Page 124 of One to Watch

“I’d like to see them try,” Lauren scoffed, but Bea could sense a chink in her usually steadfast confidence. “Last night was the highest-rated episode seven in franchise history.”

“Really?” Bea put down the phone. “Even higher than the time those two women ditched the Main Squeeze to run away together?”

“Yes!” Lauren beamed. “What did I tell you, Bea? People love you! Also, that lesbian plot was totally fake, but Farmer Greg was so boring, I had to do something, you know?”

Bea closed her eyes and smiled, happy to have any absurd situation to think about other than her own.

Lauren left her to get dressed, and a few minutes later, a camera crew arrived with a laptop, as promised.

“Babe!” Marin yelped from her window on the shiny screen. “What’s happening? Are you okay? They wouldn’t tell me anything, they just said you needed to talk.”

“Ray’s here,” Bea said, the gravity of the situation seeping back in as she spoke the words aloud.

“I saw that—what the hell is going on?? They just cut to black at the end of the episode, after you walked out of the kiss-off ceremony. What’s happened since? Have you heard from Asher?”

Bea shook her head. “I think he’s really gone, Mar.”

“Bea, no.” Marin covered her mouth. “He’s crazy about you, I know he is.”

“Not anymore.” Bea exhaled heavily. “You heard what he said.”

“He was just hurt,” Marin consoled her. “And insecure, and definitely jealous—you were totally right about that. But let’s come back to him. What’s happening with Sam? And Ray?”

“I haven’t seen either of them since the ceremony.”

“OUTSTANDING! Send Ray home immediately!”

“Without even talking to him? Mar, he broke up with Sarah and came all the way here—”

“He came all the way there when he wanted, to suit his needs, without a thought in the world for how it would affect you. He heard you might be getting engaged, and did he think, Wow, maybe Bea finally has a shot at being happy with someone else? No. He thought, Hey, I’m Ray, I need to get on an airplane and make a mess of Bea’s life, because that’s my signature move. And when his actions caused a really great guy to walk out on you, he was probably cheering internally that he managed to improve his odds. He’s a selfish asshole, Bea. That’s who he’s always been, and it’s who he’s always going to be. Send him home.”

Bea took a breath. “Asher didn’t leave because Ray showed up. He left because I lied to him.”

Marin rolled her eyes. “You have a right not to tell the world on television that you slept with someone engaged, okay? Wouldn’t you have discussed it privately with Asher at some point if Ray hadn’t shown up and forced your hand?”

“I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

“It does matter, Bea. It matters a lot whether you allow this man who has hurt you so much to hurt you even more.”

“I only have two men left,” Bea argued.

“Yeah, and one of them is a nice, sweet guy who’s head-over-heels in love with you, and the other has been doing his level best to make you miserable for the better part of a decade.”

“Well—doesn’t that mean something?” Bea pushed back, her anger rising. “That I’ve loved him for so long, that I’ve wanted to be with him all this time, and now, finally, here he is, saying he wants the same thing. How crazy would I have to be to throw that away?”

“Not as crazy as you’d have to be to waste another second on him. Do you want to turn back into the person you were last year? Breaking plans, crying every day, refusing to go on a single date? You were unglued. Why would you ever let him back into your life?”

“You don’t know what it’s like.” Bea felt bitterness creeping into her voice. “To think about someone so much for so many years, to dream about him and picture your life together. You’ve never felt that way about anyone.”

“Don’t do that, Bea. Don’t deflect. This isn’t about me, it’s about him. This is exactly why I told him to stop trying to contact you.”

Bea’s face went dark. “When did you do that?”

Marin opened her mouth, and then closed it.

“At the beginning of filming,” Marin admitted. “He texted me to tell you he’d been trying to reach you, but that none of his messages were going through …”

“Was this before or after you came to set to see me?”