Next the footage changed to highlight Montague’s crew staking out mansions near where they planned to build the next set of tiny houses. Booing and hissing rose from the assembled crowd before the show flipped back to Gabe following Avery around and Elizabeth sticking close to Walker. The contrast between Gabe’s willingness to help with chores and Elizabeth’s obsession with her phone was played up to comic effect.
“What about Brody?” Avery hissed to Riley.
Riley shrugged, but there he was on screen, arriving with his guitar case and cowboy hat.
“There’s a handsome devil,” Brody called out. There was a polite titter, but only Jess laughed.
In the show, Brody strummed on his guitar and sang a song by the fire pit, footage Avery was sure he loved because it showed him at his best, but before any of them could settle in to enjoy—or endure—the song, the scene changed to show a much younger Brody playing with a band at some club. A date flashed on-screen, one perilously close to when she’d met him at eighteen. He was lankier back then with a hat so pristine and new it nearly glowed. A montage flipped by of his life: his tours with his little known band. Photos of his apartments, family reunions he’d attended. “I hope he settles down one of these days,” a woman labelled “Brody’s Mom” said into a camera. “But my son dates a new girl every week.” A date flashed up on the screen. Five years ago—well into his supposed marriage to Avery.
The footage changed to start including clips from Avery’s life. She’d kept a video diary for years, and it had been easy to coordinate footage with dates. On-screen, images of Brody at shows, Brody kissing other women, Brody on vacation and more flashed up with pertinent dates, alternating with entries from Avery’s video diary, showing her in other locations, at other occasions, with other men in other homes and with her own family.
The message was clear: she and Brody were never in the same place at the same time, even within days of their marriage. They never talked to each other, never called each other—Avery’s phone records flashed on-screen—were never photographed or caught on camera together despite both of them spending considerable time being filmed. The episode ended with Renata interviewing Avery.
“Tell me about your marriage to Brody,” she asked.
“I danced with him at a club, went to some chapel, went to some motel and fell asleep. When I woke up, he was gone. All in all, I spent less than six hours with the man. I’ve never heard from him since until he showed up here. Is that what you call a marriage?”
The footage switched again. Here was Brody playing a song at the fire pit, Jess watching avidly from a few feet away. Brody going for a walk with Jess. Brody eating dinner with Jess. Brody leaning in close to talk to Jess. Leading her behind the bunkhouse.
Brody and Jess locked in an embrace.
Someone whistled.
“Well, hell,” Brody said when the episode ended and quiet descended on the room. “Guess you got me.” He took off his hat, looked at it and settled it on his head again. “Look a little foolish now.”
Someone gave a sob, and Jess, who’d been in the back of the room with the rest of the crew, rushed out of the bunkhouse.
Avery held her breath as Brody watched Jess’s flight.
“I did marry Avery,” he said, turning in his seat to face the rest of them. “Hell, she was cute and sad and lonely, and I thought, why not?”
“What did you think in the morning?” Avery stood up. “When you woke up early and skedaddled?”
A camera crew was capturing all this, and she wanted to get his words on the record.
“I thought, hell, I’m not ready to be married! And you’re right; I made a run for it.”
“But you kept the paperwork,” Riley pointed out. “You must have known you were doing something wrong.”
“Always keep the paperwork. That’s what my mom says,” Brody said. “Doesn’t matter how you do it—just shove it in a file somewhere and keep it. Never know when it will come in handy.”
Riley laughed, then covered her mouth. “Sorry,” she mumbled, “but that’s such a mom thing to say.”
“When I saw you on Base Camp, I told myself, “This is it; this is why I had to keep the paperwork,’” Brody went on.
“Because in your heart you still loved her?” Leslie asked.
Brody made a face. “Because it was my ticket onto television. You know how long I’ve been trying to make it big? It’s not easy out there. Now the whole world is going to hear me play and sing.”
Avery lifted a hand to her forehead. Fame? That’s what this was about?
Of course it was.
“So you’ll agree to an annulment?” Riley said. “You’ll sign the paperwork right now?”
“As soon as that episode airs tonight and the world gets a gander at my singing, I’ll sign whatever you want,” he said. “I didn’t come here to be the bad guy. That’s not my brand.”
Avery let out her breath in a whoosh of relief. Savannah leaped up from her seat beside her. “I knew it would all work out,” she cried and hugged her.
Avery turned to Walker. There was still time to get that annulment.
She could marry him—
“Don’t even think about it!” Elizabeth stood up, too, and blocked her.
“If you and Brody aren’t going to be married much longer, guess that means I’m back on deck, then!” Gabe jumped into her path, as well.
Avery couldn’t stand it anymore.
Any of it.
She fled out the bunkhouse door, the same way Jess had.
Chapter Seven
‡
“Damn it, go after her!” Boone yelled. “No one goes anywhere alone!”
“Someone needs to find Jess, too,” Chris barked, shoving other crew members toward the door.
Walker
