Welcome to Paradise

by Rosalind James

  The Toxic Person

  Mira gripped Gabe’s hand more tightly as they took their seats the next afternoon. Looked over at Zara, seated with Hank on the jury, got a smile in return, a nod that set the older woman’s long silver earrings jangling. Well, at least she didn’t seem mad at Mira for voting her out. That would make the next couple weeks a lot easier. Gabe still seemed to think she might not be going today, but Mira couldn’t believe that was possible. Keeping her and Scott might be a good strategic move, but the situation on Arcadia looked too tense to her. She’d seen that body language too many times in meetings. The person all the others turned away from, that nobody could look in the eye. The toxic person. The one who had to go.

  “So, Arcadia,” Cliff began. “Here’s your chance to talk at last. And your chance to vote. Alec, did it seem like it would ever happen?”

  “No,” he said, dark brows drawing together. “Our teamwork hasn’t been there on the men’s side. And you can’t win without that.”

  “Got a comment about that, Scott?”

  “Are there arrogant guys on Arcadia?” Scott asked from his spot at the end of the row, a little distance from Rachel. “You bet there are. People who don’t want to listen when somebody else has a better idea, because only they know how to do everything.” He shot a poisonous glare in the direction of Alec, sitting at the opposite end of the bench. “But you notice, when it was something where individual talent counted, and all of us could contribute, when one person wasn’t deciding he had to call all the shots, we did win.”

  “Sounds like there’ve been some big personality clashes over there,” Cliff said innocently. “Rachel, did winning improve the mood?”

  “No,” she said bluntly. “It’s just made it more tense. I can’t wait for today to be over.”

  “You think today’s going to solve the problem, then?”

  “Yes.” Her glance at Scott couldn’t have been more meaningful.

  “Calvin,” Cliff said. “Is that going to be the basis of your vote today? Harmony? Group dynamics?”

  “It shouldn’t be,” Calvin said. “Because even though I know you’re enjoying keeping us in suspense, we all know we’re merging after this. It’s got to be about strategy.”

  “Want to elaborate on that?”

  “No,” Calvin decided. “No, I don’t. I’ll let my vote do the talking.”

  “And with that,” Cliff said, “it’s time to vote.”

  The process was quick. Four people, walking one by one to the voting booth, writing a name on a strip of paper and holding it for the camera to record, then folding it, dropping it into a Wells Fargo strongbox with a hole cut into the top before returning to their seats. Nothing celebratory about it. The mood was grim, and the look on Gabe’s face matched it.

  Cliff moved to the voting area, and the usual pause ensued as he looked through the votes, arranged them for theatrical value.

  “It’s OK,” Gabe said, looking down at Mira. “You’re going to be all right.”

  “I know,” she agreed, doing her best to smile reassuringly. “But I’m leaving. There’s no other answer.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Gabe,” she said urgently. “It’s all right. I’ll see you in a couple weeks. When I vote for you to win a million dollars,” she went on, trying to make him smile. “That’ll be a good day. I can’t wait.”

  They fell silent again as Cliff brought the box back to his podium, set it down and opened the lid.

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll read the votes. The team voted out will follow Jay and the other jury members out of the Clearing,” he explained unnecessarily, “and won’t return until next week, when you’ll be on the jury yourselves, watching the vote taking place that will determine our Final Four.”

  “First vote,” he said, pulling out the first strip and pausing for dramatic impact. “Alec and Gabe.”

  “Scott’s,” Gabe muttered. “I hope.”

  “Second vote.” An even longer pause this time. “Rachel and Kevin.”

  “You’re kidding,” Kevin, from his spot beyond Gabe.

  Cliff looked up from the third strip. “Scott and Mira.”

  The hand holding Mira’s was squeezing so tightly now, it was almost painful. A split vote? Mira wondered. How was that possible? Could Gabe be right?

  “The fifth pair to leave,” Cliff announced. Turned the strip around to face the group. “Scott and Mira.”

  Gabe turned a distraught face to Mira. “I’m sorry,” he said miserably. “I thought it would work.”

  Mira pressed his hand, then dropped it to turn and give Stanley a quick hug.

  “You take care, now,” he murmured. She could see the tears standing in his eyes. “He gives you any trouble, you tell him he’ll be answering to me.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “For everything. I’ll see you soon.” She was choking up now too as she stood up, hugged Kevin briefly as well, then turned to Gabe.

  He pulled her into him, squeezed tightly. “If you’re worried,” he said urgently, “tell somebody. And stay away from him.”

  “I will,” she promised. She’d thought she’d prepared for this, but it was so much harder than she’d thought it would be. She reached out her hand, laid it along his unshaven cheek, and looked into his eyes. “I’m holding you,” she whispered.

  Then turned to join Scott, waiting impatiently for her on the other side, his face a mask of frustrated anger.

  “Well,” Cliff said as Gabe watched Mira’s straight back disappearing among the trees. “That’s something that I frankly was expecting to happen a while ago.”

  “And now,” he paused theatrically, “the moment you’ve been waiting for. The six of you will be walking back to Paradise. And don’t worry, Arcadia. We’ve moved your clothes over while you’ve been here.”

  “I don’t care about my clothes so much,” Rachel said above the noise of the conversation that had begun at the announcement. “What about my pies, and the beans I’ve got soaking? Did you move those? I don’t want to have to start over.”

  “I’m sure,” Cliff said with a smile, “that those have been moved too. Six more days, guys. Then we’ll see you all back here, and it’ll be a whole new game.”

  “Sorry,” Alec said, the minute he’d hustled to the front of the little group to catch up with his twin, striding ahead on the path to Paradise. “I tried. I really did. I talked to Calvin. Did the only thing I could to keep him from thinking I was playing him. Told him you’d come over, and what you’d told me. That I’d promised you I’d help you. And I did my best to explain why it’d be a better strategic move to vote Rachel and Kevin out.”

  “You must not have tried hard enough,” Gabe said grimly. “Because you’re a persuasive guy. And that was a good argument.”

  “You’re reckoning without Scott’s truly spectacular level of unpopularity, though,” Alec pointed out. “And I did more than that. I told Scott to vote Rachel off. Told him I wanted to go to the end with him. I thought that kind of blatant self-interest would be credible to ol’ Scott. But as you saw, he didn’t buy it. And it wouldn’t have worked anyway, not without Calvin’s vote. I almost thought I had it, there at the end. But as it was, the best we could’ve done was ended up in a tiebreaker between Rachel and Scott, and I can’t imagine that Rachel wouldn’t have won. But I tried.”

  “That was you?” Rachel asked in astonishment. She and Kevin were right behind them, Gabe realized with a start, and had overheard everything. “You stabbed me in the back? You tried to get me voted out? I can’t believe you’d do that, after everything that’s happened! After I won the challenge for us, finally, so we could get rid of him!”

  “I couldn’t help it,” Alec protested. “It wasn’t about you. You know how much I hate Scott’s guts. I hate more than his guts. I hate his . . . capillaries. I hate his tendons. But I was under orders. I’m not supposed to be the head of the dog anymore. Mr. Big here’s the head now. I
’m just wagging along, being the tail.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said angrily. “Is this some kind of secret twin language?”

  “Kind of like that. Apparently. So secret that even I didn’t know about it till now. Sorry I voted for you. I really am.”

  “Sorry doesn’t really cut it, though, does it?” Kevin asked thoughtfully as his sister fumed beside him. “You know you guys have a target on your back. Well, that target just got bigger, if that’s possible.”

  “Yeah, but now we have a Safety challenge, right?” Alec said. “So there you go.”

  “Wow, you’re cocky,” Rachel marveled. “You’re that sure you’re the strongest person out here?”

  “Nope. But I’m betting Dog Head here can pull us to victory.”

  Telling the Truth

  Mira stood in front of the bookshelf beside the giant fireplace in the big room that served as dining hall, lounge, and activity center for their little band of expelled homesteaders, looking for something exciting to read. It hadn’t been much of a surprise when she’d climbed into the van and found that they were headed back to the hunting camp. Where else could they have stayed so well concealed? She knew how important it was to keep the identities of those voted off a secret until the show aired. After all, she’d signed a contract promising not to reveal anything about her own performance, how long she’d lasted out here.

  She’d spent most of the five days she’d been here with Hank and Zara, partly because she enjoyed their company, and partly to stay away from Scott. Had been for a hike with them earlier, in fact, but they were now back in their cabin for a “rest” that, Mira thought with amusement, probably wasn’t very restful. This adventure seemed to have given their marriage a new lease on life, and she was happy for them.

  The problem was, there just wasn’t that much to do here. She’d taken her shower, changed into a skirt and sandals. That had taken all of half an hour. She could go into the kitchen where Alma was working with Lupe and Maria-Elena, but Alma tended to get grouchy when there were more than two extra people in her space. And although Mira had forged a tentative friendship with Melody during the blonde’s brief week on the homestead, Chelsea still didn’t have much use for her. Joining the two of them in their mani/pedi session, listening to their bored gossip about their lives in LA, wasn’t that enticing.

  She bent down to look at the books on the bottom shelf. Maybe a thriller, she thought. Something to sweep her up and take her away. She’d been unsettled, even jumpy since her arrival, and it was getting worse. Partly, she knew, because the change was so sudden and complete. She’d gone from being busy every minute of the day, and exhausted every night, to inertia and inactivity, nothing to do but wait.

  Being this close to Scott, too, had been even harder than she’d expected. She’d managed to avoid him most of the time, but ten people at a table still meant sitting within a few feet of each other at every meal. Another two days, she reminded herself, and another pair of contestants would join them. She forced herself not to hope it would be Gabe and Alec.

  She’d idly wondered, before being voted off, whether the ejected contestants were kept updated on the happenings on the homesteads, beyond their weekly appearance at the Clearing for the vote. Perhaps, she and Kevin had speculated, they even got to watch some of the footage. Well, she knew the answer now. She had no idea what was going on. Maybe that was why she’d become so restless, had even started having trouble sleeping. Or maybe it was just that she missed Gabe so much, that she ached to see him and hold him again. Was he missing her too? Not as much as she was, she was sure. He had a whole lot more to do than she did, and he had his brother with him again. Whereas she had . . . Scott.

  As if she’d conjured him up by thinking about him, he appeared in the doorway, pausing at the sight of her. She grabbed a Tom Clancy novel she hadn’t read before. All right, then. Instead of relaxing in here on the couch, she’d lie on the bed in her cabin. Again.

  “Running away?” he sneered as she waited for him to move out of the doorway so she could leave. “Can’t face me, can you?”

  “No,” she said, trying to maintain her calm. “I’m not running. But I’m not interested in talking to you. Excuse me.”

  He didn’t move, though. To get around him, she’d have to push past him, and she shrank from the idea of touching him.

  “Too damn bad,” he said. “Because I want to talk to you. I have a few things to say, and you owe it to me.”

  She didn’t think she owed him anything, but she wasn’t going to get out of this, so she braced herself and waited for what he’d say next, even as the tendrils of anxiety began unfolding in her chest.

  “Let’s forget that you came on the show with me, and started screwing somebody else as soon as I wasn’t actually standing over you,” he began. “You think Daddy’s going to be proud of you? You think he’ll be thrilled to have his not-so-darling daughter looking like a slut on national television?”

  “I didn’t have sex with anybody out there,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. “You, or anyone else.” OK, she’d wanted to. And she’d done some fairly extreme making out. But Scott wouldn’t know about that until he actually saw the show. By that time, he’d be long gone from her life. “And I broke up with you, remember?” she added, reminding herself too. “That makes it absolutely none of your business what I do.”

  “But that wasn’t all you did,” he went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “You refused to follow my plan, even when I laid it out for you and reminded you of it every single week. You were over there with the group making the decisions, but did you work our alliances like I told you? Did you work on Melody and Martin, pull in Zara? Oh, no. That would’ve been too easy. No, you let all our best prospects go, left us out of options. That’s all on you. You’re the reason we’re here now, and not in line to win a million dollars. How strategic does that make you look? How stupid does it make you look?”

  His voice had risen, and the cold tones he’d started with had turned to something much more heated. Mira glanced to her left, toward the kitchen door. She’d go out that way, she decided. Get Alma to walk her back to her cabin. Scott wouldn’t mess with Alma. She began to edge toward the door, Scott keeping pace with her.

  “That alliance wouldn’t have worked,” she said. “Melody was always going to be out the first week. There was no other choice. Zara would never have gone along with anything else, and I don’t think even Martin would have. I would have made enemies for no reason.”

  “You always think you know better, don’t you?” he sneered. “So why are we here, if you’re so smart? Tell me that!”

  “Because your homestead hated you!” If he was going to abuse her, she was going to tell him the truth for once. “Because they were just waiting for a chance!”

  “No,” he spat. “Because you lost. Because you don’t even know how to make a fucking pie.”

  “And how many challenges did you lose for your homestead?” she demanded, not even trying to get away from him anymore. “Every single one! That’s the only reason we stayed as long as we did, and you know it. Because I did well, and they didn’t want to lose me. Because I know how to get along with people! Arcadia didn’t just want to vote you out, they wanted to kill you. If you’d been on fire like I was, nobody would even have put you out!”

  “That’s a lie,” he ground out, his expression darkening even further. “Alec hated me because he can’t stand the idea that anyone else might be better at something than he is. And he talked the others into voting us out.”

  “You say that,” she said through trembling lips, “but it’s you you’re talking about.” She knew she wasn’t exactly making sense, but she didn’t have time to formulate her argument better. All the frustration and anger was rushing out now. “You’re the one who can’t stand anyone being better! You’re the one who lost the challenges! It wasn’t Alec, and it wasn’t me! It was you!”

  She was almost t
o the kitchen door now. And she was done. She wasn’t sure if it had felt good to say what she had, or horrible. But she’d said it, and now she was leaving. She turned to go, found herself yanked back again by Scott’s hand, tight around her arm.

  “Let go! You’re hurting me!” She attempted to pull his hand off her, but he was standing over her now, almost spitting with anger, and suddenly, she was actually afraid.

  “You’ve undermined me, and disrespected me, and tried to humiliate me since the day we got here,” he said, his voice raw, his face twisted with hatred. “You’ve made me look like a fool in front of millions of people. But you know what you’ve really done? You’ve shown what a piece of trash you are. Even your own parents don’t love you that much, do they? And you know why? Because you’re not that loveable. You don’t even know what it means to love someone, and to help them. It all has to be about you, every time, doesn’t it? Because you’re a selfish, whiny loser.”

  “‘Poor me,’” he mimicked savagely. “‘Everybody feel sorry for Mira, because she’s so, so pathetic.’ And when that doesn’t work, what do you do? You try to take down somebody bigger, just so you can feel better about yourself. Well, you’re not going to get away with it, not this time! You took on the wrong guy. I’ve never turned the other cheek yet, and I’m not about to start now. You are going down.”

  Mira tried to pull away from him, fought the horror his words, the look on his face had aroused in her. She scrabbled for the doorknob, but his grip on her arm was too tight, and he yanked her back.

  “I’m going to tell everybody,” he hissed at her. “I’m going to get on camera, and I’m going to tell the truth about you. You’re never going to get another job. You’re going to be a laughingstock all over the country by the time I’m through with you.”

  “No,” she said, swallowing past the fear, the hurt, the anger, forcing the words out through the tightness in her throat. “No. That’s going to be you. You’re going to be the loser. You’re going to be the laughingstock. And the beauty of it is, I don’t even have to get on camera again for that to happen. Know why? Because it’s already there for everyone to see. You losing challenge after challenge for your homestead. You refusing to listen to how to shoot a gun, and doing it wrong, every time. Getting dumped on your butt trying to scare off some little deer. You getting drunk and getting thrown out of the dance after I dumped you. And then, the crowning glory? Your homestead voting you off. All that’s on camera, and a whole lot more too, that I don’t even know about yet. But I sure will by the time the show airs, because they’re going to show all of it. And every single bit of that’s on you. It’s nobody else’s fault. It’s all you.”