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That’s our cue to clap, so we do.
“For our remaining couples, you each received fifty points. That means Rhett and Cristina are in the lead with one hundred and fifty points, Clarice and Beau are second with one hundred and thirty. Callie and Jeff have seventy, Maya and Logan are fourth with sixty, and Holly and Jace are in last place with forty.
“As I said, couples, don’t lose heart. There are still more challenges to go. We’ll see you next time.”
As soon as the live stream ends, Maya, Clarice, and Callie swoop in.
“Look at this.” Maya flashes her phone in my face, showing me the competition’s social media page. “Everyone loves you and Rhett.”
I peek over her shoulder to see a stream of comments: “The Chemistry!!”, “The Way he Said do you Trust me?”, “Get Married!”
The last one hits me right in the chest, and my breath staggers. Get married?
I sneak another glance at Rhett, and he’s casually chatting with Beau, slapping his back like they’re friends.
“The internet is on fire for you two.” Maya flashes me a quick grin. “They love you.”
“What about me?” Clarice asks.
“They love you, too. People love an age-gap romance.”
I take another peek at the comments and wish I didn’t when I spot, “Doing Great, Kitty Kat.”
My chest spasms.
Glen, watching. Always.
I start to fall into myself when Callie grumps, “At least one couple’s doing well. Jeff and I can’t seem to get any footing.”
I blink. Right. Present moment. Not Glen.
I shoot her a sympathetic smile. “Don’t sell yourself short. There are more challenges, and I get the feeling Mina has something up her sleeve for every one of them.”
“Hopefully in a good way.”
I cross my fingers. “Hopefully nothing as scary as what we just did.”
“Speaking of bridges, here comes your man now,” Clarice says. “Make yourselves scarce, girls.”
The trio scatters like cockroaches. My stomach is still a fist, tight from seeing Glen’s comment, but I swallow it down as Rhett approaches, his gaze burning into me.
“I hope I didn’t scare away your friends.”
“No, they . . . had their own stuff to do.”
“Uh-huh.”
“‘Uh-huh’ is right.”
He smiles, all perfect teeth—just gorgeous. “I don’t know about you, but that bridge challenge gave me quite the appetite. What d’you say you, me, and Flame go grab a bite to eat?”
I couldn’t keep the grin from my face if I tried. “Sounds perfect.”
So the three of us—Flame, Rhett, and I—head out to eat. We choose Mexican and get Flame a plate of lettuce so she has something to nibble on.
“You’ve got to try it like this,” I say, presenting him with a chip dredged in salsa and cheese dip.
“You’re telling me I’ve been eating salsa wrong this whole time?”
