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“Before the show, I sat down with a friend who is obsessed with reality dating shows. Well, all shows really, but I asked her to tell me what I should say to win over the ladies. She gave me some key lines and I didn’t want to mess them up, so I wrote them down.”

“Al, you know you’re handsome, fun, and a real catch, right?”

Al grinned. This was going way better than he expected.

“So, were you trying to win over the ladies, or the audience at home?”

The grin slid off his face. “Say what now?”

“These lines, if they aren’t coming from your heart, then whoever you win over isn’t falling for the real you. I’m wondering if you’re really here for the right reasons.”

“Uh …” Jeez, no wonder the prison systems were overflowing when there were prosecutors like this. He was ready to admit to everything.

“What are you doing here, Al? Do you even want to find love? Or do you want more screen time?”

“I’m trying to be the man that you all want me to be.”

“And who do you think I want you to be?”

“The handsome reality star sheriff’s deputy who always says and does the right thing?”

“Sure, that sounds like a nice guy. But is that who you are? Do you even know? Or is that just a person you’ve developed to meet everyone else’s expectations?”

Al scratched his jaw. “I don’t even know anymore.”

Jazz nodded. “I see. When’s the last time you went on a vacation?”

“Last year. Jeannie and I went to the Outer Banks. I had to do a bunch of promos for a tourism company while I was there, but it was free so that was cool.”

“If you worked, it doesn’t count. When is the last time you went somewhere because that’s where you wanted to go? And you didn’t work, didn’t try to make it into anything more than a couple days to relax and have fun?”

Al thought for a minute. “Well, um, never, I guess.”

Jazz laughed. “You know, we may be more alike than I realized. This is my first vacation in years, and it’s not even a vacation. If you could go anywhere, where would you go and what would you do?”

Al thought for a minute. “Well, Jeannie and I always talked about going on a cruise.”

“Interesting,” Jazz said, a sly grin on her face. “That’s your ideal vacation? A cruise with Jeannie?”

Al nodded, smiling. “Yeah. To get on a giant boat and eat, drink, and dance our way across the Atlantic. I would really enjoy that.”

“Jazz!” Lindsey shouted, walking up to them. “Why haven’t you signed the waiver? We need to start filming.”

She turned to Lindsey. “Yeah, I’m not signing that.”

“You have to. Our risk department won’t let you go parasailing without signing the waiver. Al’s already signed his.”

“Did you even read it?” Jazz asked him.

Al shrugged. He’d signed something earlier, not too sure what it was for though.

“Well, I did. And look, I understand they aren’t responsible for a flock of birds getting tangled up in the ropes, causing us to plummet to our deaths. However, I refuse to waive my right to sue if our deaths are due to negligence, misconduct, or an intoxicated staff member.”

Al’s eyes widened. “It said all that?”

Jazz shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“Are you serious?” Lindsey asked, her face paling. “There’s no backup plan.”