Page 113 of The Beast's Heart

“Come now, you can’t ditch your own party.”

“I’m not ditching. I’m…” My heart kicks in my chest. “I need to talk to him about something important. I’ll be back. I have to do the whole auction bit.” I wave to the covered items waiting to be filmed on the stage.

Ray rolls their eyes dramatically. “Children! Have you ever had chocolate fondue?”

This is not going to end well for their clothes. But it provides the perfect cover for me to step out to speak to Jonathan.

He’s waiting just outside the front door and his face lights up when he sees me, like he’s surprised I’d join him. Every time he looks at me like that, it’s like my veins fill with honey.

“I think my cheeks have cooled now,” he says.

I want to kiss him until they flush again, but I resist the urge. Instead I hold out my hand again and he takes it. The air is heavy with the scent of lilacs. The stars are bright above us. Somewhere an owl hoots. We walk a while before he says, “I’m sorry. I know you wanted to keep us quiet. I feel quite foolish.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” And I never said I wanted to keep things between us quiet. It was just simpler to avoid the difficult questions. “We both got caught up in the moment.”

I pause and pull him close. The evening is cool but not cold. Still, he feels warm in my arms. I look down into his moonlit face. “You’re happy here, aren’t you? With us?”

“What a question.” He drops his gaze to where our bodies join. “Yes. Terrifyingly so. Why?”

“I… I wanted to?—”

He beeps. He curses softly and pulls away to check the pager at his belt. “Geoff again.” He sighs. “I’d better go check in with him.”

I should be grateful that Geoff’s worked so closely with us, but a part of me has missed the quiet. Over the last few days it’s really ramped up as he’s received more material. He’s probably thought of more scenes for us to shoot during the party.

Jonathan gives me an apologetic look. “I’ll just pop up to the control room. I’m sure it won’t take long.”

46

JONATHAN

Geoff is fuzzy on the screen as the satellite connection struggles to process his video. I can’t believe this is how the children have to meet with their therapists.

He’s sitting in what must be his home office in New York. Sunlight is streaming in through a window behind him and he’s partially silhouetted. It’s probably only around 2pm there. “How’s the…” I don’t catch the end of the question as the connection cuts and then re-establishes itself. “Shit… other number?”

I sigh. I’m used to this routine by now. The beeper goes off with another phone number for me to try instead that might have a better connection, even though I’m pretty sure the issue is my side as I’m the one in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes Geoff meets with me from his office, sometimes he uses an app on his mobile that somehow links with the satellite network, and he chats to me while he’s walking around—New York is apparently starting to open up again.

“No, let me cut the video my side,” I say, before he disconnects. I’m anxious to get back down to Adam and am not in the mood to fight with technology. I wish that the pager would let him send actual messages so we didn’t have to talk so often,but Geoff seems to be a big believer in face-to-face. At least he hasn’t been unpleasant. I was worried the first few times we had to speak, but he treats me like any other member of the foundation.

On the screen his face resolves into standard definition, which is good enough for our purposes. “What can I help you with?”

“More pics of the kids.” Now I can see his expression, it’s clear that he’s busy working on something on the screen. His gaze has that far-off quality, as if he’s only half focused on me.

“Something specific in mind?” I fight down my annoyance.

“Yeah, something cute. It’s for a social media ad.”

“An ad?”

“Yes, Belle, an ad.” His gaze comes to focus near mine briefly, although I know it’s a trick of the camera and he can’t see me anymore. “Figured now would be a good time to grab some shots, while they’re dressed up. There are some nice ones in the pack you sent yesterday, but nothing quite adorable enough. I’m thinking chocolate. Smiles. Some interaction between them. Maybe some with Beast if you can get him to agree to it.”

“I’m sorry, stop.”

He looks at me with an arched eyebrow. “Did you get that? Did I break up?”

“No, I got that. You said you’d be running social media ads with photos of the children.”

“Yeah, to promote the auction. Don’t worry, I cleared it with Beast.”

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