I appreciate that she’s giving me the benefit of the doubt. “Then I could team up with some guys who want tostarta flipping show, and we could make a YouTube show out of fixing it up. So I get free help, and they get publicity, and we all get paid based on views.Jason Builds Sh!t. Something like that.”
“Huh.” Her brow furrows in thought, but she doesn’t seem to be dismissing the idea. “You know, Brendan might be willing to help with that. He did all the work on the beach house he and Su-Lin bought together.”
That’s right. “You think I could talk him into doing it?They have an even bigger audience than I do.” Brendan and Su-Lin have made a killing onThe Real Sockwiveson YouTube, and they just started up a new reality show, a Hulu original where they plan other people’s weddings for them, and all the bride and groom have to do is show up.They get a free wedding, and the price they pay is whatever bonkers thing Brendan and Su-Lin decided to do for them. Based on the buzz, it’s going to be huge.
“I think so,” she says. “We could ask, anyway. You know how they are with crazy new ideas.”
“Su-Lin will want to decorate,” I point out. “Are you prepared for that?”
“I can always undecorate.That would be well worth it, if we get a house out of it.”
This whole thing is coming together in my mind, and it’s sounding better and better, even if it is insane. “So we’d fix up the house, and we could probably do it for cheap if we get the house at a huge discount, and we might be able to get most of the materials for free from sponsors—”
“Is this what you really want?” Emily says fast, like it’s bursting out of her.
I consider it. Not just the house, but the whole life with her.
“Do I want to have eight kids, and live in a house a reality show built?” I say.
“Still doing your show, of course. And maybe try to host this new one, if you can get it picked up.” She smiles. “And maybe have a new YouTube show when our kids are older where we climb stuff as a family.”
“Jason’s Family Climbs Sh!t,” I say with a laugh. “No, that’ll probably be time to abandon the name for something more family friendly.”
“But really, we don’t—”
“Have to,” I say again. But I can see it now, her and me and this big, crazy life together. I always pictured Emily being happier with someone more serious and responsible, but ifthisis the life she wants, I can suddenly see how I fit in it. It’s a life I can give her that no one else can, not in the way I would. “But I want to. I think that life sounds like the most amazing thing ever.” I mean it, partially because I’d be with Emily, but also because a life filled with that kind of joy and chaos and, yeah, stress, sounds like the best thing in the entire world. “I want that with you, so bad.”
She beams.
Well, that clinches it.
“I’m going to find a realtor and tell them to start looking at houses,” I say.
She does a happy little wiggle on my lap that accelerates my turn-around time on that next round. “I’m still assuming at some point in all this we’ll get married?”
“Definitely.”Though I realize that’s something that’s going to cost a lot of money, too. “That might set back our house-buying plans a bit, if we want a nice wedding.”
Emily shrugs. “I don’t really care that much about that. I’d be okay with something small.”
I blink at her. I know this is my dad talking, but I feel like if Emily is going to deign to marry me, I should be giving her the best wedding, the best ring, the best dress, the best of everything, so she’ll know how much I love her.
“Really?” I say. “I mean, I have a lot of friends, so I’d like to have a party, at least, where we invite everyone. Are you sure you wouldn’t want something really nice?”
“I’d like that. But it isn’t really all that important to me, so if we decided to spend our money on other things, that’d be fine.”
We stare at each other, and I can tell we’re having the same idea at the same time.
“Su-Lin would kill to do our wedding,” I say.
“She would, but I really don’t think I want to do something big like that on camera. I’ve kind of had enough of that.”
I laugh. “Agreed. So we’ll have a small ceremony and a big, cheap party, and maybe be Instagram whores so we can get catering and stuff for free—”
“Yes,” she says. “I can market the hell out of this. Definitely yes.”
“And buy a crappy house and put it on YouTube to make it a better house—”
“For sure.”
