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Two more guys went. Vic DeStefano, a construction worker from Long Island, New York who claimed people told him he looked like Jason Momoa. To be fair, there was a strong resemblance, especially the long hair. And Elijah Cross a lawyer from Sunset Canyon, California who said he was most often compared to Shemar Moore.
When it was finally Keaton’s turn, he realized he had no clue what actor he looked like. He stood up. “I’m Keaton Savage, I run an MMA gym here in Whisper Lake and I don’t know what celebrity I look like.”
“Dude! I thought that was you! You’re Keaton Savage!” Vic shouted as he stepped over two rows of chairs and ended up standing beside Keaton. He slapped Keaton’s hand as he pulled him into a one-armed hug. “This guy is a beast! He’s a three-time MMA world champion! What the fuck are you doing here, bro?”
Keaton’s eyes cut to Iris, who was cringing slightly. She mouthed, “Sorry.”
Thankfully, Vic didn’t wait for Keaton’s response to what he was doing here. “I think you look like that Gyllenhaal kid but only from the movie Southpaw.”
Actually, now that Vic mentioned it, Keaton had been told he resembled the actor, but only in that movie.
“Okay, now that we’ve met everyone let’s go over what comes next,” Gavin called the room back to attention.
Keaton sat back down, and Vic took the seat beside him, smiling and shaking his head at him like he still couldn’t believe Keaton was there. That made two of them.
“After this meeting adjourns, you’ll be doing your one-on-one intake interviews then you’ll have free time,” Gavin explained. “We’ll post your videos up online and voting will be open to the public to see which lady you will be matched with. Tomorrow is the first coupling ceremony. From then on, you will be paired with your lady. You will share a bed with her in the main sleeping quarters, compete in tasks together, and attend the ball that will be held at the end of each week together. Some weeks there will be eliminations, other weeks there will be new arrivals. Every week you will get thirty-six hours off of filming. During off days, the lords and ladies will be sequestered and sleep in the bunk rooms that you will be in tonight.”
Bunk beds. He hadn’t had bunk beds since he roomed with Knox at his Aunt Laney’s house.
“After this meeting, you will be mic’d up. You have to keep your mics on at all times while filming, except when you’re using the facilities. Every day there will be challenges and activities. At the end of the second week, at least one contestant or match will be voted out of the castle. For the next two to four weeks, you will not have access to any electronic devices, the internet, or television. You will be cut off from the rest of the world and be in theFairytale Lovebubble.”
There was a low murmur in the crowd. Keaton felt a little bad for his fellow contestants. They were all from out of town and didn’t have a family member as an intern. He knew that he’d be seeing Iris and Ivy every day. He’d be able to keep up on what was happening with the family, and also get updates on Mojo.
“Okay, lords, it’s time to hand over your phones. Your journey to happily ever after starts now.”
Keaton couldn’t help but think that his journey to happily-ever-after started five years ago.
* * *
Avery’s phone buzzed alerting her that it was time for lunch. If she didn’t set alarms, she would forget to eat. She removed her noise-canceling headphones and heard raised voices in the hallway.
“Bunk beds? We’re sleeping onbunk beds?” a woman’s raised voice asked.
“It’s just for one night. Once you get matched tomorrow, you’ll be in a room with your partner. But once a week, you will have to sleep in the bunk rooms.”
“What is this,summer camp?!” The woman clearly used the term with a negative connotation, but a summer camp for adults sounded amazing to Avery. She’d sign up in a heartbeat, not forFairytale Love, but for a summer camp. But being filmed twenty-four-seven sounded like Avery’s personal idea of hell.
She still couldn’t believe that Keaton had agreed to do this show. Even though their time together had been brief, she felt like she knew him, and she’d just never expected this would be something that he’d want to do.
Since he’d spent his MMA career doing everything he could to stay out of the spotlight, she doubted he was doing it for fame, like she was sure a lot of the participants were. And like her, he didn’t have any personal social media. He only used those platforms to promote Legacy, his MMA studio.
Which reminded her; she was thinking about signing Jacob up for classes as long as she was in town. In California, Jacob had taken karate and played soccer and tee-ball. Honestly, he didn’t really possess any natural athleticism, but he still enjoyed the sports, especially karate. From what she’d heard around town, kids loved the classes at Legacy and she thought maybe he’d make some friends.
She headed out of the office and recognized the woman who’d been upset about the bunk bed situation as Zara, a social media influencer and model who people said looked like Megan Fox, which she did.
Earlier that morning, Avery had snuck into the sunroom during the ladies’ orientation. She’d told herself she was just curious about the production, but the truth was she wanted to see the women who were going to get a chance to fall in love with Keaton. She’d regretted her decision almost immediately. She’d stayed while they all introduced themselves, said what they did, and which celebrity they looked like, but then she left because despite what her past behavior might suggest, she wasn’t a glutton for punishment.
Besides Zara, there was Sienna, a dentist who was the spitting image of Natalie Portman. Piper, a child psychologist who happened to be Blake Lively’s doppelganger. Freya, a police officer who was the spitting image of Halle Berry, and Ariel, a massage therapist-slash-Ana de Armas look-a-like.
Any hope that Avery had harbored that she and Keaton might have a chance to rekindle something had been doused during that meeting. He was going to be dating five stunning women for the next month or two at what was basically an adult summer camp.
There was no way Avery, the single mom/runaway bride could compete with that.
She had to admit, she was feeling a little down in the dumps as she opened the front door of the carriage house. She was looking forward to drowning her sorrows in her leftover double cheese lasagna from Lanterns and getting a big hug from Jacob, who she expected to find watching his current favorite cartoon Dino Ranch, he’d been obsessed with dinosaurs lately. Instead, she found her mom knitting on the couch with a large glass of wine beside her watching her shows. Her soap operas. Jacob was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sugar.”
