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“We’ll be fine. Go, find love, my boy.”
Keaton had always loved it when his aunt called him her boy. It was something that she only called him even though she had three sons, and it made him feel…special. “Thanks again, Aunt Laney.”
Keaton waved as he climbed into his truck and drove away from his aunt’s house. He knew that Mojo was in good hands. If anything, his aunt was going to spoil the dog even more rotten than he already was. But hereallyhated leaving him. It was probably leftover trauma from his childhood. He was fairly certain he had a decent serving of PTSD with a side of abandonment issues from coming home to find his mom had moved out without even saying goodbye.
Which had made Avery doing the same thing that much harder. Now, at least, he’d understood why she’d done it. Finding out she was eight weeks pregnant after they’d only spent two weeks together must have been hard for her.
He couldn’t imagine how she must have felt in that moment. Over the two weeks they’d shared together, they’d talked a lot about their past relationships. She’d made it clear that she was done with her ex. He wasn’t the man she wanted to be with. So discovering she was having his child could not have been easy.
It definitely explained why she’d left without seeing him again. Keaton was happy to finally have some of the questions he’d had for so long answered, but those questions had just been replaced with others. He couldn’t help wondering if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, or if she’d talked to him about it instead of just leaving, what might have been. Would they have stayed together? Would they have tried to make it work?
He didn’t have those answers. He wasn’t sure he ever would. But she was in town now. And she was single. Recently single, but very single. And he was about to go on a dating show.
The timing of their reunion wasn’t great.
He pulled up to the castle and saw rows of production trucks. There were at least fifty people unloading them and setting up tents. As he got out of his truck a sense of dread came over him.
Up until this point, Keaton had lived his life without regrets. Even though he’d retired too late to prove to Camilla that he could give it up and settle down, he still didn’t regret that decision. If it was meant to be with her, it would have been. He just hoped that doing the show wasn’t the first decision he was going to regret.
He pulled his bag out from the back of his truck and started making his way up the steps. When he reached the top, a woman flew out of the large wooden doors. She looked vaguely familiar. He wasn’t sure where he’d seen her before, but he definitely recognized her.
She had long dark hair and light blue eyes. She sort of reminded him of Megan Fox, but he didn’t think that the resemblance to the actress was why she seemed familiar.
“They are taking my phone, but you have the number to call if there’s an emergency, right?” she asked with concern and protectiveness in her tone. “Yes, it’s one of the segment producers Maura’s phone number. I want you to program it into your phone.”
As he passed her, she gave him a small grin as a greeting and said into the phone. “Fun? This is going to be as much fun as getting a tattoo on hemorrhoids but it’s a means to an end.”
Wow. She definitely has a way with words, he thought as he walked into the foyer and a woman with a headset on and a panicked look flew past him calling out, “Zara!” When the headset woman got outside, she sounded relieved. “There you are. You can’t be out here. You are supposed to be with the other ladies sequestered in the spa.”
Ahh, so ‘tattoo-hemorrhoids’ girl was one of the contestants.
Zara.Even her name rang a bell but Keaton couldn’t place where from. He tried to remember as he followed the signs for the sunroom which, according to his call sheet, was where he was supposed to report for the first preproduction meeting. When he stepped inside the room, he saw a handful of men were already seated. Some were sipping on coffee; others were on their phones.
In front of the room, he saw Ivy and Iris standing beside a guy who looked about their age. There were a half dozen other people standing on the raised platform. He recognized one as Maura, the producer he’d been in contact with, and another as George who had joined them for the meeting.
Keaton had barely sat down when a man in a very expensive suit walked into the room. It was clear from his entrance he expected all eyes to be on him, and for everyone to be impressed by his arrival, but Keaton had no clue who the guy was.
“Hello, my lords welcome to Fairytale Love: Kings and Queens.” He spoke in a grandiose manner.
There was a spattering of applause. Nothing close to the enthusiasm Keaton’s family had shown last night at Lanterns when Seb had mentioned Keaton was doing the show.
“As most of you know, I am Gavin Halloway, one of the executive producers. My producing partner Sabrina Denton’s flight was delayed so, unfortunately, she wasn’t able to be here. But fear not she should be landing soon.” He turned and motioned his arm behind him. “You have all probably met or at least spoken to Maura Simms, she is our head segment producer. Beside her is her team, Jennifer Martins, George White, Julie French, and Leanne Higgins.” He shifted so he was facing Ivy and Iris. “We also have four PAs who you can go to if you need anything or have any questions about call times, or protocol. We have the twins, Ivy and Iris, and the tech genius Marcus and…wait, where’s Heather?”
Iris leaned up and whispered something to Gavin.
Gavin turned back. “Apparently Heather had to go find a lady who went missing from holding.”
Heather must have been the one with the headset that flew past him.
“Now, why don’t we go around the room and introduce ourselves?” He lifted his arms as if summoning them. “One at a time stand and tell us your name, where you’re from, what you do, and what celebrity most people say you look like.”
The guy in the front row stood up first. “Hey, I’m Harlan Mitchell. I work on my family farm and run a fitness class called Farm Strong. I’m from Firefly Island, Georgia, and most people tell me I look like Zac Efron or Channing Tatum.”
Zac Efron and Channing Tatum didn’t look anything alike, but Keaton could see similarities to both actors in Harlan.
The next guy stood up. “Hey, I’m Luca Moretti, I’m a firefighter from Destiny Springs, Indiana. Some people say that I look like Ryan Guzman.”
Keaton didn’t know who Ryan Guzman was, but Luca was a good-looking dude.
