by Kiki Abbott
Pierce was amazing, and when they parted later that afternoon, Kat was falling hard for the artist from New York. When the cameras arrived to tape her comments about the date, she couldn’t help but say that she was falling for Pierce. She used words like ‘perfect,’ ‘heavenly’, ‘worth waiting for’.
This time it was Ben who asked to speak with Kat. Alone. He wanted the conversation off camera but was told they needed to film. No negotiation. Mary told Kat all this before she met him on the beach after sunset. He was sitting on the sand, staring out at the darkened ocean when she sat down beside him. “Hi Ben. You wanted to see me?” She wanted to kiss his shoulder, touch him, but refrained.
“I feel terrible telling you this, but I’m worried for you, Kat.”
“She could see that the director, Jim was practically salivating to hear what Ben would say. Her attraction was to him was powerful and she had to focus on what he was saying. Trying to not think of how soft his lips were, she entered the conversation. “Why? What’s going on, Ben?”
“One of the guys here, I’m pretty sure has a girlfriend” He took a deep breath and watched the surf roll in to the Maui sandy shore. “I’m worried that you’re going to get hurt.”
“Why do you think this person has a girlfriend?” Who could it be? No one she cared about. This revelation mattered less after her amazing date with Pierce, than it had last night. If Blake or Lance came on the show for business exposure, she’d have them leave. There were several men in the group who had her attention but after today she was filled with Pierce and hadn’t come down from the date yet, regardless of the absence of a kiss.
“He mentioned that he has a relationship that isn’t over, exactly, and that he’s on the show to promote his work.”
Lance or Blake. He had a business. Or Colton. Maybe Sam. That was alright. They were expendable. She’d be sorry to let one of them go but at this point she was having to zero in on husband material anyway, and she wasn’t entirely sure about Colton. Or Blake. It would be a shame about Sam.
“Who is it, Ben? Can you tell me, because I really need to know if someone is making a joke of this. I’m putting my heart on the line here.”
“I know.” He took her hand. “It’s someone you like very much. That’s the hard part.”
And then she knew. It was Pierce. Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach. “Pierce has a girlfriend?” She didn’t want to cry in front of Ben. He was a nice guy and she didn’t want him to see her like this. Especially if he was developing feelings for her, like she had been with him, until Pierce became the only front runner.
Ben nodded. “There’s a woman. He lives with her. She’s an ad executive. They agreed he’d come on the show before some big art show this summer to promote his work.”
Her eyes widened. “You know a lot more than you said!”
“He talks too much.” Ben shook his head. “I don’t know what he was thinking, that we wouldn’t find it reprehensible to make fools of everyone by using this opportunity and by taking up a spot for someone who deserved to be here more.” He stopped himself. “I’m really sorry Kat. Tony and Sam wouldn’t tell you who, but I had to after Pierce came home today and started bragging.”
“What did he brag about?”
“How much you like him, and how he’s going to have to let you down easy soon.” His soft eyes looked apologetic. “He might present an entirely different side to you but around us, he’s pretty much an asshole.”
Kat wasn’t sure what she’d do. Eventually she’d have to pick her heart up off the floor but now she just wanted Ben to go. She stood. “Thanks. I’ll think about this.”
“I just wanted you to know.” Ben shot a look to the producer Mary and left the beach.
Kat felt a betrayal, an emptiness so hurtful, she knew she had to talk to Pierce. “Can I talk to him?” She asked Mary.
“Sure.”
Kat thought about it. Soon, her friends Jacki and Elizabeth would arrive on Maui and tomorrow they’d grill the guys. Should she wait and let them ask the tough questions? Yes, she’d sleep on it before she accused Pierce of anything. There was the outside chance that he was simply bragging amongst the men, telling stories. But even if that were true, Kat didn’t think that made good husband material. That might’ve been why he wouldn’t kiss her on camera. Betrayal at a national level would be a hard thing for the girlfriend to get over.
When Kat’s friends arrived at 10:20pm, Kat had been waiting for three hours since Ben’s visit. She hugged each friend and beckoned them into her suite. “I’m so glad you’re here!” Tears came to her eyes.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Jackie searched her friend’s face.
“I have reason to think the guy I have the biggest crush on is only on the show for publicity and has a girlfriend.” She hadn’t intended to spill everything this fast but the words poured out of her mouth.
After telling them the story and making a date for breakfast, they left for their room and Kat headed to bed. They had a plan to get the truth from Pierce for the next day and it was all going down, come hell or high water.
“Have you ever proposed to a woman before? Why did you come on the show? Have you ever been so in love with someone that you couldn’t imagine your life with anyone else? These are the questions,” Tony said to Kat as they lounged around the pool in their own section reserved for the show. “That’s what they asked me.”
Her friends Jacki and Grace sat at a table, across the pool with Blake, their latest victim in ‘the interrogation 2013’, as Tony called it.
“Just answer them honestly,” Kat warned the men who were listening, who hadn’t gone yet. Each man sat at the table for about half an hour and from what Kat could see, they’d loved Keith, joked with Tony, drooled over Ben, had a serious discussion with Grant and for some reason Sam had drawn them a map of something on a table napkin and they’d all laughed. Pierce was next, and knowing what she knew, he looked a little nervous. She’d been careful, to appear normal with him when they all met at the pool. He’d tried to hug her but she avoided the moment. Later, she’d have her own interrogation session with him. After he’d sweated it out.
When Pierce joined her girlfriends at the table, she watched them cautiously shake his hand, motion for him to sit, glance her way, and begin the questions they’d drawn out last night. Kat positioned herself so she could still pretend to be talking to the guys but keep an eye out from behind her dark sunglasses.
At first they laughed, then Jackie asked a question. The warm up, they’d called it. Pierce seemed to think about his answer and then dove in. He talked with his hands, she just noticed. It seemed appropriate he’d do that as a sculptor. When he finished each answer, he gave a little nod as punctuation. God he was so handsome. So manly. Kat had to keep reminding herself there was a really good chance he’d never be hers. Which made her want him all the more.
The next question would be about who was your last girlfriend. He answered quickly, not smiling, then Jackie fired back and stared him down like she had no idea he was still with a woman. Pierce sat straight, shifted in his seat, looked away and held his chin as high as he could without looking down his nose at them. They’d asked him if he ever lived with a woman. He shook his head. Then Kat knew the next question. Ever dated an ad executive? How did that go? Or is it still going? Then switch to his career. What do you think this will do for your summer art show with all the exposure on The Husband Hunt? As Kat watched, her heart sank. He looked so guilty. So nervous. So busted.
Ben caught her eye and she gave him a genuine tiny smile to say thanks for having my back. He went back to shooting hoops in the pool with some of the men.
Back in her suite Jackie and Grace had plenty to say but summed up the afternoon. Pierce was as guilty as OJ and their favorites were Blake, Keith and Ben. Tony was a player who thought he was God’s gift to women, Sam was too boring for Kat, Lance was an actor “need I say more”, Grace added, Colton had huge baggage for a round the wo
rld trip, Grant was hesitant to give away any information about himself and they liked Keith for her, Ben for themselves and Blake was a perfect match on paper. “Just see if an attraction develops.” When they left her suite, Kat knew they wouldn’t see each other again for at least two months and by then she’d either need their shoulders to cry on or be so happy she was bursting. “Thanks so much for coming.” Kat hugged them hard.
“Oh, big hardship, to fly in to Maui for two days, all expenses paid,” Jackie said. But Kat knew they wouldn’t get much fun time. Both had to get back to work day after tomorrow. They were changing hotels for the night to have at least twenty-four hours of private relaxation and then would head home to San Francisco. Kat only hoped that their insight was as valuable as she thought. But now, it was time to confront Pierce.
“Sit down. I have something to ask you, Pierce.” Kat felt powerful, like she was on new footing with this cheater who’d held her heart for one day.
He looked nervous. “What’s going on, Kat?”
“I think you know.” She stared at him for a full minute before he cracked.
“I’m not sure I do, but your friends asked some strange questions about former relationships. Is it about that?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to know?” He didn’t look guilty anymore. Either he’d had time to gather his wits and form a story, or he wasn’t guilty and she’d misjudged his reactions.
“Do you or do you not live with a woman?”
“I do.” He looked right at her.
“An advertising executive who you are involved with.” This wasn’t a question.
“She’s in advertising.” He nodded. “And, I was involved with her a year ago. It was just a roommate fling, nothing serious and we still share a flat. It’s hard to find housing in New York.” He shrugged.
“You don’t sleep with her?”
“Oh, do you have spies looking in my window, now? What kind of question is that? Who do you think I am? Why would I be here, with you, if I had a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know. Why would you Pierce? To promote your art before your show this summer? When this airs it will be June. Apparently you have a show lined up. The camera is rolling right now. Look at the green light. How many times have we said that you are a sculptor on national TV?” Doubts tried to push into her mind to allow the chance of ending up with Pierce in the end. Maybe one day they’d laugh about all this.
“Kat.” He looked exasperated. “I am here for you. I don’t know where your friends got their information but it’s wrong. You and I have something.” He looked genuinely hurt.
She wondered. “Then kiss me like you mean it.” The test.
He grabbed her shoulders and pressed his lips to hers desperately, like a man who knows he’s about to lose the best thing that ever happened to him.
When they broke apart, she’d changed. He’d changed her. Their foreheads came together in a moment of realization. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m yours.”
She believed him.
At the rose ceremony, Kat had made up her mind who was going home. She didn’t need to ask any more questions but didn’t cancel the party, simply because she wanted more time with the men. Any time she could have was beneficial. To see them in many different situations, climates, emotions, settings. It all helped.
The party had been set up outside on the landscaped grounds. Kat loved this place and hoped to come back on her honeymoon. Things weren’t exactly back to normal with Pierce but almost. She was willing to give him another try.
At the cocktail party, she questioned Colton about being ready for re-marriage and he assured her he was. She told Grant that he needed to be more open with her and he told her he would. After telling Tony, Sam and Ben that she appreciated their concern but it clearly had been a case of misunderstanding Pierce, she felt badly and didn’t know why. She didn’t need to answer to them. Sam especially looked disappointed in her. Ben just nodded like he didn’t care what she did with the information, and Tony gave her a look like she was thinking with her libido, which explained why he was still there too. God Dammit. Was she?
There were seven roses to give out to nine men and when it got down to Sam, Lance and Grant, Kat gave the rose to Grant. Lance understood. They’d never had a flirtatious moment but Sam looked doubly hurt now. First she’d doubted what he told her about Pierce, and now he was leaving. She walked him out and when he asked why, she felt compelled to tell him. “If I’d met you independently of all this, we probably would’ve had a chance, but this strange dating situation is just too much for us. It’s not normal and I don’t think you shine here like you should. You are a fantastic catch, Sam. But not mine.”
Lance thanked her for everything and slipped into the limo and took off, probably happy for the exposure, especially his spot in the movie. When she joined the remaining seven men back at the outdoor waterfall on the hotel grounds, they held their glasses to the Maui stars and toasted to a great week in Hawaii. “And tomorrow we leave for Taiwan, an island off the coast of China.”
At those words Ben looked pleased and the others simply couldn’t believe they were going to Asia. “To Taiwan,” Ben said, raising his glass, and they all joined in. All except Pierce who actually looked like leaving the confines of the United States was more than he signed up for.
Once they landed in Taiwan, the crew and cast caravanned to the Hyatt Taipei, through the crazy streets of one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Kat knew it would be an unusual week. Signs were written in Chinese characters, no alphabet anywhere, few people spoke English, and already the production crew was having a hard time with the language barrier. Luckily they’d hired a translator but her English was spotty at best, and when there was a problem with the reservation, Ben jumped in to help. “You speak Mandarin?” Crane asked incredulously.
“I do.” He grinned and looked over at Kat to mouth his sister’s name. “Jade.”
Once they were all checked in, Kat felt like she’d gone to other side of the moon with little chance of returning to earth. Taiwan was different. Exciting but she felt very far from home.
The hotel was deluxe in every way, very Americanized and accommodating and close to phenomenal shopping. In two days’ time, she’d been to the top of Taipei One O One, one of the tallest structures in the world, to the night market, to the National Museum and after two private dates with Blake and Grant, Kat was sure that neither man was in her future. No chemistry. Everything seemed weird in Taiwan but when the group date included Pierce and Ben and Keith, Kat finally felt more grounded. Seeing those three again, made her feel like friends had flown in.
Their group date was a day at the kite factory, then the Baseball game in Tienmu, and finally out for dinner at a crazy five story busy beer house/restaurant where they got pitchers of beer and ate deep fried things from a sizzling pot in the center of the table. It ended up being a fun day, even though she wasn’t feeling well and had to beg off early to get a good night’s sleep. When Ben showed up at her door, only minutes after she got back to her room, her first thought was that he wanted to talk about Pierce again.
“You looked tired today. I thought I’d give you a Chinese foot rub.” Ben smiled from the doorway and Kat stepped aside to let him in.
“Really? You came to rub my feet?”
“I just thought you seemed kind of off balance or maybe you’re just not feeling well. A foot rub is always good.” He gestured for her to sit down and put a foot in his lap.
‘Thank you.” Of course a camera had followed him in the door, and was taping everything but Kat was so tired, she didn’t care. “I do feel kind of strange. Like I’m alone in a foreign country, you know.”
“I take it you don’t travel much.”
She nodded, her eyes closed.
“Just remember, that you’re only fifteen hours from home, surrounded by friends, here.”
His hands were strong and pushed on exactly the right places to
make her feel relaxed and tingly. “I know. You’re right. I’m not much of a traveler, I guess.” She laughed at her own lack of bravery.
“Maybe you need a buddy, someone to travel with and lean on when you’re unsure.” He didn’t look up, kept rubbing her feet but at that moment Kat wondered if that could be true. Could she actually picture herself with him after this, or only with Pierce?
“Thank you.” She wasn’t sure what she was thanking him for. The foot rub or the pseudo proposal but at that moment she was thankful. She closed her eyes again and didn’t open them until the next morning when she realized she’d been carried to bed, and covered up after her foot rub.
Still not quite herself, Kat felt distanced from the men at the rose ceremony in Taiwan. Her muscles ached and she felt like a cold might be creeping into her body. She was anxious to get closer to home and wanted to get this portion over with. She knew who was leaving and asked Crane to cancel the cocktail party. Jaxie hadn’t come to Taiwan. She’d gone home after Maui and Kat sensed that Crane was anxious to get stateside, too. Three men would leave the show from Taiwan. Kat’s mind was made up before she even put on her makeup for the rose ceremony.
She’d done an interview with Crane earlier to talk about her feelings for the men but had been coached to refrain from mentioning who she might choose to leave tonight.
“Tell me about you and Tony,” Crane asked.
Kat laughed. “Tony is...Tony. He’s a little bit arrogant, overly confident but loveable in a ‘he doesn’t know what he’s doing,’ sort of way. “
“And you have said that you’re really attracted to him.”
Oh God, on national TV she had to admit this. “That’s true. Tony is very handsome and for some reason we have powerful chemistry between us.”
