Page 15 of Catching Coy
Charlotte slumped down in the chair, lifting her feet to rest on a big, square footstool nearby. “Must be love.” She gave a smile and a sigh.
Bellamy wasn’t so sure about Willa. She narrowed her eyes at the woman and then turned her attention back to her phone. It wasn’t the first time Willa had talked about walking in Taggart Dubois’ footsteps or feeling the magic of his roots here. She suspected more and more that Willa was here to use the connection to Little River and the platform of the show to launch herself up next to the great Taggart Dubois.
Willa laughed at Charlotte’s declaration that it must be love and went on singing for a few more minutes before she quieted again. “Whatever happens tomorrow, I have no regrets. As long as I let Coy know how I feel, everything will have been worth it.”
Bellamy huffed quietly. If she were helping Coy analyze what to do with these women, she’d share her suspicions about Willa’s motives. Her attention, however, was pulled by a notification from Instagram that the official Ranch House account had been tagged. Bellamy hired out the social media stuff to a local college student, but she still kept a close eye on the feeds.
This tag was a picture that had to have been taken within the last day or so. Gillian, Charlotte, Bristol, Willa, and Stella were lined up in front of the porch at the Ranch House smiling, their arms around each other. Bellamy glanced at the account that had posted it, not recognizing the name of the man, Jackson Palmer, right off. She’d have to double check that he wasn’t one of the cameramen or crew that the show had brought along. Not that it mattered. Posting this would tip off people that Cam and Lyra had left first. The show had a three to four-week lag, Nico had explained, when he’d gone over the non-disclosure statements with the employees at the ranches and the Ranch House. It was shorter than a lot of similar shows, but with the smaller number of women and the shorter breaks they took each week after the dates, they could produce quickly. The first episode would air while Coy still had two weeks left in filming. It also allowed them to do a live Final Draft Ceremony.
Bellamy looked over the status posted with the picture, scowling even more. “Missing my best friend ?? Hope she’s having a blast at the Arrow C Ranch House. I’m so jealous.” What was with the winking emoji? Bellamy clicked onto the man’s profile, figuring out the wink right away. Multiple pictures of the man with Stella explained a lot, although none of them were technically damning. None of the statuses explained anything, but the cozy way the two looked in them said enough.
Bellamy snapped a screenshot of the status but hesitated before sending it to Agnes or Nico. The way Stella had always tried to fade into the background said there was more to the story. Bellamy stood, rounding her desk and going to the door. Stella wasn’t in the living room with the other girls, so Bellamy headed for the stairs. A cameraman sat on one of the steps, ready to follow anyone upstairs, so Bellamy backtracked and took the back stairs next to the kitchen, coming to the open door of Stella’s room without alerting the wolves. She tapped on the open door, making Stella look up from where she read a book on one of the chairs in the room.
She frowned at Bellamy. “What’s going on?”
Bellamy held up her phone to show Stella the picture. “Can we talk?”
Stella covered her mouth with one hand, then waved Bellamy in. Glancing around to the hallway, she shut the door quietly, hopefully keeping their private talk just that.
“Oh my gosh,” she murmured, stalking across the room and slumping back into her chair by the window. This room had a queen bed on one side and a set of bunk beds on the other. Willa had claimed the queen, clothes Bellamy recognized as hers spilling out of the bag on top of it.
“How did your boyfriend get this picture?” Bellamy crossed the room to sit on the edge of the other chair—low, fluffy things designed for pure relaxation.
Stella didn’t lift her head from where she’d rested it in her hands, elbows on her knees. “Zane said he’d send it to our phones. None of us have them, of course, but for when we left. Mine also sends messages to my computer, which Jackson must be using. Are you going to tell Coy?”
“Yes.” Bellamy couldn’t help the automatic answer. Coy had already mentioned how he felt like Stella was a mystery he wanted to solve. He didn’t deserve keeping her around only to find this out later. Bellamy twisted her fingers together. She hoped part of that quick answer didn’t come from the feeling of relief she got whenever she could count out one of the women as wrong for Coy. “And Agnes. But not before you tell me the whole story.”
Stella took a deep breath and sat up, turning to face Bellamy. She was pretty, more average than the other girls, if Bellamy was being honest, but still beautiful in a girl-next-door kind of way that Bellamy could picture with Coy. Straight, dark blonde hair that dusted across the tops of her shoulders and a petite, curvy figure. She wore glasses right now, though it was the first time Bellamy had seen her wear them—except for the pictures she’d spied on Jackson’s account.
“I wasn’t dating Jackson when I signed up forThe Catch. I’ve known him forever, and had a crush on him, to be honest, but he’d never noticed me. We’d only gone out a few times when the producers offered me a spot, and I didn’t think it was going anywhere. But then it did, and Jackson thought I should come anyway. That it was once in a lifetime, just to hang out and experience all of this in person.” Bellamy couldn’t fault the girl that. She’d been doing the same thing. “Jackson planned how I would just make sure I didn’t try to win Coy’s attention—just be nice and friendly so I could stay a couple weeks. I … I didn’t want to, but he thought it was so cool.” She gave a sigh and fell back against the chair. “I just didn’t want to disappoint him.”
“You wanna go home?” Bellamy reached over to take Stella’s hand and squeeze it.
“Since that first day.” Stella’s voice came out thick. “Coy Jones isn’t arrogant or full of himself the way Jackson thought he would be. You’ve seen Coy play and how he kinda struts on the court.”
Bellamy laughed, earning a watery smile. She nodded. “He is like that.”
“He doesn’t deserve this.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Bellamy scooted over to wrap her arms around Stella. The woman fell into her, breathing deeply. “But you weren’t trying to be mean. I know some people. We can get you out of here, then I can tell Agnes.”
Stella sat back. “Really?” She held onto Bellamy’s hands, squeezing them.
“They’ll lap the drama up.”
* * *
Stella, 24
Teacher
Montpelier, Idaho
“I never wanted to hurt Coy. He is such a great guy, and whoever he chooses is going to be so lucky. I’ve watched him give all his attention to whoever he’s with, making sure they have all of his heart for that moment. He deserves someone who feels that way about him; who wants to give him all of her heart—always.”
* * *
One of thecameramen owed Bellamy a favor, so she convinced him to film a confessional—Agnes really would kill her if she didn’t get at least that—and to not tell anyone about it until Bellamy had spirited Stella away, down the back stairs and into Nash’s Jeep so he could drive Stella to the airport in Casper. Once Stella texted her from Nash’s phone that they were on the freeway headed south, Bellamy sent a text off to Agnes.
