"This season on the Bachelorette we are in for an exciting ride as Gail resumes her journey to find love. We all remember last season when Nick proposed, Gail said yes, and the two began to plan a wedding. But to everyone's shock, Nick left Gail at the altar. This time Gail is in charge and will be making all the decisions as she chooses who stays and who goes. Gail will meet twenty-five available bachelors, all from different backgrounds and different parts of the country," says Chris Harrisun.
A yellow Z28 Camaro pulls up outside the Bachelor's mansion. Gail steps out of the driver seat and walks over to Chris who greets her with a smile and a "welcome back."
Gail can't help but roll her eyes as she steps into a hug from the host. Chris continues, "Are you ready to start your new journey to find love?"
"I feel like I've done a lot of healing and growing. I was so blindsided when my relationship with Nick ended."
"I think we all were," interjects Chris.
"Right, so I've had a few months now to get over Nick and reflect on my relationship to see what went wrong and have now realized we were in two different places (literally she thinks). Some people might think I'm not ready for this, but I am. I'm ready to find love, I'm ready to get married, and I'm ready to start a family."
"That's we wanted to hear, how are you feeling about meeting the guys?" asks Chris.
"I'm a little nervous, but extremely excited," says Gail.
"Well we got a great group of guys for you, so let's get started," and with that Chris Harrisun leaves Gail all to herself standing in front of the large mansion with the wet walkway and the first limousine pulls up.
"Here we go," Gail whispers to herself. I can't believe I agreed to do this again, well at least it gets mom off my back she thinks.
The first guy gets out of the limo; he buttons his blazer, and confidently walks over to Gail. "Hi," as he goes in for the hug.
Getting caught off guard Gail hugs back and mumbles, "I'm not much of a hugger." I wonder how many hugs I'm going to be subjected to tonight she thinks.
"I'm Jack," he continues, "and you look gorgeous." Gail did look gorgeous, wearing a slim fitting, navy blue, long gown, and her platinum blonde hair perfectly done up in her signature pony tail.
"Thank you, you look nice too. Where are you from?"
"Oh yeah, so I'm Jack, I'm from Owen Sound, and I work at the local college as an instructor for Great Lakes Marine Training."
"Wow, that sounds great, well it was great to meet you, head on inside and I'll be there in a little bit," as Gail points the way for Jack towards the front doors of the mansion. Jack smiles and heads inside, and another bachelor gets out of the limo.
This man has a tan clearly visible against his white jacket, he strides over to Gail and holds out his hand for a hand shake. "Hey, I'm Erik, and I work on a vineyard in the Niagara area. But in my free time I like to participate in War of 1812 battle reenactments."
"Wow, how…fascinating, you run around willingly being shot at." A long pause, as the two stare at each other. "Well it was great to meet you and I'll see you a little latter on." As Erik walks away Gail thinks, the only thing I remember about the War of 1812 was the chocolate lady Laura Secord, gosh I could really go for some chocolate right now. Another bachelor emerges from the limo.
This one casually walks over to Gail and says, "Hello my name is Liam, I am a blacksmith from Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia. And I just wanted to say I'm glad you're the bachelorette this season."
"Well thank you, what is the most interesting you've ever made?"
"We normally make equipment for fishing vessels, but sometimes we get commissioned to make War of 1812 styled swords. They are so cool."
"I'm excited you're here and can't wait to meet everyone and learn a little about you all. I'll see you later," Gail says as she ushers him away. Another history person, yawn, what are with guys and weapons?
The next limo arrives and the first guy to step out has an upturned umbrella and is miming walking into a blustery wind. He reaches Gail and says, "You just blew me away last season like a strong gale."
"Wow, how clever (internally rolling her eyes). So you know who I am, but who are you?"
"My name is Michael and I am a meteorologist from Vancouver, but all my friends call me 'lightning' and you're going to have to come find me later to find out why," Michael finishes as he walks down the path into the house.
Pretty sure it's because you're a meteorologist and you're friends probably don't call you that, Gail decides as she rolls her eyes.
A taller, well built man, who has a very non-threatening smile gets out of the limo next. "Hi my name is Chris and I'm so happy to be here."
"I'm happy you're here too Chris, where are you from?"
"I'm originally from Timmins, but I work as a police officer in Toronto."
"I'm a police officer too, something we have in common. I look forward getting to know you better; I will see you a little later on."
More fellas come; most give the regular speech consisting of name, hometown, and occupation. One pulled up in Lamborghini, clearly a rental, another came on horseback, like I need a prince to save me, and someone was dressed as a dragon, I don't really get that connection.
The last guy gets out of the limo, he's medium height, wearing a too tight grey jacket, and has bangs. He rushes over to Gail and eagerly introduces himself, "I'm Dov and I totally respect you for coming back this year after what you went through."
"Thanks, it's great to be back and give it another go. So Dov where are you from?"
"I'm from Toronto and I work as a police officer, so if any of these guys give you any trouble, I'll help you out."
"I'll keep that in mind, but I can handle myself thanks. Why don't you go join the rest of the guys and I'll see you in a bit." With that Dov leaves Gail by herself and Chris Harrisun reappears.
"So…they look like a great group of guys. Do you think you just met your soul mate?" asks Chris.
"Yeah, they seem great, a real variety. And I do…I do think my soul mate is in that house." Chris gives a smile and ushers Gail into the house to rejoin the guys.
Gail takes her time walking into the mansion, she gives herself time to catch her breath and center herself. She regroups and considers all her options how best to find what she is truly looking for. She walks into the main room and all the men stand up and applaud, she is given a glass of champagne and is expected now to give a speech. Uh oh, she thinks, keep it short and sweet. Gail clears her throat and begins, "I'm so glad you all are here, I am so thankful that you are all giving this a chance, keep your heart open and who knows maybe we'll fall in love." Everyone clinks their glasses together and cheer.
Two seconds later Dov approaches Gail and asks, "Can I steal you for a minute?" Everyone else groan and someone says 'and so it begins.'
Dov and Gail walk outside and Dov begins his spiel, "I always knew I wanted to be a police officer, catching bad guys, keep criminals off the street, you understand."
"I do understand, considering I also am a cop. There's another police officer from Toronto here too, do you know Chris?"
"Oh yeah, Chris and I are buds. So as I was saying, I love my job. You get to keep the city safe and make sure people feel comfortable being out of their homes. But, now I want to find someone to share my life with, and they need to understand how much I love my job." Just as Dov finishes, Jack appears and looks at Gail, "Can I steal you for a minute?"
Gail and Jack go sit on a bench by the pool. "Were you nervous being the first guy out of the limo?" asks Gail.
"Honestly, yes I was. I was shaking and you were standing there looking beautiful, and I got even more nervous. But it helps that you were in this experience last year so you know what us guys are going through."
*CRASH* Gail and Jack hear a loud sound and look back to the house and can hear voices arguing. Gail quickly apologizes to Jack and heads inside to see what's up. Inside the mansion Dov and Chris are facing one another with thunderous stares.
Gail approaches the two and asks, "What's going on, what are you two arguing about?"
Dov points at Chris and says, "He wasn't supposed to be here. We agreed I would apply and come on the show to meet you."
Chris looks confused and utters, "I never agreed to anything."
Dov gets closer to Chris, so Gail steps closer to them to try and calm them down. Dov still visibly upsets declares, "We had a pact; we knew we both liked her from last season, but we decided I would come on the show."
"I don't remember agreeing to that." Dov clenches his fists to punch Chris but Gail intervenes and steps between the two and gets a fist to the face. Gail staggers back holding onto her face, shaking her head.
"Ouch! What the hell!" Gail yells. Chris Harrisun appears in front of Gail and puts an arm over her shoulder to lead her away from the guys. "I'm going to need a minute," Gail tells Chris Harrisun and walks away.
Gail is sitting in one of the upstairs rooms that she became way too familiar with last year. Gail has her face in her hand and sighs, what have I gotten myself into. She's sitting on the bathroom floor when she sees someone quickly walk by, with what appears to be a red lunchbox. "Hey lunchbox!" Gail calls out.
The person comes back into view in front of the bathroom door, "who me?" Gail now sees that the person is a woman with brown hair and glasses, and appears to be smiling at Gail. Gail nods her head and the woman enters the bathroom. "This is actually a first aid kit, not a lunch box. I am here to look at your face or would you rather I bring you a snack?"
"Are those my only options?"
The lady laughs. "Hi, I'm Dr. Holly Stewart. Please move your hands from your face so I can take a look." Gail surprisingly does what she's told and lets Holly touch her face where Dov punched her. "It looks ok, does it hurt much?" Gail shakes her head and stares into Holly's eyes. Holly is extremely focused on Gail's face. "Do you need any pain meds?" Holly asks looking into Gail's eyes. Gail shakes her head again. Holly smiles and asks, "Do you need anything, besides a snack?"
Gail thinks for a second and says, "Do you mind sitting with me for a second?"
"Of course. Why don't you put this ice pack on your face while we wait." Holly sits next to Gail on the bathroom floor and hands over an ice pack. Another thing Gail didn't think she would be doing again, the first one was coming back to the mansion since it worked out so well the last time, the second being sad on the bathroom floor of this mansion. Gail and Holly sit in silence for a while.
Gail breaks the quiet by muttering, "I don't' remember you from last year, are you new?"
"Uh, yeah…I needed a break from my ordinary life and a colleague recommended I apply to be the on hand doctor for this season, so I did, and yeah. But I watched your season last year, and I'm sorry for what happened to you."
"Me too, but maybe it was for the best. Holly, I'm like a cat. I'm very good at climbing trees, but the minute that I get up there, I have no idea what to do, I want to get down, but I don't know how to do that, so I create an emergency situation to get out of it. But this time Nick beat me to it."
"He got out of the tree first?"
"Of our relationship," whispers Gail.
"Yeah I used to be like that, but it turns out I didn't like men."
Gail removes the ice pack and prods her face. "I don't think I like men either."
Holly says, "I mean I'm a lesbian."
Gail pushes herself up off the bathroom floor, examines her appearance in the mirror, makes sure there's not too much damage, and heads towards the door and says, "Oh I mean I hate people."
Holly continues to sit on the floor and smirks at Gail's retreating figure.