25. Epilogue - Six Months Later

"Well, it's definitely a fixer-upper," Jake, one of Levi's newest construction foremen said, rubbing the back of his neck as he surveyed the run-down mid-eighteen hundreds Victorian house we were standing in.

"But is it fixable?"

Matty squeezed my hand. "Vennen, if it's not fixable, we'll find something else, ja?"

"Yeah, but—"

Jake held his hand up to stop us. "It's fixable. Good bones. Probably take us a while if we're doing it on a budget though."

"We don't mind slow." I looked at Matty. "Right?"

Matty shook his head, but before he could respond, Jake spoke again. "Slow makes us sound like we don't know what we're doing."

"That's not what I meant. Just that we're taking our time to do it right."

"Better," he muttered.

Matty looked around slowly, skepticism clear on his face. The house was practically falling down around us. "What exactly needs to be done?"

"Give me a sec." Jake meandered around the main room of the house, making notes on his tablet. Once he finished in there, he made his way into the kitchen, and then into the bathrooms and bedrooms. The back door slammed as he went into the yard, and eventually, Jake reappeared through the front door.

I cleared my throat nervously. "What's the damage?"

"Pretty much everything. This house has been neglected for so long there's not much left to save. Siding, windows, doors, roof. Foundation looks solid, luckily. Inside, you'll need to refinish the floors and repair the walls, put in new insulation, and the plumbing and electrical will need to be updated. Plus, you'll want to install central air and heat. This one was built before all that."

I let out a low whistle. "Is there anything that doesn't need fixing?"

Jake consulted his notes once again and sighed. "Like I said, the foundation looks solid. Rafters are probably good to go. Framing looks like it only needs small repairs. Good bones. Won't know anything for sure until we have a certified inspector come in, but I've been doing this a while. I think you've got a good place here."

I turned to Matty for his opinion, and he nodded. "Let's do it," I murmured. "I know it's a lot, but we're good with our hands and we both have too much free time and it's just… I don't know, it's beautiful."

Matty nodded again. "Ja. I like it."

We turned back to Jake, who had politely pretended to study his tablet while we were discussing. "If you think you can fix it up, we're in."

Jake grunted. "If I think…" he muttered, shaking his head. "I know I can fix it up."

"Then I'll text the real estate agent right now," I said, pulling out my phone. "Thanks, Jake. Tell Levi we said thanks too."

"Will do." He gave us a nod and headed for his truck, leaving us alone in the house we hoped to call our own.

After firing off a quick text to Davis, our real estate agent, telling him we wanted to make an offer on the old house, I tucked my phone back into my pocket. "Now what?"

Matty glanced at the watch he was wearing. "Well, I suppose if we don't leave soon, we'll be late for your kickball game."

A flash of adrenaline rushed through me. "Oh shit. We'd better haul ass."

We hurried to the car and to the field. By the time we'd parked, my phone was buzzing with an incoming text.

Davis: Your offer is in. Now we just have to wait for the seller to respond.

Jared: How long will that take?

Davis: Maybe an hour, maybe a few days. We gave them until noon Monday.

I sighed and rushed onto the field. We played an excellent game and by the time we'd made our way to Jock Strap for a celebratory drink, I was checking my phone every five seconds to see if Davis had sent us a response from the seller.

Bennett was the first to notice. "What's got you so glued to your phone today?"

I looked at Matty, who gave me a quick nod. "We put an offer in on a house."

"That's great," Cam said. "Which house?"

"It's an old Victorian in historic Port Grandlin. There are dozens of houses out there that need fixing up." I put my phone face down on the table and tried to ignore it. "We had Jake come take a look and he had high hopes."

Levi grinned. "I'm glad he helped out. I wasn't sure if he'd work out on the team. Seems like he's got a sort of grouchy attitude. He wasn't too bad with you guys, was he?"

"Not at all," Matty reassured him. "He was very professional."

"Good." Levi nodded and looked around. "Not that grumpy assholes haven't been reformed before." He winked at Cam, who rolled his eyes, but with a smile on his face.

Parker put his beer bottle on the table with a clunk. "So what work needs to be done?"

"Most everything. It's a really old house and it's been neglected for decades." I recapped what Jake had told us about the repairs he saw. When I finished, the guys murmured their sympathies.

My phone vibrated on the table then, and I picked it up quickly to see a text from Davis.

Davis: Offer accepted. Congratulations, you're going to be homeowners!

I looked at Matty, whose brow was furrowed in concern. "We got it," I murmured. "We got the house."

As the guys cheered around the table, Matty smiled wide. "That's great news." He squeezed my hand. "I'm so glad."

Before we had even a minute to celebrate, my phone rang in my hand. I frowned and answered the unfamiliar number.

"Hello?"

"Doug Cutler here. I'm calling for Jared Collins."

"Speaking." I pushed myself away from the table and made my way to the front of the bar, stepping into the fresh evening air to take the call. "What can I do for you?"

"Jared, I was the executive producer for your season of Destination Love."

"I remember." My stomach churned. What could he possibly be calling for?

"Well, listen. Your season is currently airing and let me tell you, you're one of the most popular couples we've ever featured."

"Thanks, Doug." I didn't know what else to say.

"Here's the thing. I've set up shop on a new show."

"Okay…"

Doug cleared his throat. "It's a home renovation show. Heartland Overhaul. We're looking into setting up shop in a few small-ish towns and helping the locals renovate old buildings. Because you're such a popular couple, we were wondering if you'd be interested in participating. We've identified quite a few buildings in your area that could use some help, and our plan is to hire local construction crews to do the work—sort of give back to the community—instead of bringing in our own teams. We'd love it if you and Matthias would consider coming on board as homeowners."

I laughed incredulously. "Why would we want to work with you again?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, we have a new producer on. Great young guy. I have a feeling you'll like him. And we don't inject drama in these home makeover shows. At least, not relationship drama. Besides, we'll pay for the repairs."

Well, that part didn't sound so bad. "You won't believe this, Doug, but Matty and I just put an offer in on one of those houses that needs a little TLC."

"See? That's perfect. Look, you don't have to decide now, but run it by Matt and we'll talk again. Maybe Monday or Tuesday, if that sounds good."

I hummed. "Sure thing, Doug."

When the call disconnected, I headed back inside. Matty looked at me, worried, frowning deeply. He immediately took my hand when I sat down. "What was that about?"

"You will not believe it. Doug Cutler from Destination Love wants us to consider being on his new show, Heartland Overhaul. He wants to fix up houses in old Port Grandlin." I looked at Levi. "He even said he wants to hire local construction crews to do the work."

Matty bit his lip. "Do we have to decide now?"

"No. He said he'd call Monday or Tuesday. We have a few days." When he nodded slowly, I squeezed his hand gently. "Listen, we don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"I think it would be good. They will likely pay for part of the renovations, and we can get the house done sooner than we would if we were paying on our own." He turned to Levi. "What do you think about having your crew on television?"

Levi shrugged. "I'm game, if they are. I'm not going to force anyone to join the show, but I'm sure that guy can find another crew to fill in if my team doesn't want to be on TV."

"So," I said slowly. "We're doing it?"

Matty nodded. "Why not?"

I took a breath and smiled. "Reality TV, here we come again."

"Here we come again," Matty repeated.

We'd made a lot of unorthodox decisions in the past six months, but I was happy about every one of them, and I was sure this one would be no different. If I had Matty at my side, everything would be fine. No matter what.