Page 28 of Playing With My Heart Strings

dusty

Final Five

Only half of the women remain after Jade’s elimination last night. The show is in full swing, and the final decision looms over me, even though it feels like we just started.

I was informed there wouldn’t be an elimination this week, but I was also told the girls didn’t know so I have to keep it a secret. Knowing I’ll get to spend an extra week with the five of them gives me some comfort, but it also means the next elimination is going to be even tougher.

I’m taking one of the ladies on a date today. As much as I want to take Baylor, especially after last night, I still need to get to know the other girls. They’re talented, and I want to help them as much as I can.

The only person I haven’t gotten to talk to about the Aspen-Baylor drama is Valerie, so my plan is to take her.

I don’t want drama to cloud our entire date like it did with Sage’s—and Aspen’s, but that was different—so I’m going to try my best to get the conversation over with quickly so we can enjoy our day.

I also want to talk to Baylor, but I want to hear from everyone before that happens. I’m ready to move past whatever this is, even if it means that Aspen has to go home. I hope it doesn’t come down to that, of course, but right now, if I had the choice between Aspen or Baylor, I’d choose Baylor.

Instead of meeting Valerie at the date spot, I’m staying at the house until the girls arrive so we can all eat breakfast together. It’ll be a good opportunity to see the dynamic of the contestants together and maybe see where the root of the drama is coming from—that is, if any manifests.

The cars pull up to the house thirty minutes later, and the girls all pile out.

We only have two more weeks before we go on the road for what Ace High is calling a “mini tour.” Truthfully, it’s just three different cities, and two of them are in Tennessee.

But it’ll give the girls a taste of what touring with me might look like, and give me an opportunity to perform with them live in front of an audience.

Because at the end of the day, this is also about who I want to continue my career with.

“Hi, Dusty!” Katherine waves at me as she walks into the house before walking over to pull me into a hug.

“Morning, ladies,” I greet the rest of them as they follow behind. Once they’re all here, we take a seat at the dining table and the caterers who arrived early this morning start passing out plates of food.

I take a few quick bites, knowing I’ll be leaving here soon before asking, “How was everyone’s night?”

I don’t enjoy small talk, but there’s not much else to discuss right now. The deeper conversations happen during solo dates or one-on-one conversations.

“It was good. It’s wild that there’s only five of us left. It feels like we just arrived,” Valerie answers first, and the other girls nod in agreement, even Aspen.

“Jade and I were pretty close, so I was sad to see her go.” Aspen hangs her head a little, and I can’t tell if it’s genuine or an act now that the cameras are here.

Jade was the one person, besides Valerie, who I hadn’t gotten to speak to about Aspen, and part of me wishes I had spoken to her.

Especially now, knowing that they were somewhat friends.

“I’m just glad to be here another week.” Sage laughs, lightening the mood a bit.

“I’m looking forward to this week.” I cut into the conversation after dabbing my face to get the syrup from my pancakes out of my mustache. “There are some important conversations to be had, but we’ve got some amazing dates lined up as well.”

Any chatter amongst the girls has ceased as they wait for me to announce who will be going on the first date this week.

“I won’t keep you waiting.” I chuckle as I look around the table. “Valerie, would you like to go on this date with me?”

A sigh escapes the lips of one of the girls, but my eyes are locked on Valerie as she smiles and nods.

“Absolutely, I’ll go on the date with you.” She scoots her chair out from the dining table, leaving her breakfast untouched.

Before I follow suit and slide out from the dining table, I grab a piece of bacon for the road. “Have a great breakfast, ladies, and I’ll see you later.”

As we walk toward the front door of the house, I place my free hand on the small of Valerie’s back and whisper, “I’m excited to have this time with you today.”

She looks over at me, practically beaming, and replies, “Me too.”

The producers bring us to a farmers market in the heart of the city. When we arrive, there are two big open-air buildings—one on each side of us—housing vendors. Straight ahead are the gardens and a stage where a band plays live music in front of a seating area with picnic tables.

“This is amazing,” Valerie gasps as she takes it all in.

Before today, I’d never been to any of the farmers markets in Nashville.

I’d never had time with my busy schedule and touring, although supporting small business owners is high on my list of priorities.

Back in Oklahoma, my family often sets up at local markets, and being here causes a rush of childhood memories to flow through my mind.

But I push them away as quickly as they come, not allowing guilt to rise in my chest.

I left home to make a better life for myself and for my family. I don’t— can’t —regret the decision I made, because what’s done is done. But the pressure to succeed, knowing that one wrong decision could be the end of it all, continues to weigh on me.

“Where do you want to go first?” I ask in an attempt to completely clear my mind and focus solely on today’s date.

“Should we just make our way down the line?” she suggests.

I nod, taking her hand and leading her toward the building to our left. Immediately, we’re greeted by stands and stands of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Good morning, folks!” one of the vendors greets us, even as camera crews follow us around.

“Oh, look at these!” Valerie points to some tomatoes as she moves down the line of vendors. “Do you like to cook?”

“I’m not very good at it.” I laugh. “But I’ll occasionally cook meals for myself. Do you?”

“I love cooking. Especially for my friends and family. My mom is Greek, so growing up, she frequently made a dish called strapatsada for family breakfasts,” she explains.

“She didn’t want me and my siblings to forget about our roots, and food is such a wonderful way to bring people together, so she taught us how to make several traditional dishes. ”

“Your mom sounds wonderful.” I turn to the seller behind the stand. “How much for a few of these tomatoes?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that!” Valerie protests.

“I insist. Come on, let me do this for you. That way you can teach me how to make your mom’s dish. I can use all the cooking tips I can get.” I wink at her before handing the vendor a twenty-dollar bill.

She hands us a bag filled with tomatoes and the change.

“Wait, okay, so if we’re going to make a recipe from my family, we have to make one from yours, too. It’s only fair,” Valerie declares as we continue walking through the market.

“My mom makes this incredible strawberry shortcake,” I reminisce.

“We can make my recipe as a late brunch and yours can be dessert later. I’m always up for a good shortcake. And I love strawberries.” She looks like she’s stuck in a daydream, and it would be impossible for me to say no to anything she asks at this moment.

We shop for all the ingredients we’ll need for our cooking venture later this afternoon then head toward the gardens.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you.” I don’t want to ruin the fun we’re having, but the topic of Aspen still needs to be addressed.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She looks up at me, taking her attention away from the flowers she was inspecting.

“I don’t want to put a damper on our date, because I’ve really had an incredible time with you so far, but I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this for a couple weeks now and I want to hear everyone’s perspective,” I lead into the conversation, but she beats me to it.

“Oh, this is about Aspen, isn’t it?” Her voice has a tinge of disappointment to it, like she was hoping to talk about anything and anyone but Aspen.

I nod. “It is.”

She sighs, looking down at the flowers, and starts rolling a petal between her fingers.

“I’m guessing you’ve talked to mostly everyone, so you’ve probably heard a lot of what’s going on?

” She waits for me to nod before continuing.

“There’s been some...tension…between Aspen and Baylor.

Aspen’s gone on about how she’s here to win and not here to make friends and that if Baylor was here for the right intentions that she wouldn’t be trying to make friends either.

It’s messy, to say the least. I try to stay out of all of it, but there are only five of us here and we’re always together, so it’s difficult.

Aspen’s also got it in her head that the producers have something to do with Baylor being here.

“I mean, I know she’s here because the viewers chose her to be here.

And the producers would have had to make an executive decision to bring someone on who didn’t audition, but other than that, I’m not really seeing a connection between production and Baylor being a contestant.

At least from my interactions with her, she seems genuine.

She’s always been kind to me and the other girls, aside from Aspen, but I can’t exactly blame her.

If my character was being called into question, I probably wouldn’t be friendly either. ”

I don’t interrupt, letting her get all of her thoughts out before asking any questions or making any remarks. “I appreciate you being so open about this.”

She shrugs, like it doesn’t affect her, but I know it has to in some ways.

It doesn’t feel great to be bringing up other drama during our time together, and I hope I can make it up to her later.

But I’m one step closer to getting closure on the situation.

A relief, considering we’re already halfway through this process.

“Hey, let’s not let this affect the rest of our day, yeah?

” I lightly kiss her forehead to try to reassure her and show her that I’m still present, or at least as present as I can be with Baylor still in the back corners of my mind.

“Pick out some flowers, I want to buy them for you.” It’s probably a shitty way of making it up to her, using more money to save this date, but it’s the only thing I can think of doing.

“You don’t have to do that for me.” I can tell Valerie is trying to be polite, but a traitorous blush creeps into her cheeks.

“Pick out your favorites. Come on, now.” I nudge her playfully with my elbow as she smiles and starts to walk around the greenhouse, scoping out all the florals. A few minutes later, she has a pretty bouquet of lilies, white roses, lavender, and daisies.

“Thank you for all of this, Dusty. I had a really fun time.” Valerie leans her head into my shoulder as we walk toward the street where the car is waiting to take us back to the house.

“The day’s not over yet. We still have to try out these recipes.”