He looks a little surprised that she hasn’t tried to soften the description. ‘But you’re happy, aren’t you?’

She can see his growing concern. ‘Yeah, of course.’ She glances down at her ring sparkling on her finger. It still feels foreign. ‘A slightly more romantic proposal would have been nice …’

‘Well, I’m glad I wasn’t there to film it.’

‘He wanted you to?’

Ed nods, somewhat in disbelief. ‘He really wanted me to come.’ He shakes his head. ‘But I just kept thinking of your face when you realised what he was doing—in front of everyone. I knew you wouldn’t want to watch that back.’

Darcy feels her face redden at the mention of her reaction. Ed knows her so well that he’d anticipated her face falling. Ten years of being in a relationship with Drew and he thought she’d like it. ‘Well, I guess I should thank you for not coming.’

He shrugs it away. ‘Hey, what are friends for?’

‘Bonnie, can I steal you away?’

Bonnie glances at the other girls she’s sitting between, one of them being Imogen. The girls offer tight smiles but are clearly gritting their teeth. Everyone is obsessed with time. The more time you can spend with Ty, the more likely you’ll form a connection and the more likely you’ll get a key. Bonnie quickly gets to her feet. ‘Of course.’

Ty holds his arm out for her and Bonnie does her best not to smile too much. She can feel Imogen glaring her down and knows that the second they walk away, Imogen will be badmouthing her to the other contestants. If Ty honestly likes Bonnie, she can’t begin to grasp the idea of him genuinely liking Imogen too.

He leads her away to a private garden—well, private besides the crewmembers and cameras. ‘You’re quiet in the group,’ Ty comments, waiting for an explanation.

Bonnie would love to moan about Imogen and tell him that he’d be doing the rest of the girls a favour if he got rid of her at the next key ceremony, but Carla’s warning to not bitch about any of the girls to Ty rings loudly in her ears. ‘Just trying to stay out of trouble,’ she says lightly. They sit next to each other on a bale of hay set up in front of a tin shed. Fairy lights twinkle above them and a cluster of candles flicker nearby.

He reaches out and touches her hand. Bonnie’s eyes flick towards the camera. ‘There are a lot of loud personalities too,’ he says.

Bonnie simply nods. The loud personalities are infectiously irritating, but somehow, here with him, the rest of the girls seem insignificant and annoyances fade away.

‘You seem to be coping okay,’ she says, ‘considering you’re like a hot chip among seagulls.’