Page 15 of Never Ever Getting Back Together

We leave the airport with the midday sun beaming right into our eyes. I blink into focus, and I’m greeted by blue. Royal blue, robin’s egg blue, powder blue, baby blue, almost every architectural accent shares the same color story, from roofs to windowpanes to the flowers planted along the road where the taxis pull up by the sidewalk. The walls of the buildings themselves are neutral-colored, at least, so the effect is more interesting than garish. Very Chalonian.

I take a photo as we walk and send it to Chloe.Okay, you get one photo.

“That reminds me,” Isaac says, glancing at my phone. “Send your final messages to everyone now. I’ll need that before we get to the mansion.”

Even though Gwendolyn claimed in the emails they confiscate our phones so we don’t conspire with viewers at home to make a game plan to cunningly force Jordy to fall for us, I’m not sure I believe that excuse. I think it’s more likely so we don’t leak information to our friends—or worse—before the next episode goes to air, but I suppose they don’t want to tell us that because that would sound like they don’t trust us. Personally, I wouldn’t be offended if they simply admitted it. Whyshouldthey trust a group of strangers they know nothing about? I wouldn’t trust us in their shoes. And in my own shoes,Idon’t trustthem.

So, I send a second message to Dad—I would prefer a call, but I don’t want to wake him—telling him I love him. I hold tightly to my phone for as long as I can in case he replies, but Dad’s the kind of person who begins yawning by nine. There’s no chance of him burning the midnight oil to see me off, no matter how much he loves me back. So, eventually, I hand it over to Isaac, who’s started to shoot me pointed looks. Dad and I did speak last night, so it’s not as though we had no chance to say our goodbyes.

Still, though.

I gaze out the window as we drive. Stately blue-roofed buildings that have probably stood there for hundreds of years—some housing quaint local businesses, some housing Starbucks and McDonald’s restaurants—line the busy main road. As we grow closer to the outskirts of the city, the businesses become quainter and quainter, and, just when the scenery is starting to resemble an animated movie more than real life, the businesses become cottages, then farmland and countryside. We travel through a thick forest and up a towering mountainside. Downbelow, through the trees, I can make out patches of a brilliant blue. Kool-Aid blue.

I’ve never seen a lake look like that. It’s as though someone put a filter over real life. But there it is, a lake that looks as though itmusttaste like blue raspberry. If I knew a little less about parasites, I might be tempted to risk a drink, just to make sure.

But alas, the only thing I can think of that would be worse than contracting brain-eating bacteria is contracting brain-eating bacteria while bloodthirsty reality show producers air every moment of it for ratings.

Beyond the almost-certainly-undrinkable lake, at the foot of a hill and surrounded by a sea of flowers, is a mansion straight from a storybook. Its cream walls are dotted with flower-covered windows, and pointed turrets jut out of the blue roof.

I recognize it from the photos Gwendolyn emailed. It’s leagues more beautiful in real life, however.

“And this,” Isaac says, catching my eye in the rearview mirror, “is gonna be your home for a while. Pretty all right, huh?”

“It’s amazing,” I agree, staring at it in awe.

I couldn’t explain it if you asked me to, but somehow, it feels as though we’re driving toward a place where significant things are going to happen. It’s warm, and electric, andvivid,somehow. As though I’m taking my first look at a building I’m going to think about regularly for the rest of my life.

As naive as it might sound, something inside me trusts that feeling. And I start to wonder if maybe this feeling is trying to tell me that things with Jordy weren’t over after all. Maybe this guy I left in the past actually plays a big role in my future. Perhaps, as impossible as it might be for meto believe, people who leave you don’t always stay lost to you forever.

Either way, looking at this mansion, I have the strangest sureness that I’m going to be here for quite a while.

FOURSkye

After the car pulls to a crunching stop in a gravel parking lot, I step out, haul my backpack from the trunk, and stare up at the towering mansion with a slow smile. The stone walls are covered in a blanket of intertwining vines and honeysuckle. Standing this close, the perfume from a thousand flowers forms a bouquet cocktail that stops just short of cloying.

“You’re the last one here,” Isaac says as we walk up the entrance steps. “So they’ll probably wanna jump straight into things. Sorry if you were hoping for a break.”

“No, I’m fine. It wasn’t exactly a long trip.” I try to limit the level of irony in my voice.

“That’s the attitude I like to hear.”

Isaac leads me through a marble-floored entryway with the highest ceilings I’ve ever seen, straight between the two grand staircases that stand on the far sides of the room, and over to a door at the back. When we enter the room, a bunch of heads whirl around at once. The other five girls, some familiar, some not, are already sitting in the center of the room on a bunch of folding chairs. I spot Maya, sitting at the end of her row, immediately. We lock eyes, and her expressionremains carefully unreadable. Is she secretly seething at the sight of me? Or is Jordy being far too overprotective?

I drag my eyes away from Maya to a blond woman in her forties, who’s standing in front of the girls at the head of the room.

She’s one of those tall people who enjoys capitalizing on the fact, pairing a perfectly upright carriage and sky-high heels to tower over everyone else in the room. She wears a plum-colored blazer and black pants with gold jewelry, and overall looks so polished I’m suddenly aware of howunpolished I must look in my airport outfit of an oversized corduroy jacket and my comfiest jeans.

Her face brightens when she sees me. “Skye! So good to see you. Grab yourself somereux ferdeauand join us, we’re about to get started.”

I recognize her voice as soon as she speaks. Sothisis Gwendolyn.

I head over to the buffet table where she gestured and help myself to a paper plate piled withreux ferdeau,a small Chalonian pastry filled with chicken, bacon, and raisins in a mushroom and garlic sauce. It’s been on my list to sample one of these—I already ticked off street pizza in Rome, escargot in Paris, and fondue in Switzerland—so I’mhighlypleased to be offered it for my very first meal in Chalonne. A travel achievement unlocked on day one. This place is just getting better and better.

“Hello, everyone,” Gwendolyn says as I take the last remaining seat next to a girl with long blond curls. “We could not be happier to have you all here. I’m Gwendolyn Bushman, head producer ofSecond-Chance Romance,and on behalf of the whole team, I’m thrilled to warmly welcome you all to the inaugural season of the show. Now, I know you’re all tired,and some of you have traveled quite a long way to get here, so I’m going to keep things brief. Soon, you’ll be taken to your rooms, where you’ll have a chance to settle in and get to know one another.

“At four on the dot we’ll meet back in here to prepare for our welcoming party. You’ll all be responsible for your own hair and makeup beforehand, and then we’ll get you fitted in your dresses for tonight. You’ll want to look your best when you see Jordy, who will be joining us at the party. Food and drinks will be available, but if anybody needs a snack before then, anything in the kitchen is a free-for-all. Any questions?”

Maya Bailey puts her hand up. “Are we allowed to use the pool?” she asks.

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