Accept This Dandelion (4 page)

Ben deftly got to his feet and pulled Renee from her chair as the producer rushed over and the camera operators stood by, panning down to capture Renee’s smoldering dress.

“Hey, Renee,” Ben whispered into her ear, “next time there’s fire between us, I’m not going to put it out.”

Ben turned away as the staff brushed off his coat to ensure he was okay. The producer then turned to Renee with a glare.

“Total accident.” Renee held up both hands.

Mike nodded and softened as Ben clapped a hand on his shoulder with a good-natured smile. “She was just trying to make an excuse to get my hands on her.”

“Let’s take a break, and get this cleaned up,” Mike ordered. “You can go back to the other side of the set.” He placed an arm around Ben.

“Nice talking to you, Renee.” Ben winked as Mike led him away.

“Can you believe her?” Mike, the producer, asked Ben, running his hand over the shiny spot on his head.

Ben shrugged and looked over Mike’s shoulder towards Renee and the rest of the girls. Her dress would never be the same, and Ben was pretty sure he could say a similar thing about himself. Their contact had been short, but he was most certainly intrigued. Not only by the way she talked, but also because of what he experienced when he plunged across the space separating them to put out the fire.

Ben realized he had his fair share of dates in his thirty some years of life. The media painted him as a playboy with a different woman on his arm every weekend. Part of that was accurate. He did date a lot. And the testosterone driven part of Ben enjoyed it. A man liked looking at beautiful women. But Ben’s problem with ladies was that no matter how gorgeous, or sweet and charming they were, he didn’t experience anything special. Hence the real reason his first dates never turned into second dates. Women always wanted to see him again. He couldn’t stand starting a relationship if he wasn’t drawn to that person.

Ben knew he needed to grow up. He was the mastermind behind his thriving business. His forethought and ingenuity forced the photography software company he created called ConArt to go worldwide. It spread faster than the recent social media outlets. But what Ben had in the corporate world, he lacked in his personal life. He even went so far as to think he didn’t know how to love someone.

Meeting Renee changed all that. Ben now knew he could feel. He just didn’t know what to do about it.

Ben saw Mike’s hand wave in front of his face. His tore his gaze from Renee, who was limping to the couch, and focused on the hand in front of him.

“You like her.” Mike’s mouth remained half open as he stared. “You like…
her?
”

Ben shrugged. “I haven’t talked to them all yet.” Perhaps someone else in the group would make him tingle like Renee had.

“Yes, but you specifically asked for her to be on the show. And you even changed the name based on how she answered the question about her favorite flower. This isn’t some kind of set up is it?”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked. He was having trouble keeping track of the conversation with Mike when all he wanted to do was watch the contestants.

“You hadn’t met her before, had you? You weren’t dating before this, were you?”

Ben started to realize what Mike implied. Ben wanted to do the show, but he already had a girlfriend, so he simply had her audition for the show and placed her among the contestants. The couple would become popular in the city and would enjoy the fame the local reality program brought to their door.

Ben placed one hand on each of Mike’s narrow shoulders. “I had never seen Renee Lockhart before the day of the audition.” He didn’t mention he
had
heard her voice before, on the radio. But even he hadn’t put two and two together until she brought it up.

“Okay,” Mike agreed. “Shall we continue?”

Ben nodded and surveyed the other side of the room again. He still had half a dozen women to talk to, and he chose one at a time and took them to his little corner. But it didn’t matter how beautiful they were or what they said. He almost thought every woman after Renee made him experience something special, but he wondered if what he felt was residual from being near her. Since Ben never knew what it was like before, he couldn’t be sure. He would continue with the show, and see where things went. It was too early in the game to decide anything. He only had to make one decision that night. Which two girls should he send home?

* * *

Renee sat stiffly on the couch for the rest of the evening, playing with the dark hole in the dress near her calf. She had no choice but to await her fate. She was embarrassed about what happened with Ben, and the other women steered clear of her. She was certain they had to be talking about her. She was a pariah. Eva stuck by her side and entertained her with bright conversation. Renee was encouraged by that. At least she would be able to relate with one other person on the show. She hoped they both survived the evening.

After every lady had time with Ben, the producer sent the crew on a break, and Ben disappeared. Mike stood before the contestants with his clipboard. “Now, each of you will talk to the camera for a confessional time. The person running the camera might ask you a few questions. Ben is in another room doing the same. We’ll have the elimination ceremony next and afterwards, you can go home. This week, the program will be edited together and will air on Monday. Until that time, no one is to say anything about what happened here tonight. After the show airs, you’re free to talk to friends, family, or even other media outlets. Meet back here Tuesday to resume taping.” Mike tapped his clipboard. “There are three cameras posted here, here, and here.” He pointed to three stationary cameras throughout the room. “When you’re ready, go to a camera and do your interview. It shouldn’t take long. Once everyone is done, I’ll bring Ben in for the elimination.”

Mike briskly walked away as silence permeated the studio. The women had been having a good time until Mike interrupted and mentioned the elimination. The twelve contestants looked at one another with questions in their eyes. Who would it be? Renee figured she had a pretty good shot at being the first to go. She made an impression on Ben. After all, she
had
lit herself on fire. But that didn’t mean he wanted an accident prone woman. Renee could see her time on TV going up in flames…quite literally.

Since no one headed toward a camera, Renee decided to get her interview over with. She quickly stood, and the room swayed yet again. She needed to do something about her blood pressure. How could it not be higher after everything she’d been through?

Renee made her way to the nearest corner. “I’m ready for my interview.”

The man behind the camera nodded. “Just stand where you are, and I’ll adjust.”

Renee waited, licking her lips and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes flicked from left to right as she shifted from one foot to the other. What was she supposed to do? She was an awkward mess.

“Okay,” the man finally said. “Start by telling us what you thought tonight when Ben first came into the room.”

“I feared there was a mouse.”

“What?” The cameraman took his eye away from the lens and looked at Renee around the camera.

Renee sighed. She thought she’d been pretty clear. “When all the women squealed earlier, I was certain there was a mouse in the room. So I jumped up and started dancing around. Like this.” Renee pulled her dress up to her knees and kicked her feet up as she looked down at the ground like she was searching for a rodent.

When the man behind the camera didn’t answer, Renee slowly lowered her dress. “Once I noticed Ben was in the room, I felt pretty silly.” Way too late Renee realized what she had just done. She hoped the cameras missed her little dance earlier. Now she was certain they had it.

“Tell us about your one-on-one time with Ben.” The man’s voice was light with amusement.

Renee cleared her throat. Why was this so hard? She was on the radio. But now she couldn’t think of the right thing to say. “I enjoyed speaking with Ben.” Renee tried to act formal. “He was interested in my career and seemed to be a really helpful person.” Renee smiled. There.

“What do you mean by helpful?” the man probed.

“Well, he put the fire out when my dress ignited in flames.” Oops. She just undid all the good she’d done with the last eloquent statement.

“How did I miss that?” the man muttered. “You were on fire?”

“Let’s just put it this way. If Ben likes a woman who burns for him, he won’t pick anyone else.” Renee knew her voice was laced with the irritation she felt.

The man raised a hand above the camera. After a few beats of staring into the lens, he told Renee she was finished, and she could return to the others.

Renee stalked back into the room and slumped onto the scratchy couch. Eva awaited her.

“Did you do your interview?” Eva inquired.

Renee nodded and crossed her arms over herself to hide as much of her existence as possible.

“Me too. They didn’t really have any questions. Just what I thought when he first came in, and how our time together went, that sort of thing.”

Renee pursed her lips. Eva was nice, but she didn’t want to commiserate.

“I just talked about how handsome I thought he was and how intelligent and charming he came across when we spoke alone.”

If only Renee could have said the same thing. She wished her impressions of Ben were what was important. Instead, she brought up her own iniquities and put the focus on herself. If she hoped to make a reputation, she was doing a pretty good job. But her name might be something people enjoyed laughing over, not one they would want to listen to on the radio.

Eva grew quiet, and the two women surveyed the others strolling elegantly across the room to the various cameras for their interviews. They laughed, flipped their hair, batted their eyes, and put their hands on their hips with confidence. Before long, everyone finished, and they knew it was almost time for the evening to come to a close. When Ben entered, the producer at his side, the mood in the studio changed.

“Ladies,” the producer said, “we’ll resume taping in a few minutes. Ben has made his decision, and he will pass out the…dandelions in a few moments. We would like you to come line up at the back of the studio in two rows, and we’ll begin as soon as everything is in order.”

The contestants lined up as requested as one of the crewmembers rolled in a small tray with bright dandelions. Renee glanced at the dandelions and then at Ben. He caught her eye and gave her a wink and an amused smile. Surely that meant something? At the very least, Renee knew she entertained him. But if she stayed past the night, she wasn’t sure what she could do to top catching fire. She hoped she would get a chance to find out…and to redeem her image. Leaving this early would be humiliating. Maybe, if she laid it on thick, she could talk the producer into cutting her out of the program completely to help her save face. They could start with eleven girls instead of an even dozen…

Renee played different scenarios through in her head as she took a spot in the back row with five other women. She would have to cross that bridge if…or when…she came to it. Right now, Ben got to decide, and all she could do was stand there, avoid looking for mice, beware of candles, and wait.

Ben stood at the front of the room, the confidence in his voice running down his back as he called one name after another. He had no clue how this dating show would turn out, but he knew what he wanted to do that particular night. A few women interested him, but most did not. He would get rid of two of those and keep the rest, just for the sake of the show. He didn’t want to lead anyone on, especially those he already knew weren’t for him.

The women he was leery of were those who said and did all the right things…simply because they knew it was what he wanted to hear. Ben suspected those contestants were after his money, his status within the city, his good looks, and the things he could bring to their lives. But he only wanted to bring one thing to a woman’s life…love. His image didn’t allow women to believe that, but it was true.

“Tracy,” he called as the woman with bright red curly hair stepped forward.

Her face beamed under the studio lights. “Tracy, will you accept this dandelion?”

“Of course.”

After she took her dandelion, Ben picked up another weed and spoke again. “Clara.” Clara was one of the women he didn’t think would last long, but he had to give her another chance because she was so beautiful that people might be suspicious if he let her go on the first night.

“Clara, will you accept this dandelion?”

“Will
I
ever.”

“Eva.” Ben smiled as Eva made her way to him from the back row. “Accept my dandelion, Eva,” Ben said, as more of a command than a question.

“I’d love to.” Eva’s eyes sparkled.

Eva was one of the women Ben thought might have real potential. Not only was she adorable, but she seemed to have layers to her personality. He didn’t know her well yet, but he thought she would be someone he could really talk to and enjoy. She didn’t realize how beautiful she was, and Ben liked that.

Ben rattled off more names as he wondered what these women would bring to his life and if he might fall in love. He was used to being numb and uncaring, and he wasn’t sure he could handle deep affection for someone.

When Ben brought himself back into the present, he realized he only had one dandelion left.

* * *

“Tracy…Clara…Eva…”

The elimination ceremony went on and on. Renee’s legs wobbled like they were made of noodles. She was not going to last much longer. There was one weed on the table and three women waiting. One woman was so tall she had to be a professional basketball player, and the other had arms of steel. She obviously worked out way more than Renee did.

The bachelor paused and took a deep breath. He picked up the last dandelion and held it before him. Renee shuddered as his eyes moved over her. He was taking his sweet time inspecting each remaining option. The flower went from tall and proud to wilted and slumpy as it curled over in his hand. The rest of the weeds stayed upright as if they had a pin running through them. This one, however, had seen its best day and was well on its way out.

Ben smirked at the dandelion. “It looks like this one is about to turn into white puff.”

Renee straightened her back. Hadn’t she said something about the white puff of a dandelion in her interview? It was a strange coincidence.

“Yeah, this is about right,” Ben muttered.

Renee took a deep breath. “Spit it out already,” she mumbled as two other contestants turned and looked at her.

“This is my last selection tonight. I want to thank all of you for coming and putting yourself out there. For those of you who remain, I look forward to getting better acquainted.”

Renee sighed. She really couldn’t take anymore. She swayed on her feet.

“This last dandelion has to go to…” Ben paused as Renee held her breath. “The girl on fire. Renee Lockhart.”

Renee blinked and exhaled. He said her name. Was that possible? She was hearing things again, right? A bony elbow press into her side.

“Go.” Eva smiled. “That’s you. Go.”

Renee took one step forward and then another. Would her legs hold her this time? They ached, and her head spun from the long, stressful evening.

“Renee, will you accept my dandelion?”

Renee gazed deeply into Ben’s eyes…and laughed. “I’m sorry.” She stifled her giggle. “It’s just…the way you said that…and the way that weed looks…”

Ben glanced down at the dandelion, now completely bent over in his hand as he offered it to Renee. He smiled as Renee got herself under control.

Renee forced a straight face and nodded vigorously. “Yes, Ben,” she said dramatically. “I will accept your dandelion.” She plucked the wilted weed from his grasp and leaned in to give him a brief hug and an air kiss as the other women had.

As Renee placed her cheek near Ben’s face, he turned his head slightly to the right, and she caught the edge of his mouth with her lips. Her cheeks burned as she paused.

“I told you,” he whispered into her ear so that the others couldn’t hear, “the next time there’s a fire between us…I’m not putting it out.”