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Her head bobs up and down.
“Good. Now come on, let’s go get beautiful for the cameras.”
Paige and I sit side-by-side through hair and makeup, but we don’t talk. It’s not tense or weird, instead it’s that peaceful kind of silence we seem to do so well. Somehow, she’s ready before me and excuses herself to go get dressed.
While I’m being brushed with a bronzer, I realize that as much as I dislike being on this show, it’s propelled me into being ready to date again. It’s forced me to stop thinking about Eva enough that I’ve finally blown through the last stages of grief—namely depression and anger.
An hour and a half later, I’m ready for the mixer and standing in the ballroom. When Paige walks in, my breath catches in my throat. She’s wearing the strapless black leather dress she had on the first night we ate together at the club, and she’s simply stunning. I can’t help but feel proud that a woman like that would agree to go out with a guy like me. It’s not just that she’s beautiful, but she’s grounded and smart. She readily enjoys the simple things in life. In other words, she’s completely untainted by city living.
While Paige walks toward me, Trina gets everyone’s attention and announces, “I’m sure you’ve noticed we’re doing things a little differently this season. I wanted to let you know there are a few more surprises coming your way.”
“I don’t like surprises,” the guy named Carl calls out.
“I get that,” Trina says. “But if you read your contracts carefully, it states that you agree to any possible social scenarioMidwestern Matchmakermight come up with.” For some reason, that announcement makes the hair on my arms stand at attention.
Trina hurries to assure everyone, “Don’t worry. The goal is still to help you find your future partner.”
“Then why are you changing things?” Adele wants to know.
Trina smiles. “Because you’re all doing such a great job interacting this season, the show might be a little boring for the viewers.”
“So you’re going to try to enhance the drama,” I accuse.What happened toMidwestern Matchmakerpriding themselves on being a nice wholesome program?
“You might say that, Tim. And we’re going to start tonight.”
The inside of the ballroom gets so quiet you could hear a mouse burp. But while some people seem kind of pumped, it’s obvious most are also scared.
“I’ll tell you more about that later,” Trina says. “For now, enjoy the mixer!” It’s like she just called for the start of theHunger Gamesexcept nobody is running to gather supplies. Instead, we’re standing as still as marble statues, afraid to move.
May the odds ever be in our favor.
Cami, looking beautiful in a form-fitting red dress, walks over to me. “What do you think that’s all about?”
“I have no idea, but it doesn’t sound good.”
Paige finally arrives at my side. “I don’t like this at all.”
Before either Cami or I can agree with her, the ballroom door opens and a whole slew of new people walk in. People we’ve never seen before.
Once again, Trina gets everyone’s attention before facing the camera and saying, “Many of you have already seemed to pair off, and while we love to see that, we also want to make sure you’re not just settling because you don’t feel there are enough options for you.”
Silence.
“As such,” she continues, “we’ve brought in some of the other singles who applied to be on the show for tonight’s mixer. If any of you decide you’re interested in one of them, we’ll invite them to join us for the rest of the filming and then ask one of the original cast members to leave.”
“Can they do that?” Cami wants to know.
“I’m sure they’ve worded the contract in such a way they can,” I tell her, all the while wondering how to get myself kicked off the show. That would seriously be my best-case scenario.
“Okay, everyone,” Trina booms. “Get going and meet some new singles!”
The original cast looks nervous as the new people begin to infiltrate their already established groups.
A tall and amazingly good-looking guy joins me, Cami, and Paige. He eyes both ladies with interest before saying, “Hey there, my name’s Decker.”
Decker? Why does that name sound familiar?That’s when it hits me: he’s the guy whose place I took. “You seem to have recovered from your skiing accident pretty quickly,” I tell him.
With a confused look on his face—that only seems to make him more handsome—he asks, “What are you talking about?”
