“The Food Channel Network? FCN? Really? That’s impressive. You must have something they think they can make a fortune off of.”
“Well, I’m up to more than half a million views per show, so I guess so.”
His eyes widened. “You have more than half a million views per show?”
She nodded. “Sometimes more, sometimes less.”
“That’s a lot of dudes looking at you.” The side of his mouth quirked up playfully. He must have noticed how the comment pierced her heart, because he followed it up with, “Baby, it was a bad joke. I’m sorry. I don’t know much about online statistics, but that number sounds pretty amazing. I guess the real question is, do you want to keep doing the show, or if there was a way to earn the same money but not do it, would you want to do that?”
She could see the gears of his mind churning. “That’s not even an option. Come with me.”
They went to the basement, where she retrieved the ledgers she kept for the webcast and tossed them onto the counter.
“Look at the numbers. It’s all in there. I earn a lot from the show. I’d have to take on a second career to earn that much.” She felt weird knowing that he was going to see how closely she tracked all of the information. At first she’d tracked the views and income just to see if there was a pattern, but then she’d begun picking apart the shows and sort of obsessing over it, tweaking each episode to the point where she could expect a little bump with each one. She worried that he might think she cared about it for the wrong reasons. The show had become such a big part of her life that she did care about it doing well. For Maddy. It was all for Maddy. “I’m going to wait upstairs.”
She left him poring over the ledgers. He came up a short while later with the ledgers under one arm and sat beside her on the couch. He laced their fingers together and brought hers to his lips for another tender kiss.
“May I sit with you while I finish? If we’re going to be in this together, I have a few questions.”
She nodded, hoping the questions weren’t going to be too painful. He leafed through the ledgers, asking questions about statistics and how she’d come up with a few of the ideas she’d had to boost views. He went through the books for a long while, and when he finally set them aside, he rubbed the back of his neck with a serious look in his eyes.
“Lizzie, you’ve created a viable business, not just a webcast,” he said with a look of incredulity.
“Enough to help Maddy, at least.” She leaned back and pulled her legs up on the couch beside her.
He picked up the financial and stats ledgers and set them on his lap again, motioning for her to come closer.
“You’ve tracked and evaluated everything, from the best times to broadcast to the types of things that increase your ratings—facial expressions, comments, and hand movements.” He flipped through a few pages and pointed to one of the graphs she’d created. “You’ve stripped down your shows minute by minute, evaluating every last thing and equating it to dollars and cents.”
She felt her cheeks flush. “I’m a little anal. I guess my business and marketing degree paid off after all, huh?”
“Babe, you’re brilliant.” He flashed a flirty grin that made her heart soar. “As far as anal goes, well, we can explore that later.”
She gave him a playful shove, and he laughed, pulling her into a hug that filled her with relief. Maybe they really would get through this together.
“I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet you could sell the rights to your show for more than you can make over the next two years by continuing to do it yourself.”
“No way.” She laughed. “Talk about a pipe dream. It’s a rinky-dink little webcast.”
“No, it’s not a rinky-dink little anything. If it is an option, would you want to consider it? If you could get the money you need for Maddy? It would obviously give me peace of mind, knowing Maddy was taken care of and you weren’t putting yourself out there nearly naked, but I don’t want you to walk away from this because of me.” He searched her eyes, and she knew he’d see the hope she felt swelling in her heart.
“You’re serious? If that’s really an option, I would do it in a heartbeat. Every time I do a show, I hope it’s the one that will make enough money for me to stop. Do you really think it’s worth a shot?”
“I think it’s worth taking it to Duke, who knows more about valuing businesses than anyone I know. If anyone can figure this out, he can. And he can clue us in on behind-the-scenes stuff that we’d—you’d—need to consider.”