Don’t get me wrong: Dean is a sweetheart, Eric is adorably charming, and Rachel seems really into Bryan for some reason (more on that in a second). But so far, I haven’t gotten the sense that anyone’s really connected to Rachel in the same way that Peter did on their one-on-one. They talked about their gap teeth! They talked about going to therapy! They shared their love of dogs, which is one of the purest forms of love!

Not only are there dogs again, but look at the physical intimacy between Peter and Rachel here!

As Rachel said to Peter at the end of one of their group dates, she thinks she’s very easy to read, but somehow he’s still the only one who picks up on certain aspects of how she’s feeling in a particular moment. “He’s lasered in, and I feel it,” she explained further. That kind of attentiveness is important in a relationship, and might give Peter an edge over his fellow contestants.

Rachel definitely doesn't remember who won that game, but I bet you $10 she remembers how fun it was to flirt with Peter.

I MEAN. We don’t actually know it was that long (whoever said it to Peter when they returned to the group might have been making a joke), but don’t tell me it didn’t seem like the sex scene from a ‘90s romance movie. Sure, Will got the rose over Peter that time, but that doesn’t really matter anymore now that he's out of the picture, does it?

Sometimes dogs can just tell when someone's not right for you, but Copper seemed to have no objections to Peter's presence — he even put his head right on Peter's lap!

Judging by his Instagram, Peter is close with his nieces and nephews, which bodes well for that family full of kids that Rachel wants to have.

This doesn’t have anything to do with his chances with Rachel, of course — the guys who come to the Bachelorette with their problems about other men almost always get tossed out, after all — but it’s heartening to me that in this deleted scene, Peter has exactly the same misgivings about Bryan as I do. He’s always using one-liners! He makes crass jokes about Rachel being “sloppy seconds” for someone else! So far, "too smooth" has very much been Bryan's narrative, so I'm starting to think (or maybe just hope) that Rachel's going to end up not choosing him because of that.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight during the group date at Hilton Head, Peter dismissed the idea that he’s be an ideal Bachelor next season if his relationship with Rachel didn’t work out. "Right now to be completely honest, Rachel's definitely my focus," he said. "I haven't met anybody in my life quite like her, so if I can be that final person with Rachel at the end I will be the happiest man that I can possibly be."

Judging from this preview of the July 10 Bachelorette episode, you might assume that Peter and Rachel's relationship might be on the rocks. What I'm getting from it is that they're willing to have tough conversations about marriage and about their feelings for one another. The show's thrown in misdirections like this before, after all — remember when Nick and Vanessa had to have those serious conversations about where they would live?

I'm just saying, those two are shrewd and they would have looooved Peter.

So, are all these clues actually leading up to Peter and Rachel tying the knot, or is it just wishful thinking on my part? I don't know, but that's certainly not going to stop me from naming all their new imaginary dogs in my head as I keep watchingThe Bachelorette to find out.