Page 122 of Fever Dream
But I don’t. Instead, I focus on the person who has arrived to do our safety checks. And when all of that is set, we begin.
We glide from platform to platform. The crew relies mostly on drone footage and tactfully placed cameras. Mountain vistas stretch out below us, and gently burbling creeks spill over dark moss-covered rocks, the stream of water disappearing between thick sections of Ponderosa pines.
We hit the first platform before the drone catches up. I can hear Richard blowinganothergasket, but Catherine doesn’t spare him any attention. Instead, she turns to me and whispers, “If you need help with Richard or getting in and out of your house or anything like that, just let me know. If I can’t find my own love story, I want to be able to tell my kids one day that I played a part in making a real one happen.”
I don’t know what I was expecting her to say after we launched across a deep valley with the wind in our hair, but it wasn’t this.
“Are you serious right now?” I can’t tell if she’s fucking with me. “This just seems… I don’t know. I’m suspicious after all the drama that’s unfolded with the other women. I—”
“Listen, Emmett, I came here because I had the time, because I was single. And because sitting in my house recording a true crime podcast with only a few weekly listeners was fucking depressing. I figured I had nothing to lose, and I don’t. And helping two people whodohave something to lose make it work, well, that takes nothing away from me. If anything, it would bring me great joy to stick it to Dick Wad and Evelyn.”
My eyes bug out because that might be the meanest thing I’ve ever heard this woman say.
She only proves me right when she clarifies, “Stick it to them in a subtle and mature way,of course.”
The hum of the drone draws near and I catch sight of it speeding toward us. Part of me wants to laugh because this entire exchange is so absurd, but the other part is touched by her offer.
Plus, she seems to agree that Richard’s true and rightful name is Dick Wad, which automatically means we are on the same team.
Without a second thought, I reach forward and shake her hand. “Deal,” I say.
“Deal,” she responds.
“What did they say? Please tell me someone got whatever they were shaking on? None of you can do your jobsat all?” Richard’s seething voice echoes across the canyon and this time all it does is make me smile.
A smile that carries me through the rest of the date.
CHAPTER 36
Julia
“OKAY, SO YOU’REgoing to sneak around the back, and I’m going to distract Emmett and the cameras at the front.”
I nod at Catherine, trying not to giggle at how excited the woman looks. She literally claps as she bounces on her feet. Me? I’m feeling a little sick about it. But Emmett and I both agreed that it would look strange if he left his house and didn’t come back every single night.
Which is what we have been doing all week. So we’re flying over the radar in order to fly under the radar—or something like that.
“I feel like I’m pulling off a heist! This is so romantic.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” I mutter, walking beside the taller woman as we head toward my car.
“No way.” She bumps her shoulder against mine with an unexpected level of camaraderie. “This is fun. Someone here might as well fall in love, and it sure isn’t going to be me.”
“No?”
She lifts a brow in my direction. “Well, for starters, no one here is going to get Emmett’s attention when it’s been on you since day one. And I don’t think I like him like that. I could see us being friends under different circumstances. He’s a good guy, even though Richard is doing his best to make him seem otherwise.”
My shoulders relax at her explanation. She sounds genuine. And I have to admit when Emmett told me about her plan, I was suspicious. Women like Evelyn have me second-guessing all the contestants.
But to her credit, Catherine strikes me as a real girls’ girl.
“We owe you one,” I say, tugging my car door open and propping one foot inside.
She waves me off. “Get outta here.”
We exchange a quick smile and then I pull off the farm, looking to everyone else on the show like I’m driving off into the setting sun, heading home for a perfectly normal night.
Except I turn the opposite direction at the end of the driveway and head straight to the Prickle Point parking lot. From there, I lock my car, grab my duffel bag, and jog across the road where I duck straight back onto Stal Brandt property.
