Lights, Camera, Lies

“Really?”

“Yes, absolutely. If we can’t make this existing show an appropriate level of educational entertainment, we’ll scrap it and do another show.”

Her pretty little mouth fell open. “You’d do that for me?”

My head cocked to the side as I considered my answer. “It’s not exactly just for you. It’s so that I’ll be the kind of man you deserve.”

Her hand rubbing the back of my shoulder made me feel a bit better. “You’re far more than I deserve,” she said softly. “Far more than I would have ever dreamed.”

I called up the terms of the Will, then handed her the laptop. “Why don’t you give that a read, and I’ll be back soon?”

“Okay.”

When I returned ten minutes later, Alice looked up at me with a bright smile, patting the couch beside her. “The existing show is close, actually. I think if you added two more episodes, that would do the trick.”

Snuggling in beside her, I asked, “What do we need?”

“If you had a psychologist, a psychotherapist, and maybe an acting coach review the first two episodes, they could discuss all of the intricacies of lying convincingly. Then after the episode with the couples therapist, have the experts back as a finale .”

“So Gary’s idea about having viewers vote multiple times to make it look like there were more viewers – does that interfere with how educational the show seems?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Interesting.”

Alice pointed to a section of the terms. “Entertainment is actually encouraged. And your experts don’t have to be top of their fields, just qualified resources.”

She set the laptop back on the table, then rested her hand on my knee. “It means a lot to me that you want to include me in this,” she said softly.

“Of course, baby. You’re my wife.”

Her eyes sparkled as she laughed. “Not anymore, now that we finished shooting the last challenge.” She held up her bare finger, that was slightly tinged with green.

“I’m seeing a few months into the future,” I smiled, putting my fingers to my temples and doing a bad impression of a mind reader. “You’re going to be my wife. You’re going to let me pay your tuition, and buy you that car. And you’re going to move in with me immediately.”

Those beautiful lips pursed for a moment as she stared at me. “You’re awfully bossy.”

“Sugar, I can’t stand the thought of you stuffed into a windowless room where it’s too loud for you to study. Let me show you something.”

Leading her upstairs, we walked past the master bedroom, then I ducked into my small home office to grab a sheet from the printer. At the end of the hall, I opened the guest bedroom door, and held up the page.

“I asked my decorator for a sketch of how she would envision this room as an art expert’s home office,” I said. “We can do it up any way you like, but this is a good place to start.”

Her mouth fell open for a second as she surveyed the room. Taking the page from me, she began to laugh. “I’ll need bookshelves across that entire wall, eventually,” she said. “But this is a great start.”

Slipping an arm around her, I gripped her hip. “You’ll be so much more productive in a good space, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“You’ll let me do this for you?”

Alice looked up at me as I realized was surprised that her eyes were glassy with tears. “Yes. But if you’re doing all of this for me, what can I ever do for you?”

Tossing the page onto the dresser, I pulled her against me, burying my face in her hair. “Just love me, baby. Just be mine. You’re my little shining light that gives me joy. That’s all I want.”

The closeness I felt with Alice was back, thank goodness. I didn’t want to ever feel her angry and frustrated with me again.

Kissing her gently, the heat flared between us, just as strong as before. “I want to do some homework,” I said, taking her hand.