But seriously, the guy is supposed to be Prince Charming and he can’t even be polite to the service people at the airport.
Preston gives one more glare to the baggage clerk, then turns to me in a huff. “Fine. I bet Levi will figure out who’s responsible and tear them a new one.” He storms off toward the rental car area, where the production team is ushering the girls into vans to be taken to the airport. Preston isn’t supposed to be over there right now—we were all on the same plane, but he flew first class with Levi while the girls and the rest of the production team were back in coach. Since we don’t have cameras rolling, he’s supposed to stay away from the girls, so we don’t have to reconstruct any important misunderstandings later for the camera.
But Preston clearly doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his precious missing luggage. I sigh and follow after him. I’ll find Levi and explain the situation. If Levi decides to call up the airline and “tear them a new one” because of a common travel mistake, that’s his right, I guess. Levi isn’t the one being presented to twelve unsuspecting women as the catch of the century, so I’m a lot less concerned with his juvenile behavior.
One of the reasons I was excited about this job was the travel. I’ve done plenty of that with Jason and our crew, and it’s always a highlight.The night we arrive in Bern, I head out in the old town with some of the other producers, and then I get to sightsee a bit while following around Addison and later Yasmine—the lone remaining Black contestant—and interview them about how their dates are going.
Addison’s goes well enough that it’s clear he’s going to keep her this week, but Yasmine drones on about how exactly she would use each and every sight they see as a background to show off her cleavage on Instagram if only she had her phone, and Preston decides that he “isn’t feeling it,” and sends her home that very night.
I guess I can’t blame him for that one.
We arrive at the tiara ceremony four days later with several of the girls distraught about not having gotten “enough time with Preston,” despite the group date the others had at a music festival.
I get it. I would be stressed if I was expected to get engaged in a couple of weeks to someone I’ve barely talked to. About half of the remaining girls haven’t had one-on-one dates, and I’m guessing several of them will go home without them.
Not Becca, though. Levi wants to keep her on until she talks about her husband, and he’s added a list of prepared questions to my interviews designed to prime her to talk to Preston about Rob on her one-on-one, which we’re planning for next week. Levi gave me creative control of the date so long as I could get most of it for free in exchange for exposure on the show, and I’ve been making phone calls like mad to get everything lined up.
I think Becca is going to love it. If she goes home after the date, at least she’ll have some great memories to look back on. She’s always talked about the show more as a vehicle to get out of her own head than as a life plan, so I think she’ll be okay regardless of what happens, but I still want to give her the best experience I can before she goes.
The tiara ceremony is set up in the gardens of the hotel, with a “ball” taking place around the pool.The women are all in gowns tonight instead of swimsuits, but tensions are running high enough that I think someone might end up in the pool anyway before the night is over. Daisy, in particular, is very concerned about her lack of quality time with Preston, and begged the producers to get her some hand-crafted Swiss chocolates to share with Preston tonight as a bonding exercise. “I swear,” she says to her handler of the evening, “you can tell a lot about a man by the chocolates he chooses.”
I miss the full explanation about what chocolate preferences say about a man’s sexual proclivities because Becca arrives, and I head over to see how she’s doing.
“Hey,” I say, resisting the urge to give her a hug or wrap an arm around her waist. I have to resist this urge a lot.
She gives me a nervous smile—she’s worried about going home tonight, I’m sure. It won’t happen, but I can’t tell her that.
Damn, it’ll be nice to be done with all this filming and just be able to be normal people for once. I’m not much for secrets, but as a producer, I have to keep a lot of them. “You look beautiful,” I tell her, which is a compliment I’m allowed to give her and also completely true. She’s wearing a sea-foam green gown tonight that’s sleeveless but not quite as backless as the one with the stuck zipper.
Thank god for that.There’s only so much temptation I can handle.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Nervous?”
She nods. “Is it obvious?”
It’s always obvious to me what Becca is feeling, but I don’t think it’s going to be as obvious to everyone else. She’s cautious and guarded. Levi considers those traits to be liabilities, but I think they’re strengths, especially in this situation. “Probably only to me,” I tell her, then wince.That was overly familiar of me. I need to watch it.
“Oh my god,” Daisy says loudly from over by the pool where she’s talking to her handler. “Is Preston on his way? I don’t have enough time to set up my chocolates!” She grabs a bottle of wine that apparently pairs well with chocolate and heads over to the little gas fire pit in the corner of the pool area. “I’m the only one who hasn’t kissed him!” she says. “He has to kiss me if I have chocolate in my mouth. He just has to.”
My hands go cold, even though the night isn’t particularly chilly. I wasn’t aware thatallof the remaining eleven girls had kissed him. It’s not like I spy the entire time Becca is talking to Preston—I try to avoid it, actually—but if she’d kissed him, I’d have thought—
“She’s not the only one who hasn’t kissed him,” Becca says beside me. “I haven’t, and last I heard, Jo hasn’t either.”
I hate myself for the wave of relief that crashes over me. I have no right to be relieved, but I am all the same.
She will, though. Next week, Becca has a one-on-one that I’m carefully crafting to be as perfect as possible. Levi will make sure she gets sucked in before Preston breaks her heart, andI’m helping him do it.
“Maybe you’ll get your chance tonight,” I say. I’m supposed to be pushing her in that direction, and much as I don’t want to, I also don’t want to seem like I’m jealous.
Becca looks dubious about that, and I selfishly hope it’s because she’s not ready.
“Preston is here!” Madison shrieks from over by the hotel doors, and all the girls turn, including Becca. Daisy comes flying over from the fire pit, fluffing her hair out as she goes.The girls all move in Preston’s direction, but Levi waves me over to where he’s reviewing some footage with Dustin.
“Hey,” he whispers to me when I get over there. “While the girls are all distracted with Preston, you go over and push those chocolates closer to the fire. I want them all melted when he opens the box, understand?Try not to catch the box on fire, but I want those chocolates ruined.”
“Seriously?” I say.
