around the solarium, which was set up for the final ceremony. Lying on the pedestal in front of her was the final bouquet of lavender. Its purple spikes glowed unnaturally under the spotlight, and the silvery-green stems looked almost drained of life. Just looking at it felt wrong. If she touched it, the brittle stalks might splinter and leave their sharp little ghosts in her skin.
The final ceremony wasn’t supposed to happen until the end of the week, but production was fast-tracking everything. They were acting as if the world were ending.
Vivian approached. She was dressed in a tailored ivory pantsuit with a single-button blazer that nipped at the waist. Her black stilettos were pointy and clicked sharply against the floor. “You look nice,” she said.
“I’m not in the mood for small talk,” Alexis replied stiffly. Thank goodness the cameras weren’t around because there was no way she could fake a smile.
Vivian twisted the gold watch on her wrist until the head showed up. “I’m just here to explain to you how things are going to work,” she said. Her tone was awfully cruel, or maybe Alexis was just imagining it. She was feeling terribly sensitive right now.
“The contestants will come in one at a time,” Vivian went on. “You’ll give a speech. Leaving out your sins, of course—”
Alexis cut her off. Enough was enough. “Everyone’s acting like I killed someone, like they want to finish the show beforethe police get here and I get hauled away in handcuffs. Things happen, Vivian. People fall in love. Isn’t that what this show is supposed to be about?”
“Yes, they do,” Vivian interrupted. “But not to people who are trying to get their reputation back. That’s why they choseyoufor this season. Did you know that? After last season’s spectacle, they wanted someone to walk in a straight line. They thought you, who had everything to gain by being back here, would at least be predictable and follow the script.”
The crystals stitched into her gown pressed against Alexis’s ribs like tiny glass shards. She deserved the discomfort. She probably deserved even worse.
But so did they. “Maybe production should do their homework. Birdie and I met before the show. If they wanted to avoid that, they should introduce the bachelorette before signing up the contestants,” Alexis shot back.
Vivian’s lips pressed thinner than a line on a page, and then she did something unexpected. She smiled, and it wasn’t that flashy fake smile she donned every time the cameras were running. It was real. “Maybe you’ve got a point there.”
“Maybe I do,” Alexis replied stiffly, still feeling defensive.
Vivian stepped back. “Well, you should probably look a little happier.” Her eyes flicked from Alexis’s hair to her heels and back again.
