Page 16 of His Choice

“All mothers try to instill confidence in their kids. I’m not unique. So, maybe you weren’t as self-assured as some others. Maybe that was from not having a father. Perhaps it was from worrying you’d never grow up to be as beautiful as your mother.” She grinned to show she was teasing. “You know, there are worse flaws to have, Cliff. You could have been the other extreme—insensitive and not caring what others think of you.” She shrugged. “But thankfully, your disdain for me kept you from following in my footsteps.”

“Mom, don’t put yourself down,” I said, reaching over to hold her hand. “Let me do that for you.”

She laughed. “Okay, maybe I exaggerated how far you are on the other side of the spectrum.”

I shrugged. “Probably. But I’ll own the description of me being generous. I do try hard to be that.”

“And you succeed. Which is why I know, while they’re filming, you’ll let me stay in your nicest guest room. The one with the balcony overlooking the beautiful gardens.”

“Huh? You’re staying here, too?” I asked, worrying I’d be self-conscious about everything I did on the show while she was around.

She shrugged. “Of course. How else can I give you real-time feedback?”

“I’m sure I won’t need as much as you think…”

“You’ll thank me later,” she cut in, ignoring me. “I’ll keep an eye on the contestants. Trust me, I’ve seen these reality dating shows. There’ll be some posers,” she added.

“And if you find some? Is that when you’ll call in one of those ‘people you know,’ like the way you promised James?” I rolled my eyes at the notion.

Mom’s mouth quirked up. “Darling, all anyone needs to know is that I’m a rich woman originally from New Jersey. If they assume from my threats that I’m a Mafia widow, that’s on them.”

Chapter Six

Mikey

Aaron and I moved into our room at the Cliff Walker mansion.

Yes, both me and Aaron.

After Aaron had submitted my application, I still hadn’t had much hope I’d be selected. But his creative writing skills had led to an interview, and he had accompanied me. Instead of the show’s producers finding the situation odd, they’d welcomed Aaron’s presence, finding him delightful and amusing. Within ten minutes, they had offered him a chance as a contestant. That had shocked us both, before Aaron had explained he was straight. One of the producers had replied that was fine. To my dismay, the man shared that his plan was to seed the cast with someone straight pretending to be gay. He believed the deceitful ploy would spike interest from viewers, making them speculate whether poor Cliff Walker would fall for one of the disinterested instead of a viable partner. I hated the idea and told them as much. However, Aaron and I had already signed NDAs when we had begun the interview, so there wasn’t anything I could say or do to warn Mr. Walker.

Then Aaron accepted the part. I was angry with him until we left the meeting. That was when Aaron shared that he also thought the plot twist was a crummy thing to do to Cliff Walker, but he figured the producers were going to bring on someone straight regardless, so it might as well be him. This way, he could devise a way to prevent Cliff from choosing him and help steer Cliff my way.

Yeah…my way, because I was hired, too.

I wouldn’t have been brought on were it not for Aaron. He had told the producer he would back out if I wasn’t part of the deal. I had been mortified as the producer stared at me for a couple of minutes with hesitation before agreeing. He had admitted that he rather liked the idea of best friends competing against each other, but he wanted the hair and makeup team to ‘spruce’ me up.

Once we signed, the local press picked up on the fact that two White Pines residents would be joining the cast, and the news spread quickly throughout town. Many folks knew Aaron, of course. He was a presence and made the ladies swoon wherever he went. Local reporters pointed out as much, quoting women Aaron had dated as surprised he was a suitor on a gay reality show. When asked for a statement, the show’s producers replied that citizens shouldn’t be shocked, as their own mayor, Adam Tilson, hadn’t realized his attraction to men until he had met his now-husband, Myles. Meanwhile, the only references to me were that I was Aaron’s little-known roommate and fellow employee at the local tech firm. My boss had been quoted as saying I was a ‘nice kid’ who did a good job but pretty much kept a low profile. He would have guessed me to be the last person to seek a spotlight. Yeah—he and I both.

A limo had picked up Aaron and me at our apartment door for our ride to the mansion, and we were stunned as we passed several signs that businesses and locals had put up wishing the two of us, as well as Cliff Walker, success on the show.

“Dude, you’re going to be fine,” Aaron assured me as we dropped our suitcases on the massive bed in a room larger than our apartment. “And if you don’t win, at least you’ll get your kicks by sleeping next to me all week.” Aaron added a wink, and it made me chuckle. From anyone else, that would have come off as arrogant. Aaron just enjoyed messing with me.

“Oh, I already know I won’t win. I’m only here because the producers wanted you on the show,” I reminded him. “That producer thought I looked like roadkill—after a few semis ran over the body.”

Aaron approached me from behind and smacked me lightly on the back of the head. “Did not.”

I rubbed where he had hit me. “Don’t mess up my hair. They spent three hours on it.”

The His Choice beauty team had taken one look at me before coalescing into a circle, whispering conspiratorially, probably agreeing that they were facing the biggest challenge of their careers.

“We must cut this much shorter,” the head hairdresser had bemoaned. “This length on the sides is dragging down your face, no? It makes you look like one of those unfortunate folk singers from the early nineteen-seventies.”

Somehow, they had added volume to the top, which I had never been able to do. The sides were cut significantly, even though I feared the style would reveal how my ears stick out a bit. Then they shaped the hair into what they called a flow, leaving longer, wavy locks meeting at the back of my head. It made me think of the way Aaron had always cut his hair. Leave it to him to be on top of current fashion.

The makeup team had been next. I’d endured more hours of mud packs, serums, moisturizers, and a ‘soft foundation.’ I wondered why they had gone through so much effort if they were going to cover their work with makeup anyway.

“You have a rodent head,” the beautician had noted with a smile.