Page 107 of One to Watch

“I’m sorry, wait,” she said, but no one seemed to hear her—there was too much happening. She raised her voice. “Can everyone please wait just one second?”

All the buzz and activity in the room stopped instantly—it was pin-drop silent now.

“Wyatt, I—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Can we talk for a minute?”

Wyatt looked totally bewildered—even if he didn’t have feelings for her, the viewers at home wouldn’t know that. Bea absolutely hated herself for humiliating him like this.

As he walked back toward her, she inhaled deeply. She couldn’t break down while she did this—it wouldn’t be fair.

“Bea, what’s going on?”

“Just now,” she began, “when you said to me that you would keep me safe. It was a perfect thing to say, because that’s how you’ve made me feel this whole time, you know? I could always count on you to listen to me, to comfort me. And you helped me come out of my shell, Wyatt. In Ohio, especially—you helped me see how different the men here were than the men in my past, and that I had a chance here to actually be happy. But only if I was willing to risk getting hurt.

“So now I think—I think I have to take your advice. Even if what I really want is to make this safe choice of spending more time with you, of knowing how easy it would be, because we’ve become such close friends. And maybe this is selfish of me, but Wyatt, I really hope we can stay friends, even if this is the end of our road on this show.”

“Bea,” Wyatt broke in, “I can’t let you do this.”

“What?” Bea was shocked. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t let you come off like you’re the villain here, when the truth is that I—no.” He shook his head. “You’re being brave, and I need to be brave too.”

Johnny stepped toward them. “Wyatt? Is there something you’d like to say?”

“Yes, actually. Um, I want to say that Bea and I have become very close friends, like she says. We love spending time together, but the connection between us—it’s not romantic. And that’s because … Well, it’s because I’m not a person who has romantic feelings for other people. That’s just not who I am. Bea’s the first person I ever told about that, and she was so good to me about it. But it’s not fair for me to stay here when she has a chance of finding something real with one of you three.” He turned to Asher, Sam, and Luc. “I hope it works out with one of you guys. I really do.”

Bea stepped forward and took Wyatt’s hand, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’m gonna miss you,” he murmured into her hair.

“Not as much as I’m gonna miss you.”

He kissed her forehead, and with a small wave, he turned and walked out of the room.

“Wow.” Johnny guffawed, trying for levity. “That was a first.”

But no one laughed—the room was still in a state of stunned silence.

“Well, Bea,” he went on, “I guess that leaves us with one order of unfinished business.”

“Oh,” Bea said, realizing. “Right.”

She turned to Luc, suddenly filled with trepidation. She’d just rejected him on television—would he even want to stay another week, after all that?

“Luc, I owe you an apology,” she said softly as he approached her.

His expression was something she hadn’t seen from him before, a mix of his usual mischief with something earthier, more sad.

“You see?” he said, taking her hand and kissing it. “I told you that you were the one in control, but you did not believe me. Perhaps now you understand?”

“So you’ll stay?” she whispered. He nodded, and she threw her arms around him, unable to fathom that just a few minutes ago, she’d been ready to send him away. Yet here he was—not punishing her, not sulking. Just rubbing her back. Just making her feel loved.

“Why are you so good to me?” she intoned, burying her face in his chest.

“You know why,” he murmured.

She kissed his cheek, and he went to stand beside Sam and Asher so Johnny could bid them farewell and they could finally wrap this shoot. Looking at her three remaining men, Bea felt good, felt right. This was what she was supposed to do, this was how she pushed herself to find something real, to overcome the loneliness that she had mislabeled, for so many years, as safety. For the first time all day, Bea started to relax.

It was almost enough to ignore the dark look that briefly crossed Asher’s face as Luc took his place beside him.