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Silicon Valley guy?
    BRUCE
    (
smiling
) Yup, yup. Living the California dream. I have a high-tech company in Palo Alto. We design video games. Our latest release is Mad Bees. Have you heard of it?
    CHERYL (O.S.)
    No.
    BRUCE
    (
sitting up straighter and jiggling his legs
) Oh, sure, sure. Not everyone’s heard of it. But, you know, we’re exploring the plight of the bumblebee.
    CHERYL (O.S.)
    Like in
Fantasia
?
    BRUCE
    No, no.
Plight
, not
flight
. And anyway,
Fantasia
was . . . uh, never mind. The point is the declining population of the bumblebee is alarming—
    CHERYL (O.S.)
    Bumblebees or honeybees?
    BRUCE
    Both, really, but our first merchandise release was about the bumblebee. It was more of a marketing decision rather than ecological, I’ll admit. Bumblebees are brighter yellow and our focus groups consistently kept picking the bumblebee over the honeybee, and, hey (
flashes a winning smile
), you gotta listen to focus groups, right?
    CHERYL (O.S.)
    Right. Right. So, your business is doing well. You said you’re living the dream?
    BRUCE
    Business is booming, yes. More than I’d ever imagined. But there
is
something missing in my life.
    CHERYL (O.S.)
    Let me guess. You’re on the show to find love.
    BRUCE
    Now, that would be a dream come true.
    •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •
    T he crew ushered us to the back of the mansion, poolside. The sun was setting lower in the sky, casting a romantic feel around the patio. Everyone was handed a fake cocktail by a crew member and told to mingle and smile.
    My drink was blue-colored soda water with a lime on top. Cheryl had positioned herself behind me, within earshot but out of camera range. I sipped at my drink and tried to clear my head, finding it difficult to concentrate with Cheryl breathing down my neck.
    The men were clustered around, talking to each other. When Edward saw me alone, he broke away from his group and approached me. “Can I steal you away for some chitchat?”
    “What are you hoping to get out of this?” I asked him.
    I heard Cheryl snort behind me.
    Battle-ax.
    Edward smiled. “Love, of course.”
    Well, they were all going to say that, now, weren’t they? They weren’t going to tell me to my face that they were in it for the money. No wonder Cheryl had snorted. I was an idiot!
    Edward gazed at me and I felt a mild nervousness.
    Were those butterflies in my stomach?
    A huge splash came from the pool. Edward and I turned toward it. Nathan had flopped into the pool and now was climbing on top of his surfboard.
    “Come on, guys. I need some waves,” Nathan yelled.
    It didn’t take much; within seconds Bruce and Mitch were in the water splashing about and causing a tidal wave. Nathan did a backflip off his board with a great wallop.
    “Someone is going to crack their head open on the side of the pool,” Edward said.
    An involuntary shudder coursed through my body, as images of Aaron slamming into the bay filled my mind.
    Edward placed a soothing hand on the small of my back and I was vaguely aware that the cameras seemed to zoom in on us.
    I swallowed past the horrific images in my head and said, “It’s a good thing we have a doctor nearby.”
    Edward laughed. “Guys will do anything to get your attention, right?”
    I shrugged and took a deep breath. “Tell me about yourself.”
    “I’m from the Bay Area. I graduated from Stanford Medicine two years ago and now I’m an intern at UCSF.”
    If he was from the Bay Area and had lived and worked in San Francisco, then it was possible that he knew about my humiliating departure from my job as a public information officer. My termination had been all over the local news. I stuffed down the feeling of disgrace that threatened to surface and focused instead on the butterflies.
    Edward was kind and warm, and I already knew his bedside manner was appealing.
    Before I could speak, a crew member thrust a towel in my hand. I watched Nathan climb out of the