One To Watch(80)

“Mom,” Wyatt warned, but Bea put a hand on his arm.

“No, Mrs. Ames, I’m not much for baking. I’m more of a cook than a baker—and not much of a cook either, I’m afraid.”

“What about your mother, then? Didn’t she cook?”

“My mom made a lot of casseroles, pasta, burgers, things like that. I have three older brothers, so we went through a lot of food. On two teachers’ salaries, we had to be economical.”

Hattie nodded her approval. “That’s one thing Bill and I always tried to teach our kids. No sense spending what you haven’t got—that’s a quick way to hand your life over to the bank.”

“Will you tell me more about Bill?” Bea asked. She knew from Wyatt that his dad had died nearly a decade ago after a sudden stroke.

“He was a good man.” Hattie smiled, her eyes misting slightly. “I know we always say that about the dead, but with Bill, it was true. You know the Bible commands farmers to leave the corners of their fields to feed the hungry?”

“Old Testament, right?”

“That’s right, good girl,” Hattie approved. “Most farmers around here would never take that literally—times are tight, and what good does it do anyone to leave your crops untended? What are the hungry supposed to do, come chew on your wheat? But Bill, he measured out the corners of our farm, just as the Bible commands, and every year, he took whatever money we made from the wheat in those four corners and gave it straight to the food bank. Can you imagine?”

“That’s a beautiful tradition,” Bea said gently.

“Bill always wanted to see Wyatt get married and have some babies. He got to walk Peg down the aisle, and we’ll always be grateful for that. But for a father, seeing his only son start a family of his own? Well, that’s something special. I know he’d be very happy about this today, Bea. Yes, I do know that.”

Bea thought it was a lovely sentiment, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Wyatt’s face was ashen.

After lunch was finished, Bea and Wyatt split up with the two camera teams so everyone could discuss their impressions of one another: Wyatt and Hattie sat on the front porch, and Wyatt’s sister, Peg, took Bea for a walk in her vegetable garden.

“Those are little gems, and that’s kale,” Peg said, pointing out her various greens.

“I live in Los Angeles, we know a lot about kale,” Bea joked.

“Mm.” Peg’s droll manner was impossible to read. “So how are things going, with you and my brother?”

“Wyatt’s really wonderful.” Bea smiled. “With the other men, I feel so vulnerable, but he just makes me feel—I don’t know. Protected, somehow.”

Peg knelt down to pull up some fresh radishes. “Did you know that Wyatt has never brought a girl home before?”

Bea frowned. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“Mm. He’s a private person, doesn’t like to talk about who he’s dating. You understand we were pretty surprised when he told us he was going off to date a stranger on TV.”

“Sure,” Bea agreed, not certain where this was going.

“I guess my point is, back when he told us he was going on the show, we weren’t sure why. Now here we are, all these weeks later, watching him on TV every Monday—and I’m still not sure. Are you?”

“He’s here to find love,” Bea insisted. “Same as I am.”

Peg shrugged. “If you say so.”

As Bea and Peg made their way back to the house, Bea thought back to all her interactions with Wyatt: his kindness the first night of shooting, the way he helped her open up at the prom by bravely opening up himself, their easy manner together, the sweet way he kissed her. Their connection was real, wasn’t it? And it was romantic … wasn’t it?

Bea had thought that Wyatt’s virginity was his biggest secret. But after this day, and these conversations, she was starting to realize that maybe it wasn’t.

The sun would be setting soon, so the producers took Bea and Wyatt out into the fields for their final shot of the day: a passionate goodbye kiss. After that, they’d fly back to New York to spend the night, then get up at the crack of dawn to do the whole thing again with Asher in Vermont tomorrow. It was a punishing schedule—Bea was jealous that Lauren had opted to skip this day and leave the Oklahoma shoot in the hands of some junior producers. Bea knew she’d probably spent the entire time editing, but still, the notion of a day off from filming sounded like heaven.

“How you holding up?” Wyatt asked as the camera guys made what seemed like the millionth adjustment to their lighting gear.

“I’m okay.” Bea nodded wearily. “You?”

He nodded back, but there was something strained in his smile.

“All right,” one of the camera guys shouted, “we are ready to GO!”

Which, of course, was when the generator blew and the whole field went dark. Producers and crew scurried in every direction screaming about backup gennys and how quickly this could get fixed—the delay was annoying, but Bea realized almost immediately what it meant: For the first time, she could have a conversation with Wyatt that wouldn’t be overheard.

“Hey,” she said softly, “why didn’t you tell me you’d never brought a girl home before?”