Page 121 of Mr. Fixer Upper
He was here somewhere. She started for the stairs and called his name.
But her phone dinged in her hand drawing her attention to the screen.
TV in the living room. Push play.
“Gannon, I need to talk to you!” she yelled up the stairs. His text reply was succinct.
Just shut up and push play.
“It’s not like me being in love with you is important or anything,” she muttered under her breath. Resigned to whatever game he was playing, Paige returned to the living room and snatched up the remote she found on the couch.
She pushed play, and the King’s logo disappeared. In its place rolled raw footage fromKings of Constructionseason one, episode one. Gannon was standing under an oak tree, arms crossed, giving a one-on-one to the camera when he got distracted by something off screen and lost his train of thought.
“I’ve loved you since this exact moment,” Gannon’s gravelly voice announced in a voiceover. “You were just off camera, and something Lou said made you laugh. The sunlight was hitting you like you were in a spotlight. You had this ratty hoodie on and gym shorts that showed off about a mile of those gorgeous legs, and then you turned around and yelled at me to hurry it up. I didn’t know at the time that it was love, but my feelings for you haven’t changed since that day.”
For the second time that night, Paige went weak in the knees. She sank down onto the cool leather of the couch and tried to comprehend. The screen switched to Gannon sitting exactly where Paige was now.
“So that’s how long I’ve loved you. Twenty-one months, twelve days, and,” he checked his watch. “Ten hours.”
He gave her that arrogant grin from on screen. “I didn’t want to love you, so I did my best to get under your skin like you were under mine.”
Clips began to roll of their arguments, including one of Gannon grinning as she stalked off camera away from him. The video continued with Gannon on set wearing a different tool belt than his usual one.
“This was the day it was two hundred degrees in the shade, and you showed up on set in those short cutoffs and a tank. I had a hard-on all day and had to hide it. I don’t think I was fooling anyone. Not where you were concerned.”
Paige pressed her fingers to her lips and watched as she came onscreen. It was her first one-on-one, and she was fussing with the body mic. “I don’t want to do this,” TV Paige muttered. Another few seconds of fidgeting, and then she gave an eye roll and a heavy sigh before slapping on her camera smile and delivering the necessary monologue.
She could hear the smile in Gannon’s voice. “I love how you can be so pissed off and still function like an adult. I’ve learned a lot from you, and maybe I haven’t told you that enough. But I have, and I hope you know that.”
Her smile was watery now, and she swiped at a tear with the back of her hand. The next scene faded in. It was Gannon on the screen in a large workshop somewhere talking to a welder behind a computer. The camera bobbled, and Mel, face pale and hands shaking, stepped on screen holding a cell phone.
“What? What is it?”
Mel took a shaky breath. “There was an accident on set. Paige—”
He grabbed Mel by the shoulders, and Paige saw the panic in those hazel eyes. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know.” Mel shook her head. “Andy texted, and he’s not answering his phone. ‘It’s bad’ is all he said.”
“Keys!” Gannon yelled.
Lou panned to Gannon running out the door, and a moment later, tires squealed in the parking lot.
“That was the night I told you I loved you for the first time. I’d finally figured it out by then. You were sound asleep, drooling on my chest. And I told you. I should have told you every day since then, and I’m sorry I didn’t, but if you’ll let me, I’d like to make up for it,” Gannon said from the screen.
Paige’s tears were flowing freely now.
The scene changed again. This time it was Gannon ordering an injured Paige into her chair behind the camera. And then another of Gannon standing guard during Paige’s one-on-one talking to the camera about the accident. He stood like a bodyguard just off camera, arms crossed, chewing on his thumb nail until he’d decided Eddie was done.
“Okay, that’s enough,” he interjected briskly. “Come on, Paige. I’ll take you back to the hotel.”
She remembered it even as she watched it. She argued with him, but Gannon won. While Cat and Rico were packing her into the truck, Lou caught Gannon taking a phone call on camera.
“No. I’m taking her back,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument for whoever was on the other end. “She needs her rest. You find me anyone on this show or on your damn network that works harder than her. She gave you face time. You got the gory details. Leave it alone, or I’ll make it an issue. You’re not going to exploit her pain for ratings.”
He hung up, looking like he wanted to crush the phone with his bare hands. But Paige saw him catch a glimpse of her waving from the passenger seat, and his expression softens.
“Let’s go, princess.” They’d fooled no one, Paige realized. Looking at the footage after the fact, they couldn’t have hidden their feelings from a blind man. There was too much there, and that was worth hanging on to.
