Outback Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 1) (15 page)

They packed up their trash and headed back to the jeep, hand in hand. All too soon they were nearing the camp. Sam sighed.

“What was that sigh for?” Alex asked, looking at her with concern.

“It’s just hitting me that it’s really over,” Sam said, smiling at Al. “I’m just preparing myself for the third degree.”

“What are you going to tell them?” Alex asked.

“The truth.” Sam paused until Al looked at her with a furrow between his brows. “That we spent the day at a carnival, ate lunch, then came back. What happens between us is between us.” She finished.

Alex smiled at her. “God, thank you for that. Trust me to keep our time together private as well.”

Sam smiled at him. As they pulled up into the camp the other women were walking toward the jeep to meet them. She reluctantly let go of Al’s hand and felt his thumb rub over the back of her hand one last time before he let go. Sam knew the women weren’t coming over to see her, they just wanted another chance to talk to Al. Alex helped her out of the jeep and leaned down to place a chaste kiss on her cheek while giving her a short squeeze on her waist. Sam blushed, remembering their passionate kiss from earlier.

Alex smiled at her and said, “Until next time.” He nodded hello to the other women in general, got back in the jeep and drove away. As soon as the jeep was gone, the others wanted to know what happened on their date. Sam told them only enough to appease their curiosity and escaped to the bunkhouse to dream about Al.

The “vote out” was supposed to be the same day as Sam’s date, but since they got back later than they were supposed to, Eddie decided the light wasn’t good and they’d have to wait until the next day. When Alex got back to his camp he sought Eddie out.

“I’ve decided who I want to go next,” he told him without preamble. “After careful consideration I don’t think that Kathi and I have much in common.”

The producer looked surprised. “Sorry, we need to keep her around for a bit longer,” he told Alex without remorse.

“What?!? Why?” asked Alex, although he had a feeling he knew why.

“She was just hurt the other day, it makes for great TV. Viewers are going to want to see how she’s doing and how she’s healing. And since you played Sir Galahad, we’re going to play that up a bit,” the producer answered.

Alex was pissed. He knew it. He
knew
he was being played. He couldn’t tell Eddie he knew Kathi faked her accident. He wasn’t supposed to have seen the tape in the first place. On the other hand, he knew he’d be hard pressed to act civil around her.

The producer continued, “I think it’s time Sammi goes home.”

“No way!” Alex responded immediately with heat. “I thought I was the one who decided who’d stay and who’d go!”

“Look,” Eddie reasoned, “We’re here to make money. Sammi doesn’t fit in. We honestly don’t even know how she got on the show. We think there was a mix up between her and another woman named Sammi. Somehow someone invited the wrong woman, and by the time we realized it, she’d already signed the contract so we couldn’t make her leave. We let her stay on for a while because she was entertaining, but it’s time she goes home. America doesn’t want to watch overweight women on TV. That’s their everyday reality. We need to give them the glamorous side of people, make them want to tune in every week to see which babe you’ll end up with.”

Alex was so furious he was shaking. Sammi had been right all along.

“First of all she isn’t overweight. She’s completely normal and viewers will probably connect with her more than the other women because of it. Second, am I or am I not choosing the final contestants?”

“Well,” Eddie hedged, “you have a say...to a point. If we don’t think you’re making the right choice, we’ll make it for you. It’s not like you have to stay with this woman forever, just until the end of the show and the publicity tours on the talk shows after its aired. We tout this show as a man finding his soul mate. Everyone knows that probably won’t happen, so we just want to have good TV along the way. And if that means us telling you who’ll stay and who’ll go, then so-be-it.”

Between clenched teeth, Alex asked, “Who will the final two contestants be then?”

“We’re not sure, but we have a general idea, and Sammi sure isn’t one of them,” the producer answered and pretend gagged, not realizing how on the edge Alex was.

Alex was beyond pissed. Eddie was a horrible person. He didn’t care who he hurt as he clawed his way upward. If there was a way to get off the show he’d do it, but he knew he’d signed an iron clad contract, and there was no way they’d let him go now with the show halfway over.

“At least let her stay through one more round,” Alex practically begged. He couldn’t imagine what she’d think if after their date and that kiss, she left now. He especially didn’t want her to think that
he
voted her off. Besides all that, he desperately wanted her to stay. He
liked
her. She was perhaps the only woman on the show that he
did
like.

The producer looked at Alex for a long time and finally bit out, “Fine. We’ll get rid of Cindee tomorrow.”

“Fine,” parroted Alex. He gave Eddie a hard look and said, “you’d better not be lying to me.”

“Cindee will go home tomorrow,” Eddie promised. Alex knew he couldn’t trust him, but had no choice. He finally nodded and walked away.

Shit.
Alex thought as he walked back to his tent. That hadn’t gone well. He knew these reality shows probably weren’t true “reality,” but this was ridiculous. He didn’t want to see Sammi go, and he certainly didn’t want to have to pretend to actually like Kathi or some of the others that were left. He had to talk to Sammi. He knew he wasn’t supposed to, but she already had some idea that she was going to be kicked off soon, but he wanted her to know it wasn’t him who wanted her gone.

* * *

The next morning Alex met Robert and the women at their camp for the “vote off.” The nine women looked nervous, but composed as usual. Alex had purposely gotten to the camp right before the cameras would start rolling so he wouldn’t have to talk to any of them. He wasn’t up to pretending he was glad to see them, when all he wanted to do was talk to Sammi alone and let her know what was going on. The only drawback of arriving late was that he couldn’t talk to Sammi at all before the stupid ceremony. He consoled himself with the fact that he’d talk to her after it was over and let her know what Eddie had said about the mix up in the invitation to the show. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but she had to know. He’d promised to be honest with her.

As the ceremony began, Robert went into a speech about how it had been an interesting couple of days and he recounted the adventures at the lake and the three one-on-one dates. He asked the women to go around and tell Alex why they felt they should get to stay on the show. He asked a few pointed questions to some of the women about how they were feeling about Al and the other women. The women were on their best behavior, very aware of the television cameras and kept their answers pretty civil. Finally, Robert got to the point.

“The eighth person who will be leaving Australia will be…Cindee.” Cindee gasped and immediately started crying.

It was a bit awkward around the circle as Cindee stood in place and cried but no one told her which way to walk away to leave the show.

Finally Robert said, “Cindee, unfortunately you have to leave Australia, and Al, but there is a twist today.” He paused dramatically. The women looked at him expectantly. Alex looked at him with trepidation. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Throughout the show the women who’ve gone home have left either because they were unlucky enough to have their name chosen at random, or they lost a challenge. Today, Cindee, you get to change the game.” Cindee and the others just stared at Robert, perplexed. Alex felt his teeth clench. He knew he wasn’t going to like how Cindee would get to change the game. Damn Eddie.

“I wouldn’t call today your lucky day, since you’re going home, but you aren’t the only unlucky woman here today. Someone else will also be leaving.” Everyone gasped.

“Cindee, you get to choose one of the remaining women that will be leaving today as well.”

Alex covered his indignation with a cough. He thought back to his conversation with Eddie the night before. He hadn’t said that Cindee would be the
only
woman going home. He only promised that she’d be going home. Alex looked across the distance at Sammi in despair, and found she was looking at him. She had a grim look on her face, almost resigned. It was as if she knew what the outcome of today would be. They both ultimately knew who Cindee would choose to leave with her. He wanted to mouth ‘I’m sorry’ to Sammi, but was afraid the cameras would pick it up. He tried to convey his angst to her from afar. He held her eyes until she broke their eye contact and looked at the ground.

Cindee took a deep breath. Her tear ravaged face took in the women standing around, all staring at her, wondering who her choice would be.

“Wow,” Cindee started rather dramatically, “I never expected this. This is going to be a tough decision. I’ve had a great time with everyone, and I can’t imagine being the one to make someone have to leave.” She paused to let her insincere speech sink in. Cindee knew she was in the spotlight and it was her time to shine. She continued on with her speech. Rambling on about the good times she’d had while on the show and how much she was going to miss everyone. She talked about how she wasn’t sure how she was going to choose someone and how it wasn’t fair, but someone had to go.

Sam looked up at Al again. She wondered why he looked so mad. She somehow knew this was going to be her last day at the camp and on the show. She knew she didn’t fit in and there certainly wasn’t any love lost between her and Cindee. After her date yesterday she’d sure miss Al, she honestly thought that maybe the two of them could’ve possibly made it. For a brief moment the night before, she dreamed about winning the show and having Al choose
her
at the end. But she’d never find out now. She caught Al looking at her again. She gave him a sad smile and shook her head slightly.

“I suppose since I have to choose someone, it would have to be…Sammi,” Cindee finally said. Sam walked forward to where Robert and Cindee were standing. Cindee had a smug look on her face.

“Sammi, Cindee has made her choice,” Robert droned, “Please say your goodbyes and Al will walk you to the car.”

Cindee and the other women spent a bit of time crying and saying goodbye. Sam heard some of them thanking Cindee, not very quietly. She shrugged. Sam didn’t bother going over to the other women. She knew what they thought of her and the thought of them pretending they were sad she was leaving was just too much. She walked toward Al.

Alex held his hand out toward Sammi as she walked toward him. She put her hand in his. They walked to the car.

“This wasn’t my decision,” he started desperately, knowing their time together was short, but stopped when Sammi put her fingers on his lips.

“I know, it was inevitable.” Sam looked at Al, she had to say it. She leaned toward him and hugged him. At the same time she put her lips at his ear and said, “If you’re given the choice to pick someone, you need to choose either Lori or Amy.”

Alex looked at her earnest face. “Can you tell me why?” he asked softly.

“I can’t, I wish I could, but I can’t. Just please trust me,” Sam practically begged him.

Alex squeezed Sammi desperately. He turned his head so now his mouth was by her ear and told her, “I trust you. God, I trust you. This isn’t over, Sammi. I don’t think I can let you go. You
will
hear from me again.” He nipped her earlobe lightly and stepped back. He leaned forward, gave her a hard kiss on the lips, and turned back toward the other women without another word.

Sam climbed into the waiting car. She refused to look back as the car drove off. A lone tear tracked down her face. It wasn’t fair, but she expected it, she just didn’t know how much it would hurt. She wasn’t TV material and she knew it. She wasn’t skinny enough and her boobs weren’t big enough. Sam recalled Alex’s last words. She wasn’t sure what he meant, but she knew it was going to be a long time between now and when the show aired.

The car dropped Sam off at a small airstrip. She was taken back to the city she’d spent the first night in Australia in, and checked into a hotel. The phone was removed from the room so she couldn’t call anyone back home and was told she’d have to stay at the hotel until the end of the show. There weren’t any other contestants staying at this particular hotel so they wouldn’t be able to “trade” stories from the show. Sam was given a coupon book for several local tours she could take to fill up her time until the show ended. Sam sighed. All she wanted to do was go home to her job, her friends and her dogs. The show had taken a lot out of her.

She knew she and Al had pretty good chemistry, but it looked like it wasn’t meant to be. Sam hoped he took her advice about who to choose if he could. Amy and Lori really were the least of all the evils. They weren’t perfect, but they were much nicer than the other women. Sam knew she’d get practically no more communication from the producers about the show or what was going on. She’d have to watch it on TC like the rest of America to see the outcome of the show and to see who Al ended up with. As she lay down to sleep in the luxurious bed that night, she couldn’t stop the tears that fell and were absorbed by the pillow.