One To Watch(88)

“I guess that’s the whole point of fairy tales.” Bea’s tone was sour. “They aren’t real.”

Lauren approached Bea and put a hand on her arm, eyes full of concern. “I know that you’ve come to believe you can find love on this show, and I hope it works out for you, I really do. But you and I are the only two people who know just how fragile these relationships are, and if they fall apart in the next two weeks? I don’t want to film a season finale where you end up alone. I don’t want that for the show, and I don’t want it for you.”

Bea nodded—she knew that Lauren was right, that it would be insane to cast aside her picture-perfect safety net. But she couldn’t say goodbye to Sam, not after he’d told her he loved her, and ending things with Asher was a complete non-starter. Which meant she had to choose between Luc and Wyatt—both of whom were staring at her now with apprehension, and she was still no closer to making her choice than she’d been with Lauren half an hour before.

“Bea?” Johnny urged. “Bea, we’re going to need a decision.”

Looking at Luc, his anxiety plainly evident on a face that was usually so self-assured, Bea honestly couldn’t tell whether he was nervous about leaving the show or losing her—and since the two outcomes were hopelessly intertwined, there was no easy way to parse them.

Wyatt, by comparison, looked calm and steady, same as always. Usually, just looking at him helped Bea feel more calm too—but not tonight. Tonight, her insides roiled, and absolutely nothing could make them stop.

“Bea?” Johnny tried again.

Everyone was looking at her—the crew was getting restless. She just had to choose. Lauren raised her eyebrows expectantly: You know what to do.

She did. She knew the right thing to do. The only thing left was to do it.

“Wyatt,” Bea said out loud, then closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at Wyatt coming toward her. Couldn’t possibly look past him to find out how badly she’d hurt Luc.

“Hey.” Wyatt was there, taking her hand, smiling down at her in his warm, reassuring way.

“Wyatt.” Bea’s voice sounded hollow. “Will you stay another week?”

“Of course.” He beamed, leaning down so she could kiss his cheek. That was it, decision made. All that remained was to say goodbye to Luc.

Luc.

She looked past Wyatt’s shoulder, and there he was. He looked shocked. He looked wrecked.

Wyatt took her hand and squeezed it, gave her a jolt of encouragement.

“It’s okay, Bea,” he said, his voice low. “We’ll keep each other safe.”

Was this safe? Was safety sending away a man for whom she had real feelings, choosing a fa?ade instead? Was standing next to Wyatt and pretending to love him the safe choice, or was she just proving Jefferson right—selling a lie, telling every person who admired her that she still, after all of this, didn’t actually believe that she was capable of finding real love?

She looked over at Luc again—she had to. She had to walk him out to say goodbye.

“My Bea.” He looked devastated. “I do not know what to say.”

“Luc, I …” Bea shook her head; she felt numb. Wyatt had taken his place with Sam and Asher. No. This was wrong.

“I’m sorry, wait,” she said, but no one seemed to hear her—there was too much happening. She raised her voice. “Can everyone please wait just one second?”

All the buzz and activity in the room stopped instantly—it was pin-drop silent now.

“Wyatt, I—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Can we talk for a minute?”

Wyatt looked totally bewildered—even if he didn’t have feelings for her, the viewers at home wouldn’t know that. Bea absolutely hated herself for humiliating him like this.

As he walked back toward her, she inhaled deeply. She couldn’t break down while she did this—it wouldn’t be fair.

“Bea, what’s going on?”

“Just now,” she began, “when you said to me that you would keep me safe. It was a perfect thing to say, because that’s how you’ve made me feel this whole time, you know? I could always count on you to listen to me, to comfort me. And you helped me come out of my shell, Wyatt. In Ohio, especially—you helped me see how different the men here were than the men in my past, and that I had a chance here to actually be happy. But only if I was willing to risk getting hurt.

“So now I think—I think I have to take your advice. Even if what I really want is to make this safe choice of spending more time with you, of knowing how easy it would be, because we’ve become such close friends. And maybe this is selfish of me, but Wyatt, I really hope we can stay friends, even if this is the end of our road on this show.”

“Bea,” Wyatt broke in, “I can’t let you do this.”

“What?” Bea was shocked. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t let you come off like you’re the villain here, when the truth is that I—no.” He shook his head. “You’re being brave, and I need to be brave too.”

Johnny stepped toward them. “Wyatt? Is there something you’d like to say?”

“Yes, actually. Um, I want to say that Bea and I have become very close friends, like she says. We love spending time together, but the connection between us—it’s not romantic. And that’s because … Well, it’s because I’m not a person who has romantic feelings for other people. That’s just not who I am. Bea’s the first person I ever told about that, and she was so good to me about it. But it’s not fair for me to stay here when she has a chance of finding something real with one of you three.” He turned to Asher, Sam, and Luc. “I hope it works out with one of you guys. I really do.”