Page 4 of The Marriage Narrative
“Is it? Why?” Zinnia asked him.
“You must be hiding something if you don’t want people checking you out before this. I searched your name and all I found was a pie-eating contest you won at a county fair a few years back.” He showed her his screen—and yep, that was her, holding up a first-place ribbon while posing with the equally excited wizened town mayor. Grace and Fiona were there too, standing off to the side. They’d been on a road trip to Vancouverand spontaneously decided to stop at the quaint as heck small-town fair they’d spotted from the freeway.
“I still don’t know why they decided that was front-page newsworthy,” she muttered with a sigh. “Anyway, I’m not hiding anything. I’m an open book. You can ask me whatever you’d like. I just don’t live my life online.”
“Not for long. Couples content makes bank.”
“Sorry, but am I supposed to know what that means?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’mdefinitelygoing to post about being engaged. This is it, right? Our thirty days starts now?”
“Not quite.” She placed her tablet on the table and pulled up her checklist.
They’d already covered the basics during their call—why she was doing this, yes, she was serious, and no, she wasn’t a serial killer. Apart from officially meeting in person, she wanted to use their time to discuss the more sensitive questions.
“Let’s talk medical history,” she said, diving right in. “Do you or anyone in your family have a history of cancer, diabetes, or chronic illnesses?”
He blinked at her in surprise, mouth hanging open.
“Oh, and please include everything from seasonal allergies to STDs, those that are recurring and in remission.” She held her stylus at the ready, waiting to record his answers.
“Whyare you asking methat?” He kept his voice low, tone saturated with frantic urgency.
“Because I need to know. Your required medical care will be my required medical care once we’re married. I’m going to share my history too,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Oh, do you want me to go first?”
Grace’s maniacal laughter erupted from across the diner, echoing in Zinnia’s ear.
“That’s our girl,”Fiona chimed in.
“No,” Sam said. “I don’t care about that stuff.”
“You should.” She kept smiling through her discomfort. “Having a disease or illness won’t affect my decision. We’ll need to spend some time discussing how best to support you, obviously, and compare our healthcare plans, but there isn’t—”
“You need tochill.” His lips curled in irritation. “I thought we were going to talk about moving in and getting married.”
“We are but—”
“Then let’sdiscussthat. Where do you live? How big is your apartment? How many rooms?”
“Well, I have—”
“Because I’m a streamer. I’ll need an entire room for my gaming studio.”
“Red Flag Two!”Grace said.
“Hold on Red,”Fiona said.“He knows you’re an artist, right? We could potentially partner with him for custom merchandising. Ask him which platform and subscriber count.”
“I’d love to hear more about that,” Zinnia said. “You’re an electrician during the day, so you must stream at night and on the weekends?”
“That’s right. It’s all about consistency and skill. Not to brag”—he paused, clearly prepared to do so—“but I just secured my biggest brand deal to date. You’re lucky you’re getting in with me early. When I blow up, you’ll be able to say you knew me from the beginning.”
“Ask about his subs!”Fiona urged.
“Realistically, it’s probably like two hundred,”Grace said.“I’ll bet that brand deal was for fifty dollars.”
Zinnia ignored them both. “I’d also like a room for my shop. We’ll have to review our finances to see how comfortably we can afford four bedrooms or if we’ll have to make do with two.”
He thought about it for a moment. “That’s fair. Your little shop stuff is super cute. If we can only afford two rooms, we can split the extra one seventy-five to twenty-five. A laptop and a desk should be enough for you, right? I’ll needwaymore space than that.”
