Walk of Shame

by Gregory, O. L.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Week Six - Still Five Guys Left

  Monday

  I'd kept the guys up late Sunday night. I'd taken them down the beach for a bonfire. Each of them had pulled me aside to let me know they weren't upset that I'd just delivered a shocker and that they each were all glad to live to fight another day.

  I didn't climb out of bed early, no one came looking for a workout, and Troy and his makeup artist left me alone until ten.

  By eleven, I was in the kitchen of the main house, waiting for the guys to assemble.

  "All right, Princess Emmaline," Phillip said. "What's the plan for the week?"

  "Our traditional day off has been cancelled. Everyone now has three hours to pack up your stuff and prep your rigs to head out. We're going to drive to Fishlake National Forest, Utah, and boondock it for the night, then hit the road again to Placid Lake State Park in Montana. We'll setup and hook up there for the week. We'll be camped on the lake, surrounded by woods, with mountains in the distance. It's my favorite kind of place to park it for writing."

  "And we all get to spend the nights in our own rig?" Liam asked.

  I smiled. "Yes. The days of you all having to live with each other are over, so you all can relax a bit. Hang out with each other all you want, but then separate away from each other and go home. I'm not going to drag out the forced pleasantries required for all of you to share both a house and a girl any longer. I'm told it ain't easy. So, everyone up and at 'em!"

  I left them to rush around and pack, in order to return to the house and pack up my own stuff. Except, when I got back to the cottage, people were there, packing up my stuff for me, in order to move me out.

  I ran into the office and snatched the envelope Troy had written his guess down on, folded it, and stuffed it in my pocket.

  "Em," Troy called out to me from the living room.

  "Yeah?"

  "The guys have to pack and drive themselves. But you, as you can see, are the princess, and we'll pack for you and have someone prep the rig and drive your truck up there."

  "What's the catch?"

  He smiled. "I have an RV and a driver for the next week. Which means that you and I are free to sit at the table and interview our brains out the whole way there."

  I rolled my eyes. "Wonderful."

  "Oh, yeah. Big time fun. We're going to go back to the beginning of the season. I'll show you clips and get your current reactions to them, looking back in retrospect. We'll work our way up to now and get your thoughts about the upcoming week at the lake."

  "I think maybe I'd rather do the seventeen-hour drive."

  "I'd just follow you into the cab and interview you from the passenger seat. And show you the clips during red lights and traffic jams."

  My eyes rolled again, behind closed eyelids, as I shook my head at my life. "So what am I supposed to do for the next two hours and forty minutes?"

  "Whatever you want, just don't wreck your clothes or makeup."

  I went out to my rig, calling for Goldie to follow behind me. My thought was to start putting stuff back in its place once they started bringing boxes out to me. But rather than pace while I waited for them, I pulled out my phone and dialed Chloe.

  I explained the situation and new plan to her and reiterated my dilemma in trying to pick a guy to send home.

  "That's it," she said. "I'm booking a flight. Tell someone to pick me up from whatever airport is closest to the state park."

  I laughed at her. "You think you can come out and pick my guy for me? What about Ardent?"

  "Ardent's cool. Maybe I'll go visit him after I filter through your guys for you."

  "Are you seriously coming?"

  "Do you want me to?"

  "Can you actually help me figure this out?"

  "Even if I can't, you won't be any worse off than you already are."

  "All right."

  "All right, as in come?"

  "Please?"

  She laughed in my ear. "Do you see how I did that? You never thought to ask me to come out and help you. I brought it up and the next thing you know, I get you to say please."

  I snorted. "Only because I've realized how desperate I am."

  "Text production for me, will you?"

  "Yep. See you in a day or two."

  "I'll be there."

  We hung up and I waited until Troy came down to get me before saying anything about Chloe meeting us up there, knowing that she'd need a few hours to pack, figure out how long she could stay, and call her part-time job. I started putting stuff away as the boxes came in. It was good to be back in my own place, surrounded by the familiar that I had established for myself. Troy led me over to the other RV after I'd told him and he'd nodded. Then he spent a few minutes going back and forth with texts.

  "She'll be on the first flight out in the morning. She'll get there before we do," Troy told me. "Come on. Grab a drink and get comfortable. We're pulling out in ten minutes."

  I looked down at the table and booth and sighed.

  Many, many boring hours of interviews later, we pulled into a parking lot while members of production went into the park office to ask where, specifically, they wanted us all to park for the night.

  The manager came out to get a look at exactly how many rigs we had. He'd thought it was just six, one for me and each of the five guys. When he realized that Troy had one and production had packed up another half-dozen, he almost threw a temper tantrum.

  He went on to claim that with that many rigs, there wasn't enough space to boondock them all. We'd have to occupy two spots with hookups for water, sewer, and electric. And while we didn't have to use the utilities if we didn't want to, we'd still have to pay the standard rates for the spots anyway.

  Troy and I just looked at each other. He crooked an eyebrow and I nodded. Then he went off and claimed that I, as the chosen one, and he, as the host who still had to interview the guys about their drive up here, should have the hookup sites.

  The guy from production, who'd driven my rig this far, tried to back my fifth wheel into the spot and darned near tore my retracted awning off.

  I ran up to my truck and banged on the driver-side door to get the guy to hit the brakes. He opened the window and I stepped up on the runners, putting myself about eye-level with him. "Put the truck in park," I said through gritted teeth.

  With a wary look, he put it in park.

  "Get out of my truck," I said, and stepped down and away from the door.

  "I can do it," he protested.

  "My truck. Get out. Now."

  Troy came to stand behind me and gestured for the guy to get out. The other guys were beginning to gather, having already easily parked their vehicles for the night.

  He left, mumbling to himself the whole way, never bothering to stop and see how he had my awning jammed up into branches.

  "If you just pull straight forward," Liam said from the rear of the rig, where he'd gone to take a look at the situation, "you won't do any damage."

  I gave him a curt nod, trying to cover my anger, and started for the rig.

  Jared stepped forward into my path and held out his hand. "I can park it for you, if you want."

  "Thank you, but I don't want," I answered as I went around him and climbed into my truck.

  Stephen stepped out front and tried to start directing me.

  I leaned out the window and called out to them all. "Do you all see the look on my face?"

  They stepped closer, smiling and nodding.

  "When you see this particular look, just keep quiet and get out of my way. I have zero patience left right now and there's no reason for any of you to step into it. Don't try to fix it, just let me do it." With that, I put the window back up before any of them could respond or question me. Just let me park the damn thing and make sure it's okay.

  I pulled straight out of the spot, lined it up, put it in reverse, and parked it. Then I got out, climbed up the ladder on the back of the fifth wheel and checked for
scratches.

  "Is it okay?" Troy called up.

  "Has my head exploded yet?" I called back down to him.

  "Not yet."

  "Then that means I haven't found any marks."

  "You know," Troy said with a wry tone as all the guys looked on, "if you're looking to thin the herd, letting them see you like this is one way to do it."

  I leveled a look down on him. "Anyone who drives their rig like that, when they do this full-time, is someone I don't want anyway. Let me go ram a tree into that guy's house and let's see how well he takes it. I've looked at these guy's rigs, they have some wear and tear on them, but not negligence, or they would have been long gone."

  My guys started chuckling and smiling.

  I turned to the group of them. "You all get it, don't you?"

  They nodded and gave me affirmations that made Troy shake his head. People who didn't do this fulltime normally just didn't get it.

  After we were all settled into the spots, the guys started a campfire in between Troy's rig and mine. I was told my rig had been supplied with food and drink. I opened my fridge and pulled stuff out to feed all the guys dinner. Then I opened the window looking out onto the group and pushed the screen aside. "Head's up!" I called out and started throwing packages of hot dogs, buns, and condiments out the window for the guys to catch.

  They laughed at me as the cameraman then followed me outside to open up my outdoor kitchen. The makings for s'mores were tucked beside the small fridge that now held drinks for us.

  We spent the evening cooking over the campfire, joking, and trading stories of our journey together so far. They launched into a game of trying to one-up and embarrass each other in front of me. And I laughed my butt off at the tall tales they told.

  Tuesday

  The next morning, I was up super early. I showered, dressed, and made breakfast for the guys. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and home fries waited for them as their noses had them drifting over to the campsite. And, since I was the only one of the six of us that was hooked up to utilities, and we were all still being filmed, they all took quick turns in my shower to get cleaned up for the day.

  I was cleaning up the kitchen when Mike got out of the shower, waited for Jared to go into the bathroom, then stole a kiss from me before grabbing pots and pans to wash for me.

  We broke camp and were back on the road by nine o'clock. With all the interviews done, I spent most of the trip stretched out on the couch in Troy's RV, reading a new novel by one of my favorite authors. Goldie found a comfortable spot on the floor and snoozed.

  When we finally pulled onto the lot for the full hookup sites, Chloe was standing in the center of them all, tapping her foot and smiling at me. I threw open the door, feeling nothing other than relief at seeing her, and ran to get a hug and pull her out of the way.

  Men descended to start the process of making the necessary connections to settle the rigs in. They'd found someone else, someone who actually knew what they were doing, to drive my truck and he took over hooking everything up. He'd backed the fifth wheel into the spot like a pro, so I felt okay letting him handle it.

  We still had a few hours of daylight left, so while men busted their butts, Chloe and I decided to pull out my foldable boat and take it out onto the lake to talk. That left production scrambling to scrounge up another boat to send out a camera crew to follow us. Chloe got the experience of having a microphone and power pack taped to her so we could be heard from a distance.

  We paddled out into the middle of the lake before laying our paddles down to drift for a while.

  "Okay," Chloe said, reaching into her pocket to pull out a piece of paper and a pen. "So, I copied these out of a magazine. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and you have to give me a name for each one. Each name gets one point, and the one with the most points wins. Okay?"

  I stared at her in disbelief for a moment, but then shrugged my shoulders because at this point, a stupid magazine quiz couldn't hurt. "Sure."

  "Who intrigues you?"

  I let my eyes roll. "They all intrigue me, that's why they're still here."

  "Emmy, you have to try."

  "Well, what do you want me to do? They all fit the bill."

  "Okay, no more than two names per question."

  "How am I supposed to narrow it down?"

  "Can you justify being intrigued by each one with specific reasons?"

  "Um..."

  "Exactly. So, give me a name and a reason for your intrigue."

  "I'm intrigued by Mike and what pushes him to constantly do more, be more. And I'm intrigued by Phillip and his desire to actively seek out a wife after his first one died."

  "Okay, who impresses you?"

  "Mike, because of all he's overcome. And Jared because his manners and thoughtfulness are impeccable, despite wading around in reptile infested waters, it's all very contradictory in my mind."

  "Who surprises you?"

  "Jared surprises me by how much I like him, even knowing what he does for a living. And Stephen because he just comes out of nowhere and calls me out on ignoring him and then tells me he has a skill like piloting."

  "Who stands out to you?"

  "Liam, because how could he not? And Mike, maybe because he makes himself a part of my day with the workouts."

  "Who makes you smile?"

  "Mike. He's made me frown, but the smiles always seem bigger and better."

  "Who is your typical type?"

  "I think it's the idea of Phillip's maturity and sweetness that I'm always chasing."

  "Who isn't your typical type?"

  "Jared."

  "Who is your fantasy man?"

  "Liam."

  "And who are you most relaxed with?"

  "Mike, I guess because we've spent so much time together. And Liam, because there's just something about him that shuts down all my defenses."

  "Okay, last question. If one of them snuck into your bedroom tonight, and you knew that no one could find out about it, which guy would you want it to be?"

  "My gut reaction says Liam. And then it says that a question like that wasn't in a magazine."

  She smiled. "Maybe I added a question or two of my own. Okay, let me count these up..."

  She tallied the points up and I sat waiting to see if it would shed any light on the problem for me.

  "Okay," Chloe said. "Mike comes in first with five points."

  "Wow."

  "Liam comes in next with four points."

  "Yeah, I can see that."

  "Jared has three, Phillip two, and Stephen has one."

  "Well, they line right up there, don't they?"

  "Did it help?"

  "Yeah, it did, but I don't like that it did."

  "Why?"

  "Because, they're all great, and to favor a couple over the others, it means being great isn't enough and I'll have to let them go."

  "I'm sorry."

  "You know, I thought this was going to be so fun. I had no idea how crappy this was going to start feeling once I got down to this point. How am I supposed to look at someone every week from here on out and tell them that I like them, that outside of here they could be the one, but sorry, you gotta go for no good reason?"

  Chloe just frowned and shook her head. "I don't know. I never realized that this was going to suck so much for you."

  "And I still come back to, if there is only one guy meant for me, and I screw it up because my mind is spinning with all of them, what do I do then? I could get rid of the right one and end up with a guy that I'll break up with Five months later. That's my worst nightmare, Mr. Right slipping through my fingers because I didn't have the good sense to grip on tight when I had him right in front of me. I'm not kidding. This is starting to keep me up at night."

  "Em, I -"

  I raked a hand through my hair. "And the guys! They like me. I mean, they really like me. They're over there making plans for babies and how we can blend our lives together. I have to break four hearts, and
I don't know how to do that! I've already broken one, and once I realized I'd broken it, I felt like shit. I don't know if I can do this."

  Chloe was shocked over how upset I genuinely was over the situation. "Emmy, I've never, ever seen you not finish something once you've committed to it."

  "I don't want to quit. I want the guy at the end of this. I really, really want this to work. But I'm just at a loss as to how to make that happen."

  "Come on, let's paddle back and start figuring this out."

  We got back to the shore and drug the boat up onto dry land to park it for the night.

  Jared walked over to us in the fading light with a big smile on his face. "Chloe, the others have a campfire going so you can join them and start getting to know everyone."

  Chloe's eyes swept over him. "And where will you be?"

  His smiling eyes swung over to me. "On the lake, wooing your sister."

  She covered a giggle. "Well someone certainly should. Good job." She pranced off to join the others.

  I watched her go and then turned to Jared. "All right, what's the plan?"

  He pointed over to a rowboat. "We're going out in that."

  "Yours?"

  "Rental."

  We headed over and he had the boat packed. "How long are we going to be out on the lake?" I asked with a laugh.

  "A couple hours. Just go with it."

  Now I understood why the camera crew that had been out in a boat, following Chloe and I around, had stayed out there. We floated the boat out and climbed in. Jared grabbed the oars and started paddling me back out to the middle.

  He chuckled. "You're really having a hard time with this aren't you?"

  "With which particular aspect?"

  "Letting go of the control over where you're taken."

  I sighed. "See, when I was calling the shots, each of you was pulled away once or twice a week. Reverse that and I'm being pulled over and over again, in whichever direction the wind blows. And, yes, it gets a bit overwhelming, so I have a hard time."

  "Do you need to hole yourself up for the rest of the night to decompress?"

  "No. I just needed a moment to wrap my mind around coming back out. I was planning to sit around the campfire, with the group, but I did that last night. I'm glad to get back to spending one-on-one time, and I'm glad it's you tonight."