21. Daphne

21

DAPHNE

"You look ravishing!" Davina raved as she wrapped a piece of my hair around her curling wand for a quick hair touchup on my beach waves.

"Thanks to your magic." I knew that my lack of sleep over the past week was starting to show. My slumber-less nights were not entirely my fault. I found myself tossing and turning every night, listening for pebbles to hit my window. They never did.

"When your canvas is perfection, it's hard to mess it up."

I knew that she said that to all her clients, but I still appreciated the sentiment. Especially when it was before I had to go on camera, something I was not comfortable doing.

Hopefully, today's shoot would go smoothly. The weather was a breezy eighty-five degrees. The sun was shining. The sky was a vibrant robin's egg blue and dotted with fluffy white clouds, which would make for a nice backdrop.

Like a choreographed dance we'd perfected over years of working together, as soon as Davina lifted the eyeshadow brush, I closed my eyes so she could blend the color on my lids. The second they were shut, the image of Harlan's eyes when I told him why I was going to be staying in town popped into my head. It was such a stark contrast to the happiness that had been there seconds before when he saw me and found out I'd extended my stay.

Even though I'd tried to explain to him that the dates weren't real; they were for a show, and I'd never gone on a second date with any of the eligible men I'd dated on the show, he still appeared bothered.

It might be toxic, but I liked that he clearly wasn't thrilled by the idea of me going out with other guys. It was flattering that he appeared to be bothered by it. I would have thought that we might have talked more since then, but that was five days ago, and we hadn't crossed paths. And there had been no middle-of-the-night rock-thrown-at-window pond trips.

I learned this morning that Harlan hadn't been home pining away for me, though. When I met Nadia at the Dreamy Bean for coffee, she told me that her friend Mauve, a waitress at the Opera House, told her that Harlan had gone to dinner with Ariana Culpepper, who used to live in Firefly and had just moved back to town.

Hearing that Harlan was on a date with someone else made me feel things that surprised me. I'd been more than bothered by the news; I'd been downright upset, which made zero sense. Especially since, over the next couple of weeks, I would be going on four dates with his friends and one with him. That's right, Harlan Mitchell was going to be one of the men I dated on Dating in the Country .

While Harlan was out wining and dining Ariana Culpepper, Lydia was holding the casting at Southern Comfort, and it did not go well. She wasn't impressed with the talent that showed up. After a drink and commiseration session with Caroline Shaw, she'd decided to enlist the lineup of the bachelor auction. Apparently, all of the men had agreed, which meant I was going to be going on a date with Harlan Mitchell—one in front of the cameras.

I wasn't sure what to do with that information. I had mixed feelings for a few reasons. Part of me was excited, but another part of me wanted to tell Lydia to cast someone else.

For one thing, it was unprecedented that I was set up with someone I already knew—not that production had any clue just how well I knew Harlan, but still. And for another, on these dates, I wasn't myself. I was playing the role of Daphne the Dater. Harlan had seen the real me. He'd seen all of me. And lastly, spending more time with Harlan was a slippery slope. He was the sort of man that might cause me to trip and fall in love.

"What happened to your knee?" Davina asked as she powdered around the scrape on my knee so it wouldn't show up on camera.

That scrape was a perfect example of Harlan's power to make me trip and fall.

"I slipped on the porch this morning." I didn't mention that the reason I took a tumble after retrieving the newspaper for my Aunt Rhonda was that I was watching Harlan run his Farm Strong class. I also didn't disclose that I'd had to wipe drool from my mouth when I got up. Even from a hundred or so yards away, Harlan's biceps were drool-worthy.

As Davina made the scrape disappear, Lydia poked her head into the makeshift green room we'd created in Davina's room at the boarding house. "We're ready for you."

I nodded and stood up, feeling much more nervous than I usually did on these dates. Which made sense, considering I'd never gone on one of these dates when there was a chance a man I'd slept with and had somehow developed feelings for in a crazy short amount of time was behind door number one.

My pulse was racing as we walked out onto the porch, where Mrs. B, who owned the boarding house, sat in a rocking chair with a folding fan in one hand and a rolled-up newspaper in the other. And she wasn't alone. At her feet was an adorable hound dog, and beside her was Harlan's grandfather.

Holy crap . If Harlan's grandfather was here, then there was a very good chance that Harlan could be waiting for me. Of course, I knew that it might be a possibility that Harlan would be first up in the bachelor auction rotation; there was a one-in-five chance, but this made it feel like more of a reality.

I lifted my hand in a wave. "Hi, Mr. Mitchell."

He tipped his hat toward me. "Hello, there, young lady."

Butterflies flitted around my belly like flecks of soap flakes in a snow globe as I bent down and rubbed the hound dog behind his floppy ear and tried to calm my nerves. "And who's this?"

"That's Elvis." Mrs. B nodded her chin toward the dog.

"Aww, Elvis the hound dog," I smiled as I stated the obvious.

"Be careful," Lydia warned. "He's friendly ."

"He likes to hump," Mrs. B stated bluntly as she lifted the newspaper she held in her right hand. "That's what this is for. To keep him in line."

Ernie rounded the corner of the house and announced, "Phil is camera-ready."

"Okay." I exhaled as I pressed a quick kiss on the top of Elvis's head before standing up.

"Good luck, hon." Mrs. B offered me the rolled-up paper. "You wanna take this?"

"Does it work on men?" I teased.

"Sure does." She winked at me.

If it was who I thought it was waiting for me around the corner, I wouldn't mind being humped.

"I think I'll be alright, but thanks."

"Have fun!" Mrs. B waved her fan toward us as we made our way down the porch steps.

The walk to ‘set,' which was wherever we were shooting the date, was short. Only about a block. On the way, Lydia looked me up and down. "Can you ride a bike in that?"

Davina had chosen a floral sundress for me to wear today with a fitted bodice and flowy skirt.

"We're riding bikes?" I never knew what the date activity was. Typically, I didn't know who the dater was either. But today that was not the case. My heartrate tripled at the thought of seeing Harlan again.

"Yes, you are riding bikes," Lydia confirmed.

"I was going for a Why Ya Wanna girl-on-the-bike video vibe," Davina explained.

"Well, if Jana Kramer can do it, I guess I can, too," I assured Lydia.

"Okay, there's your mark." Lydia pointed to an X on the ground made out of gaffer's tape. "When I give you the cue, come around the corner."

I nodded as Lydia walked toward Phil, who was standing in the grass with a handheld camera. My nerves were bubbling at the thought that Harlan could be waiting for me. The last time I'd spoken to him was outside the bar, and he'd been on a date with someone else since then. I wasn't sure why that mattered to me, but it did.

My eyes cut to Davina. "How do I look?"

Her head tilted to one side in confusion. I'd never asked how I looked before going on camera…because I'd never cared.

"Beautiful. Everything good?" she asked.

I nodded and fisted my hands at my sides before shaking them out to try and release some of my nervous energy.

"Daphne," Ernie said my name.

I looked up and saw that he was motioning for me to go. My eyes cut to Lydia, and I saw that she was giving me the signal. It was go time. I took a deep breath and walked around the corner, my head looking down at the ground. I'm not sure why my eyes automatically shot to the path in front of me; it had to be a nerve thing.

It wasn't until I saw a man's legs that I lifted my gaze and saw that my first date was not Harlan. It was with the doctor. Elias, I think his name was.

"Hi, I'm Elias," he introduced himself as he handed me a small bouquet of flowers.

Yep. Elias.

"Hi, Elias, I'm Daphne; nice to meet you." I pasted a smile on my face and tried not to look disappointed, which I was.

I hadn't even realized how much my heart was set on thinking I would be dating Harlan today until it sank when I saw it wasn't him.