by Lizzie Shane
She was about to be on national television.
Why had she thought that was a good idea?
Lorelei latched onto her arm and began towing her toward the living room as the distinctive opening theme played. The girl was a miniature version of Victoria, except for the eyes. While Tori’s eyes were ivy green, Lorelei’s were whiskey brown—a souvenir from the father Victoria never spoke of.
They walked into the room right as Josh’s face appeared on the big screen TV, smiling his smooth host smile—the one that had none of the wry cynicism she saw when his guard was down.
“Dear Lord, that man is gorgeous,” Parvati sighed. “Did you hear he was on the market? For like five seconds. Figures a man that hot would only be divorced for about five seconds before some hot Russian model snatched him up.”
Sidney’s toe caught on a rug and she stumbled. “What?”
“Josh Pendleton,” Parvati said without tearing her eyes from the screen where now Daniel was waxing poetic on the qualities he was looking for in a wife. “He’s dating that Olga what’s-her-face. The super hot one from that dance show who’s the new face of Revlon. Or was it Maybelline? I always get those two mixed up.”
No wonder he’d turned her down at every opportunity. He was dating a makeup model. “Of course he is,” Sidney murmured softly as Tori shoved a full glass of champagne into her hand and Lorelei dragged her onto the couch.
“Aunt Sidney, when do you come on?” Lore asked, bouncing on her chair.
“I don’t know. They shoot so much footage and we never know what they’re going to use. I could be on screen for half an hour or twenty seconds.”
She’d seen the show enough to know that some of the girls would be virtually invisible the first night—and while the exposure for the business would be better if they featured her often, she found herself secretly hoping to go unnoticed, dreading the moment when she would appear on screen.
After the first commercial break, Josh led the viewers into a collection of intro packages—and excited squeals rang through Victoria’s apartment as Sidney appeared on screen.
Her stomach pitched.
“Oh honey, you look gorgeous!” Parvati gushed.
“Shh! She’s talking about Once Upon a Bride!” Victoria bounced, as giddy as Lorelei at the free publicity.
Sidney cringed, trying to fade into the couch cushions, but gradually her friends’ excitement began to penetrate her self-consciousness. Seeing the show through their eyes, it wasn’t so terrible after all.
They drank champagne—except for Lorelei, who had sparkling cider. Laughing and groaning at all the cheesy over-romanticized set-ups, Sidney found herself actually enjoying herself—pointing out Caitlyn as her best friend in the house and pleading no comment when Parvati declared Elena the Suitorette most likely to get naked in front of Daniel by week four.
By the time the Elimination Ceremony rolled around, they were all pleasantly buzzed and giggling. When Daniel called Sidney’s name to give her the ceremonial ring, a cheer went up and Lorelei leapt up to take a victory lap around the living room.
“Do they let you keep the rings?” Parvati asked of the simple gold bands embossed with the MMP logo.
“Yep. I have them upstairs. No idea what I’ll do with them.”
“We can display them downstairs,” Victoria said instantly. “On one of the ring-bearer pillows. Every week after the Elimination Ceremony, we’ll add another ring, for as long as you’re on the show.” She tapped a manicured fingernail to her lips. “Do you think we should get a banner made? Once Upon a Bride – Home of Marrying Mister Perfect’s Sidney?”
“We’ll have to get the show’s permission to use their name, but I can ask.”
“This is going to be good for us,” Victoria said as onscreen Daniel made his final selections. “I can feel it.”
Sidney nodded, distracted by the Coming Soon package running to close the show. She heard snippets of her own voice and saw shots of the back of her own head in addition to the voices and hairstyles of the girls in the house. It looked like Caitlyn went far, if her distinctive red hair on a tropical island was anything to go by—no surprise there. And that Elena did as well—even less surprise.
When the show was over, Tori ordered Lorelei off to bed and trailed after her to tuck her in, leaving Parvati and Sidney in the living room with the last of the champagne.
“Are you okay?”
Sidney tore her eyes off the muted television, where the local news was now playing. “What?”
“We’ve been best friends since we were six, Sid. I know you a little bit. And I could tell you were super uncomfortable being filmed. You weren’t really you.”
“It was harder than I thought it would be,” she admitted. “The interview set ups never bothered me, but the hidden cameras and the roving cameramen… never knowing if you were being filmed… it brought back that feeling, wanting to disappear so no one would judge how I look.”
“You looked amazing,” Parv said.
“Thank you. Seeing myself, it was better than I thought it would be, but it reminded me of how uncomfortable I was on the show. Like I’m still a chubby girl, just in a skinny body now.”
“We don’t have to watch it if you’d rather we stop.”
“No. No, I liked watching with you. I don’t think I could have done it by myself.”
“Was the rest of it hard?” her friend pressed gently. “Seeing him again? Seeing yourself see him for the first time? You seemed so excited to meet him—all blushy and starry-eyed.”
“Not hard.” At least not because of Daniel. It was tempting to tell Parv that it had been Josh who made her star-struck, but then she would have to admit that she threw away her time on Marrying Mister Perfect because of a celebrity crush.
Seeing it again, she’d been reminded of the way Josh had stepped out of the night just minutes in front of Daniel. Reminded of his wry, not-for-camera smile and the way he kissed.
“It was a good moment—all promise and potential,” she acknowledged. “Then reality set in.”
And the reality was that she and Josh Pendleton lived in different worlds. He was kissing a supermodel now.
She felt a flicker of irritation. Not jealousy, but anger that she wasn’t even allowed to date yet because it would be a spoiler for the show if she was seen with anyone, but Josh had already moved on. She had wanted to beat him to the punch. To prove to him that she wasn’t still pining for him. And maybe prove to herself in the process that Josh Pendleton wasn’t her personal romantic kryptonite.
Chapter Fourteen
“Smile, darling. We are madly in love, remember?”
Josh forced his lips to curve as Olga plastered herself to his side, beaming for the cameras. It was their third red carpet this week and it was getting harder to pretend walking very slowly past a thousand cameras was his favorite pastime. But this was the deal.
He and Olga needed to be seen together and this was how Hollywood couples were seen. Even if the relationships were completely fake.
From the second they’d met, it had been obvious that their “relationship” would be a business arrangement.
She was exquisite—that certainly wasn’t a problem. Often called “petite and powerful” by the producers of American Dance Star, the top of her artificially red curls barely reached his sternum and if she weighed even a hundred pounds it was only because her body was composed almost entirely of muscle. Though it was very shapely muscle.
When Miranda had introduced them, she’d smiled her cat-like smile and purred, “So you are my leading man.” Her English was flawless. He’d learned she only amped up her accent when she was trying to play up her Russianness for the fans.
She didn’t want a relationship, she’d told him bluntly. She just wanted the job offers being in a relationship would bring her. He’d agreed that he didn’t want a relationship either—but he needed to be safely off-limits to avoid hassles in his job. And an alliance had been formed.
<
br /> Olga did her part—cooing over him in public, gushing to the tabloids about how sweet he was and how much she enjoyed their quiet, domestic life together. And Josh did his part—providing escort for every red carpet event and photo op in Hollywood with his smile firmly in place.
“Josh! Olga!” One reporter from a popular industry show waved them over. She gushed for a moment about the importance of the charity they were ostensibly honoring that night in the See-And-Be-Seen Sweepstakes of Hollywood, then segued smoothly into her real question, “So, you two, do I hear wedding bells?”
Only years of experience kept him from physically recoiling from the thought. He laughed his charming host laugh and shook his head wryly. “Give us time. We’re still enjoying getting to know one another.”
Olga cuddled close, playing her part to perfection. “We don’t want to rush into anything and become another Hollywood statistic. For now, I have him exactly where I want him.”
She winked and Josh almost snorted at the truth of that statement. She had him on the red carpet and nowhere else. Talk about a Hollywood statistic.
But if it kept him employed, he wasn’t going to complain. Even if he sometimes wondered about long, lean blondes with improbably teal eyes.
*
Sidney took off her shoes at the base of the stairs, creeping up toward her apartment on stocking-covered feet as stealthily as possible.
It had aired last night. The show where she walked out. Now everyone knew she was the Suitorette Who Walked Out.
Business had started picking up immediately after the first show aired. The phone had started ringing the very next day and they’d been getting more and more drop-ins. Most of their new visitors were curiosity seekers, but they had more and more appointments for bridal consultations and several of those had already turned into clients.
Would they demand their money back now that they knew she’d given up on finding love?
She hoped not. She’d told herself she was overreacting. That it was ridiculous to think everyone would disapprove of what she’d done, but all she could hear was her mother’s voice telling her that Dewitts didn’t quit.
She still hadn’t seen the full show, but she’d seen clips of her departure, over and over again during the last two days as she ran the publicity gauntlet, being interviewed on morning talk shows and daytime talk shows and late night talk shows. Marrying Mister Perfect had all the time slots covered.
Last Season’s winner Craig had interviewed her via satellite for one of the New York wake-up shows, then she’d had a series of interviews with bloggers and vloggers before she was interrogated by the ladies of The View, or The Chew, or The Talk or whatever new midday gossip show had sprung up overnight.
The show’s producers had prepped her. She’d known what to expect—the same questions over and over again.
Why did you leave? Do you still believe in love? Are you seeing anyone? Do you believe the show can work? Would you consider being the next Miss Right?
She had made her love life public property and now she was reaping what she’d sown.
Only the last question had surprised her. She hadn’t expected America to rally behind the Girl Who Left, but apparently the producers had framed her departure so she came across looking noble rather than picky.
The support had startled her—a surprising number of her interviewers echoing her own thoughts about Daniel seeming more interested in being Mister Perfect than finding love, several openly admiring the brave move of following her heart when it was guiding her away from him, and one even commenting on how much pressure the Suitorettes were under to feel something all the time.
Do you believe it’s even possible to fall in love so quickly? Let alone on a national stage? her last interviewer of the day had asked.
The problem was she did believe. She’d just fallen for the wrong guy.
Carrying her heels, Sidney tip-toed up to her landing and began fishing in her bag for her keys.
The exposure was good for business. She’d mentioned Once Upon a Bride at least twice in every interview and reaffirmed that she believed in love more than ever now—but the words were starting to sound hollow to her.
She unlocked the door, easing it open carefully in an attempt to avoid the usual squeak.
She might as well have spared the effort.
The lights were on. Parvati and Victoria sat on her couch, two pairs of concerned eyes turned toward her as she hesitated on the threshold.
“This isn’t why I gave you guys a spare key,” she told them as they rose.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Parv stated the obvious. “We’ve been talking about it and we both thought we would understand why you left when we saw the show, but we’re more confused than ever.”
Sidney set her purse on the table by the door and shrugged out of her jacket to hang it on a hook. “I’m sorry. I know it could have meant a lot for Once Upon a Bride if I’d stayed—”
“Stop,” Tori interrupted. “This isn’t about the business.”
“This is about you,” Parvati added.
“It’s a little about the business,” Sidney insisted and Tori made a face.
“Fine, I’m selfish. I wanted the sales bump being on national television would get us, but things have been looking up and I believe in your three-pronged plan. What we want to know is what happened? Something made you want to leave. Something they didn’t show on television.”
“Oh my God.” Parvati’s jaw dropped, her eyes widening as realization hit. “You fell for someone else, didn’t you? Not—holy crap, it was Josh Pendleton, wasn’t it?”
Parvati knew her too well. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to hide it. Sidney sank down onto the chair facing the couch, admitting defeat. “I may have had a stupid crush on him.”
“The host Josh Pendleton?” Victoria frowned. “I thought he was dating some Russian girl.”
“He wasn’t at the time.” At least she hoped not.
“Oh. My. God,” Parv gasped, her eyes gleaming with greedy excitement. “I saw that tabloid article, but I didn’t think those things ever had a shred of truth to them. You and Josh Pendleton! Josh. Pendleton. Did you and he…?”
“No. Nothing happened.” Honesty forced her to add, “Well, we kissed once, but he wasn’t actually interested in me. I was just a Suitorette to him.”
“He kisses the Suitorettes?” Tori asked skeptically.
“No, but he was drunk and we were in his hotel room and it just sort of happened. Or I made it happen. I don’t know. I know he regretted it.”
“Did you?”
Sidney looked at Parv. “Did I regret kissing him?” She released a huff of breath, a distant cousin to a laugh. “Not for a second. Even if it was stupid.”
“Do you regret leaving the show?” Tori asked, without a trace of judgment in her tone—bless her.
“Honestly? No—except when I think about what it could have done for the business. With Daniel… it just wasn’t there. And the more I watch the show, the more I see him with the other girls, the gladder I am that I left when I did.”
“But?”
Sidney hesitated. It had become habit to keep it all to herself, but these were her best friends and she realized she wanted to tell them all the things she hadn’t been able to say. “I really thought there was something there with Josh. That night…” She grappled for words. “You know that zing? That feeling I get when I know a wedding is perfect and the couple is going to be happy? Like everything has fallen into place and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be? I felt that with him. When he smiled at me, I lost all my good sense.”
Parvati sighed, pressing a hand to her heart.
“My instincts were screaming that he was it. He was The One. But he flat out said he felt nothing for me. Nothing. I always thought I would know when it happened, that I would know when my guy came along, but was that all wishful thinking? Are my instincts wrong?”
“Don’t ask me,” Tori sa
id. “I’m the single mom who hasn’t been on a date in years.”
“You know I’ll stay with Lore anytime you want to—”
“I don’t want to.”
“Not to dismiss Tori’s dating woes,” Parvati chimed in, “but can we get back to the part where Sidney kissed Josh Pendleton?”
“Can we not?” Sidney asked. “I’m lucky he didn’t bring me up on sexual harassment charges.”
“How did you get in his hotel room anyway?”
Sidney flushed. “It was the night before the show. I ran into him in the hallway. Literally.”
“And he invited you into his hotel room?” Tori’s sculpted eyebrows arched high.
“It wasn’t like that. We were trying to avoid the producers—it doesn’t matter. What matters is there’s no future there. Josh Pendleton is a fantasy. End of story. Even if he had wanted me, he isn’t allowed to date a Suitorette.”
“Not even a former one?” Parv asked.
“Does it matter? He’s dating a supermodel.”
“She’s more of a dancer who happens to do some modeling.”
“That isn’t helpful, Parv.”
“It’s celebrity gossip.” Parvati flapped a dismissive hand. “You know how reliable that stuff is. Speaking of which—have you talked to Caitlyn? There’s an article on TMZ about her having hot revenge sex with a fireman after Elena got topless with Daniel in the hot tub.”
“Parv, focus,” Tori said sharply.
“No. Don’t focus. There’s nothing to focus on. Except landing a celebrity wedding and making the Veil list. Josh Pendleton is nothing more than a distraction and I refuse to be distracted.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Samantha’s out.”
“Excuse me?” Josh froze halfway into his chair. Miranda hadn’t even waited until Josh sat down across from her at the trendy Beverly Hills bistro before dropping her bomb.
“Remember how her family kept saying she was still in love with her ex when we filmed her Meet-the-In-Laws segment? Turns out they were right. She’s engaged. So no Miss Right for Sam.”