I wanted to tell them to fuck all the way off.
But she did it on her own.
I knew I loved her before that because the thoughts had beenswimming in my head for days—probably weeks. Scottie is a different kind of strong. Not once has she ever flinched when things got ugly during this remodel. Not even when the producers suggested we fake a relationship for the show. She just…adjusts.
And I’ve been watching her do it like it’s nothing.
Hearing the words spill out of her told me she’s been waking up every morning of her life and talking herself into being brave. She makes it look easy, too, which must have been the biggest lie she told the world.
So, watching her stand tall only made me fall more in love with her.
Just as I’m about to lean in and claim her lips as mine again, I hear a throat clearing to the side, and I freeze. Scottie does, too, as her eyes widen.
We both turn our heads and remember the crew standing off to the side. One behind the camera, with Jade and Andrea on either side. The lens is still pointed on us, red light blinking.
But Scottie doesn’t flinch.
Of course she doesn’t.
For a split second, she just stands there with teal paint on her cheek and my hands around her. Then she laughs under her breath. “Oh my god.”
Andrea clears her throat. “Cut.” The camera turns off, and Andrea steps toward us. “Well, we got all of that.”
Scottie looks up at me, eyes bright and wild like she’s waiting for me to panic. Like she’s waiting for me to yank my hands back and retreat to the safer version of myself.
I don’t.
I tighten my hold on her instead, making her smile shift. “Keep it,” she says to Andrea, still looking at me before she winks and faces Andrea. “All of it.”
“Are you sure? That was…really personal.”
Scottie nods. “I’m sure.”
Scottie steps out of my hold and looks around at the house. Ican see her eyes take in the yard that all of Bluestone Lakes helped her clean up. Then her eyes scan the porch, and a smile curves on her lips when they land on the porch swing. She looks back at Andrea and Jade like she’s decided on something more.
“I’d also like you to go through all the film,” Scottie says. “I want the real stuff. You can keep the polished stuff if it involves me sharing what we plan to do with each space. But everything else…make it real. The sweat. The frustration. All of it.”
“But…”
Scottie cuts her off with a hand in the air. “I know you have clips where I mess up lines, look exhausted, and have sawdust covering my head. I know you have some where I’m laughing so hard I might pee my pants. I want it all on the show.”
“Being the face of the season, people are going to expect?—”
“Performance?” Scottie finishes with a raised eyebrow. I feel something crack open in my chest the way she says it. “And that’s what I’m doing. Giving them one.”
Andrea studies her for a long second, glancing at Jade before looking back at Scottie. I can see the calculation behind her eyes and gauge whether the audience will tolerate it. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“No. You’ll do it. I want everything you edit together to be perfectly imperfect.” Her smile is bigger now, making the corners around her eyes crinkle. “If this show is about homes, then it should be about the truth of building one. Not just the pretty reveal.”
“Okay.”
Scottie exhales, and some of the tension leaves her shoulders. She reaches up, pressing a kiss to the corner of my lips before walking away. “I’m going to do the second coat of paint,” she announces. “I may be choosing authenticity over perfection, but I’m still choosing coverage.”
We laugh this time as I watch her disappear inside.
The air changes into something sharp now that I’m left alone with Andrea and Jade. When I turn my head toward them, I cansee their faces trying to look satisfied, and I realize with cold clarity that they want to frame this season to belong to them and not Scottie.
No more.
