The Bachelor, David Dower [uplifting books for women .txt] 📗

have their little sister swooning over a guy like him.

Oh, shit, Zach cried inside his mind. He should have brought Liam with him. Though the two of them wouldn't stand a chance against seven big men with menacing eyes, it would still be better than having the skinny camera guy as his comrade.

"Zach, meet my brothers, Kyle, Tom, Jerry, Pete, Cart, Mike, and Steve," Pauline uttered with excitement, motioning with her hands. "Guys, meet Zachary Astor." She uttered his last name like it was Buddha's. But Zach didn't feel like his name mattered to her brothers. They were still glaring down at him.

Hey, he was tall, but Pauline's brothers were taller by a few more inches. "Good morning," he nodded his head at the group. At the back of his mind, he was wondering why their parents named two of them Tom and Jerry.

"What are your intentions to our sister?" The older one, Kyle, finally opened his mouth. His big baritone voice boomed around the room.

"What?" Zach asked almost incredulously. What did they think was the purpose of his visit?

"You better not make her cry," the other one warned. It was Tom or Jerry or whoever. He was not sure. And he didn't care. He was more focused on trying to survive this day so he could go visit Julianne.

"Hey, guys, you promised to make him feel at home," Pauline told her brothers.

And with that, they shrugged and turned away. Just like that. One word from their sister and they went back to their own safe havens. By havens meant the television, the kitchen, the stairs...almost everywhere.

"So, how about some snacks?" Pauline asked him cheerfully.

"Sure," he answered with a sigh of relief. He better be good with Pauline if he wanted to get out of the house alive.

*****

Julianne just finished cleaning up when she decided that she needed to do some shopping.

"Are you coming?" she asked the camera guy.

"No, I'm all set to go to my hotel. I think I've covered enough. Your place is not that big and...well, don't you have someone I can shoot with?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Then I'll be off. See you in two days."

Julianne nodded and walked with him to the door.

She offered him a ride and dropped him off his hotel where he'd be staying until Zach arrived.

"Thanks," he murmured and got out.

It just occurred to Julianne, while she was driving her way to the supermarket that only few of the crewmen in the show really talked to her. Aside from Fatima and Jack Carter, she didn't really know the camera guys. Not one of them, not even their names.

She shrugged. She'd leave soon and the fewer people she knew the better.

While walking down the aisle of cereals, she happened to cross path with a lady and her friend. They gasped when they saw her and pointed with their fingers.

At first, Julianne thought they were readers of her book, but when they opened their mouths and said her name out loud, her face fell.

"It's Jules! Hi, Jules!" The blonde girl waved.

Julianne smiled and continued walking with head bent down.

"Where's Zach? Were you evicted already?" The other girl asked.

Julianne said, "No, I'm sorry, I need to go," and hurried away.

She didn't like this. This was not what she had dreamed of. Privacy was something she cherished and because of the stupid show, people knew her and were even asking questions that she would rather not even think about herself.

*****

Zach was near kneeling down his knees to thank the heavens for giving him the chance to finally escape the testosterone-filled house where Pauline lived with her brothers. Since their parents had long been gone, he was not able to meet anyone else that could have saved him if Pauline's brothers decided to pin him to the wall and throw darts at him.

"It felt so short a time," Pauline pouted as she led Zach out of the door.

It felt like thirty years in hell, Zach thought to himself. "Yeah," he answered, turning to give Pauline a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you soon," he whispered, not bothering to look behind her shoulders where her brothers stood, glaring at him.

"Yeah," she sounded disappointed with the kiss.

Zach opened the door and let himself out, breathing fresh air. Surviving breakfast and lunch inside the hell hole he had been would really make one appreciate the cold air outside.

"See you soon, Zach!" Pauline waved after him as he rushed to the car.

*****

The next day, Zach was off to have an afternoon with Penny's family. Now, here, he could sit back and relax because Penny lived with her grandparents who could barely hear and stay awake. Though he didn't have anything against Penny, it was still much of an effort to keep a normal, easy conversation when all he had in his mind was Julianne and the day he would come meet her.

"How did you two meet?" Tina, Penny's grandmother asked, her voice shaking and her eyes narrowed behind her spectacles.

"Through the show," he answered for the nth time.

"What show?" Penny's grandfather, Ben, asked for the nth time.

"The Bachelor," he replied and you don't want to know for how many times he uttered the same words.

But still, being under the same room with two harmless individuals were far better than with Pauline's brothers.

"Don't make her cry," Tina reached over and grabbed his hand by her shaking ones.

Zach gulped. He found it hard to lie to old people's faces-well, apart from his parents.

Penny laughed nervously, her eyes asking him to forgive her grandparents.

He nodded and leaned back, not answering Tina's question. That would feel like a sin to actually lie at her face. He couldn't promise not to make Penny cry.

The dinner was slow but mellow. He couldn't deny he learned a lot about Penny than he already did. She was caring and soft-spoken despite her sometimes desperate behavior in the show. Maybe she just needed more attention from other people other than her grandparents. Her parents were divorced and only saw her every other year or two.

All in all, the visit with Penny was good. Nothing dramatic or life-changing-just good.

By the time he was able to convince Penny's grandparents that he was not driving drunk and that he would put his seatbelt on, he finally said his goodbyes and went back to his hotel.

One more to go and he'd be on his way to Julianne.

*****

It was not really a shocking surprise to know that Chloe have it all--almost have it all. She got parents who gave her everything she desired, she got sisters who cowered whenever she was around, and she got the looks. Not that her family isn't pretty, but Chloe, Zach had to admit, would always be the prettiest.

Everyone was blonde though and Zach was almost giddy to get out when Chloe took the floor, dominating the room. She laid out all photo albums she could find and forced him to look at every freaking photo of her pretty blonde head. There was even one solely for the photos of every guy she had a relationship with.

"This guy," she pointed with her finger, "even stalked me around for almost a year after I broke up with him."

He didn't realize he was lucky to have her gone? Zach wondered in his mind. He just smiled and that was all it took for Chloe to turn the page and narrate another self-centered story. He was lost in thoughts of Julianne and how he should act when he got to her. For certain, he would not find a family waiting with her. There would be no one.

He spent countless of hours day dreaming like a boy while Chloe bombarded him with stories of high school and how amazing she was. Her sisters shared a look of embarrassment over their sister's rambling with him and he gave them a wink that said it was no big problem.

Chloe's parents were quite a pair. Actually good and pleasing people, but they were very eager to please their eldest daughter that it didn't appeal much to Zach.

"I think I'm not feeling well," he finally announced after dinner just as Chloe was saying he should see her old room. "I'm sorry, but I will have a long day tomorrow," he smiled when Chloe pouted her lips.

He turned to her smiling parents and sisters. They too looked relieved that they didn't have to put up such an act that everything was okay any longer.

"Thank you for such a wonderful dinner," he uttered, nodding his head at them.

They smiled and Chloe's dad, a big beefy man, said, "Anytime, Mr. Astor."

"Please, just Zach. Mr. Astor's my father."

They gave a little laugh and stood up as Zach pushed his chair away.

"See you soon?" Chloe asked, batting her eyes at him.

"Yeah," he nodded and gave her a peck. "See you in two days."

She planted her palms over his chest and he was almost afraid she'd clench them and pull him down towards her. But she didn't and he stepped back, holding up one hand to where her family was standing to give a small wave.

As Zach walked back to the car, he was beaming from ear to ear. He had the perfect plan for a date tomorrow with Julianne. Chapter 27

Julianne was getting anxious now. She wanted to make some excuses like she was sick or she was having a bad stomach just so the meeting with Zach would be postponed. Never had she shared a real date with him alone with a camera guy.

“They said he’s coming. Are you sure you’re not inviting anyone over?” the camera guy whom she knew now as Steve asked her.

“Yes,” she answered, trying to stay on the couch and not pace around like a wife waiting for her husband.

Steve was looking at her in a weird way.

“What?” she asked him.

“You’re not going to dress up or anything?” he nodded his bald head towards her.

Julianne looked down at her simple plain black shirt and dark pants. “No.”

“What are you two going to do for the day?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You should plan something. You’re the host now,” he shrugged.

Julianne stared at him dryly. “So you’re Brent now? You’re making talks?”

Steve grinned. “Hey, I’m just trying to ease away the coldness.”

“You feel uncomfortable around me,” she stated without question.

He smirked, his brown eyes wavering for a moment and then he shrugged. “You make us feel uncomfortable, you know.”

“I do?”

He nodded. “You’re not like everyone else.”

She didn’t answer. Saying anything about her deal with Jack and Zach might lead to some problems and plus, she didn’t know Steve that well to tell him more.

When he thought she was not going to remark anything, he continued, “You know, we camera guys and some other staff talk about you a lot.”

Okay, now, that one was surprising. “What about me?”

He only grinned, “You don’t like being here, do you?”

“What made you say that?”

“We just know. We’re the camera guys, remember? We see almost everything, we hear almost every word.”

“Not a very appealing job, I guess,” she sighed.

He chuckled. “Yes, it’s not. But we also know Zachary Astor likes you very much.”

She just stared at him, not giving anything away. She wondered if they also knew about what happened the night she and Zach were trapped in that