Page 54 of Mr. Fixer Upper
This time it was Gannon fighting for control. “She’s not my fucking girlfriend. She never has been. The network paired us up for ratings. That’s it. And I told them at the beginning of the season that I was done with that. The show can carry itself now. It doesn’t need to drum up ratings from a fake relationship.”
“I guess you haven’t seen the teaser yet then,” Paige quipped. “God, you’re ruining my career, and it’s like you don’t even care!”
“You’re so ready to roll over and play dead. Why don’t you fight for it?” Gannon snapped back.
Paige’s phone vibrated in the pocket of her shorts, and she yanked it out. Reading the text she felt her blood pressure rocket up into the danger zone. “Oh, great. Just fabulous. Eddie says the network wants you and I giving on-camera interviews together.”
“Well, that should be fun,” he drawled.
It should have been the last straw, but somehow there was no more anger left to feel. She just felt a dark numbness sweeping over her, an acceptance of defeat.
“Sleep in your own room tonight, Gannon, and leave me alone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Paige spent the next two nights tossing and turning on the lonely expanse of mattress and cursing Gannon King and his somniferous body. Her only joy came from seeing him exhausted and pissed off on set. At least she wasn’t the only one suffering.
The show’s teaser had been viewed over one million times, cementing to the network that the subplot of a rocky romance between Gannon and Paige was ratings gold.
She spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about what he’d said about Meeghan. Was it true? Was there really no relationship there? Why was Meeghan so committed to pretending?
Tensions were already running high on set. It was the last day before the family came home, and there were fifty million things to do and zero time to do them. Adding Paige and Gannon’s shitty moods to the mix didn’t help. People were avoiding them both like they were stomach flu carriers.
Gannon was a roiling temper tantrum waiting to happen while Paige played Ice Queen. Their first interview together for the show was so awkward and full of eye rolls that it took nearly half an hour until Andy let them go back to their separate corners. And then he called in the big guns.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Cat approached Paige in the replacement craft services tent where Paige was debating between an apple or a pack of jellybeans for a mid-afternoon snack. “It’s important, and I don’t know who else I can talk to.”
“Of course,” Paige said, dropping the jellybeans and running through all the possibilities of things that could worry Cat. Sometimes the things that threw her were… unexpected. They ran the gamut from seeing a stray cat that she thought was too skinny to men problems.
Cat yanked open the sliding door of the production van and ushered Paige inside in front of her.
“You’re not pregnant are you?” Paige asked over her shoulder.
“Pregnant?” Gannon’s voice cracked like a whip.
“What’s he doing in here?” Paige demanded, trying to turn around but finding her exit blocked by Cat. Cat yanked the door closed behind her.
“What’s your problem with me being here? My sister asked me to be here. What are you doing here?” Gannon snapped.
Cat clapped her hands. “Enough! Guys, I’ve been elected by the entire freaking crew to sit you both down and talk to you about how your preschool behavior is affecting our team.”
Paige closed her mouth with a snap. Gannon, the picture of apathy, kicked back in the one and only chair at the crowded workstation.
“Now, I say this with love, but you two need to get your heads out of your asses,” Cat said, hands on hips. “You’re driving us all nuts during what’s already been the toughest shoot we’ve ever had. You got hurt,” she said, pointing to Paige, “in front of all of us. And there were a few seconds when we thought we might have lost you.”
“I’m sorry—” Paige began, but Cat cut her off.
“We’re working on a house for a little girl who might not be here much longer to enjoy it if her treatment doesn’t take a turn for the better. Walking on eggshells around you two idiots is hurting our abilities to do our jobs.”
Gannon started to argue, but Cat pinned him down with a stare. “Uh-uh. I talk. You listen. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I need you to fix it. We need you both on top of your game if we’re going to deliver the house that little girl deserves. So play nicely, work it out, and get your heads out of your asses!”
“Sorry,” Paige sulked.
Looking uncomfortable, Gannon avoided eye contact with both of them.
“Now, on a personal note. I know you two have feelings for each other. Shut up,” she ordered when they both opened their mouths. “I think you’d be idiots if you let that go just to rebel against the network and the gossip sites. Figure out what you want, go after it, and forget about the rest of it. Understand?”
Paige and Gannon nodded.
