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Zara hadn’t stopped smiling since Mario walked into that ballroom. Last night, before they’d gone to bed, Zara hugged Avery.Huggedher. The woman had not said a kind word to her in two weeks. Sienna had started calling her “Ice, Ice, Baby” because she was so cold to Avery. If looks could kill, Avery would be lying on a slab in the morgue.
Even though she hadn’t been kind, Avery was still really happy for Zara. And she understood why she’d been upset. She’d had a plan to win the show and she thought, like Sabrina had, Keaton was her golden ticket. Avery had ruined her plans. She was happy to see that things were going even better than Zara had planned now that Mario had shown up.
Piper’s ex Alan seemed nice, but Piper was so in love with Vic she didn’t think the poor guy had a chance at winning her back.
Sienna seemed like she was happy to see her ex, Brad, but she’d also been smitten with Luca, so Avery had no clue if they were going to get back together.
Not that it was up to any of them, the public was going to vote. That was really the wild card in this show. Avery never knew what the public was going to do.
No matter what the public vote said, Avery obviously wasn’t getting back together with Jude, but they’d actually had a fun day today. It reminded her of when they were in college. They’d laughed and talked a lot about those first few years. It was like she was meeting the man she first fell in love with all over again. She hadn’t seen that guy in a long time. It made her feel like less of an idiot for being with him in the first place.
“I don’t think it’s fair that we didn’t have exes show up,” Monica told Christina.
“I know, it’s like why are we even here?” Christina commiserated.
None of the newest cast, Monica, Christina, Kai, or Robby had exes come for Rekindled Romance week, which was really only one day, thank god. All four had the day off from filming, which they didn’t seem happy about.
“I think the show is rigged. They obviously want one of the OGs to win. Why have new people come in if you’re just going to shoot the old ones?” Monica complained.
Avery was sitting on the couch, doing her best to ignore the two newcomers, when Camilla walked in from glam. The woman was truly stunning. Her long, light brown hair was shiny and lustrous. Her skin glowed. She had large, green eyes, full lips and high cheekbones. And that was just above the neck, below it was even more impressive. Her body seemed to defy nature. She was five foot ten and had a slender frame but with serious curves in all the right places. Her waist was tiny, but she had full hips and a backside that women paid tens of thousands of dollars for.
Tonight, she was wearing a red dress with a low V-neck and a slit that went up to her hip, and she looked like she should be on the cover of Maxim or on a fashion runway in Milan—not in Whisper Lake, Illinois, on a dating reality show.
“Wow,” Avery said out loud. “Sorry, you just…you look amazing.”
“Thank you, so do you,” she said warmly.
Production had encouraged current partners not to speak to exes. They wanted to “save it for air.” Avery hadn’t meant to break the rule, but it had just slipped out.
“Alright ladies, it’s showtime!’ Heather enthused as she stood at the doorway wearing a wide smile.
As they all followed behind Heather in a row like ducklings behind their mama duck, Avery saw Sabrina wave at her from her office. When Avery waved back, she mouthed, “Don’t worry.”
The thing was, Avery wasn’t worried. If the public voted for her to be matched with Jude, she would leave the show. It was the most responsible thing to do. She understood it was entertainment, but she had a son, and she wasn’t about to give Jacob false hope that his parents were going to get back together.
Not that he’d been upset that they’d broken up. The only thing he’d cared about was the wedding itself was canceled. He’d been excited about walking Avery down the aisle and was sad that he wasn’t going to be able to do that.
As far as his parents not being married or together, his big takeaway from the talk she’d had with him was to ask if he was going to get to go to the beach on the weekends now. His best friend Connor’s parents recently got a divorce and Connor’s dad moved to a bungalow in Malibu.
The other possibility was the one she really didn’t want to think about. It was that the public would vote for Keaton and Camilla to rekindle their relationship. If that happened, she would leave the show. There was no way she was going to stay and be matched with someone else It wouldn’t be fair to the other person or to herself.
She and Jude were the first couple to walk into the ballroom. She had to admit, it was nice to stand beside the father of her child and not feel any resentment about the past, anger about the present, or of fear about the future. Jude had surprised her in the best way coming on the show and offering what he had. She would be forever grateful to him, not just for giving her Jacob, but also for bowing out of her life gracefully. Even if he was only doing it because he didn’t want to lose his inheritance, he still could have made her life a lot more miserable.
Avery was sort of zoned out as the couples came in one by one. But when she heard Keaton and Camilla’s names announced, she found herself holding her breath. Camilla was holding Keaton’s arm as they walked in, and Avery had to admit they did make a gorgeous couple. Like, ridiculously beautiful. Camilla leaned over and whispered something in Keaton’s ear as they took their places. He laughed and covered her hand with his.
She knew, in that moment, that her love for Keaton was as pure and unconditional as her love for Jacob. Seeing the two of them together had shown her that. Because even if it broke her heart into a million pieces, she just wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to be with the woman who would make him happy. If that wasn’t her, then she was glad he had Camilla. He deserved happy.
Avery blinked back tears as Lance walked in and did his opening speech. When he got out the envelopes to reveal the public votes, Avery thought she was going to throw up. Apparently, she wasn’t as zen as she’d thought she was when she passed Sabrina’s office.
“I can now reveal that the viewers voted fortwomatches to rekindle their romance.” Lance smiled at the camera. “The first, with ninety-five percent of the public voting for rekindle is…” He paused for dramatic effect. “Lady Zara and Lord Mario!”
Avery clapped and the smile on her face was genuine. She really was happy to see Zara so happy.
Lance went through the rest of the matches, including herself and Jude, who he read that the public voted for their romance to stay in the past. The only two couples left standing were Luca and his ex-girlfriend Veronica and Keaton and Camilla.
Sienna, who was standing beside her, grabbed her hand in solidarity. Avery knew that she wanted Luca’s rekindled romance to stay in the past just as much as Avery wanted Keaton’s to.
“And now, lords and ladies, I can tell you the final couple who the public voted to rekindle their romance is…”
