I found myself wondering if it would be so bad to give it a shot.
At best, some interesting men will apply, and I'll get to pick one of them to be my husband. At worst, the media will find out about the project, and I'll be made for a fool. No, no! The worst possible scenario, the horrifying scenario that made my mouth go dry and my palms sweaty, was the one in which no potential bachelor's nomination will be submitted, and I will, once again, find myself alone. As I always do.
I felt like my mind was going to explode when a long list of what-if questions started weighing on me.
Along with the sweet dream of finding my true love, I suddenly wondered, what if more than a few men apply? What if I found out that they only applied because they wanted to get close to my public figure, not out of any desire to find love? What if at the end of the road, or right at the very beginning of it, I didn't want to marry any of the candidates? What if they wouldn’t want to marry me, as Brian wasn’t sure he wanted to marry Jennifer?
Every good ending I saw for this project was nothing compared to the horrific ending I imagined, and I felt I couldn’t breathe.
"You're over-thinking it, Naomi." Nick saved me from myself, pulling me from my thoughts.
"That's easy for you to say."
"It really isn’t as complicated as you're trying to make it, Baby Girl. I mean… What's the worst that could happen?"
"That's exactly what I'm trying not to think about, jack-ass."
"Well then, allow me to take you through what I envision. You'll start by dating the men who'll pass the initial screening process. You'll do your best to get to know them, and at the end of each week, you'll decide which of them will leave the project. At first, your goodbyes won't be so difficult to manage, but somewhere along the way, once you're more familiar with the men, you'll need to choose who would be a good fit for you and who wouldn’t, and it will get harder and harder to do. In the end, you'll be left with two great men that you'll know in-depth and have had amazing experiences with. You'll get to choose which of them will win an opportunity to hand you a ring."
"It's not as simple as you're describing it." My head began to spin. "This whole process requires tons of planning. I mean… I have to think of each and every stage leading to that ring, and I need to figure out what I want one of the—"
"You? Do you actually think you're going to have a say in any of that?" He laughed out loud. "This is my project, bitch. I'm not letting you in on the production process."
"What? Why won't you let me be a part of the planning process?"
"Because you're not a part of my production team for this project."
"I am this project, remember?" I huffed in frustration, as I could see he meant business.
"Exactly. You're the bachelorette. All you need to do is show up, be pampered, have fun and—"
"And while I do all that, what are you going to do?"
"Me? Oh, don't worry about me, Naomi. On this season, I'll be the host and manage this project."
"On this season?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Obviously! If this succeeds, and I'll make sure it does, don't you think you're going to do the same for me?" He once again made us both laugh.
I scratched my chin as all Nick had said whirled around in my head. I was having a really hard time coping with the unbearable temptation to take my chances with his offer.
"Nick, you're acting crazy."
"I know I am. But do you think you're any better?"
"I'm not. I'm insane for even considering this, but crazy and insane are two completely different definitions," I jokingly agreed.
We both seemed comfortable escaping to humor. This allowed us to relate to the idea he’d raised as a joke, but when the silence returned to rule my office, I was left staring at his computer screen and at the detailed project line he prepared.
"Okay, Nick." I surprised myself even more than I surprised him.
"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. What was that you said?"
"I said, okay." I looked at him, grinning.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" He looked so pleased.
"Gee, Nick, if you're going to make me say it, again and again, I might actually change my—"
"Move out of my way!" He grabbed the back of the chair I was sitting on and pushed it so that it rolled to the other end of the room with me in it. "Done! The landing page is live and running!" He rubbed his hands together.
"Already? Are you serious?" I didn’t even notice how I put my hand over my heart in astonishment.
"Well, I couldn’t risk you changing your mind now, could I?"
"So, what do we do now?" I felt helpless.
"Now, we wait for the applicants."
"Is that it?"
"It's as simple as that. And if everything goes according to my plan," he said, shaking the stack of papers that were scattered across my desk just minutes ago, "in about a two months' time, you'll have a ring on your finger and a fiancé at your side."
A chill of excitement went through each and every part of my body, and for a brief moment, I actually thought this was the right path for me to walk in.
"Can you at least tell me what's going to be included on this un-aired show of yours?"
"Everything!" Nick widened his eyes.
"What does that mean?" I got intrigued.
"Honey, I already have everything planned so I can find your one true love. I’ve planned cocktail parties, rose ceremonies, personal and group dates, and basically all that we've been fantasizing about. I carefully planned how it'll be just like on the real show, only I'll be the host, and you'll be the bachelorette."
"No, Nick. Now that we're going to go through with this, I'm not sure I want everything as it is on the TV show."
"Why the hell not?" He narrowed his eyes at me.
"We said we would learn from their mistakes, and I don’t think that fame and glory is the only flaw in that format. If we're going to do this—"
"And we are…" He felt he needed to state the obvious again.
"Then I'd like to do it a little differently than Jennifer and the others before her," I said with hesitation. But that hesitation faded away as soon as I saw Nick was open to hearing my reservations about his plan.
We spent several minutes writing down the things I didn't like on my favorite reality show, and I also vetoed some of the unusual ideas Nick had in mind for his project until suddenly, the big picture was less vague, and I could see it more clearly.
"By the way, who do you think is going to pay for this grand plan of yours, Nick?"
"You will, my royal stinking rich princess."
"Are you crazy? Look at what you have planned so far, and it's not even halfway through the project. It'll cost a fortune."
"But can you really put a price on your happiness?"
"God, you can get cheesy when you're desperate."
"But did it work?"
"Yeah, sure. Go nuts. Money won't be a problem." I giggled lightly as he hugged me in his shaky arms, and two incoming notification alerts sounded, one after the other, from his cellphone.