Page 116 of At the Heart of It
The anger in his words made her throat squeeze up, but she swallowed hard to make her voice work. “I’m not here to defend myself,” she said, even though a tiny part of her wanted to do just that. “I just wanted to explain what happened. Why I had to follow orders when it came to?—”
“Right, of course.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame. “Because you’re such a rule follower?”
She swallowed again, ignoring the raindrop that slithered down the side of her neck. “Acting in the best interest of the show is my job,” she said.
“Even when it comes at the expense of the people involved with the show?”
She balled her hands in the pockets of her jacket and forced herself to hold eye contact. “Jonah, you have to believe my hands were tied.” Her voice sounded tear choked and she struggled to get it under control. “I did everything I could to convince them not to go through with it. To do the right thing. I tried to tell them it was a bad idea.”
“To make me look like a dumbass on national television? To blindside me with the news that I fucked up my own divorce, and I’m still technically married to the esteemed Dr. Brandt?”
His words felt like blows to her chest. “No one meant for you to look like a dumbass,” she whispered.
Jonah sighed. He looked more sad than angry, but the dark edge in his voice told her there was a mix of both. “Kate, what was the one thing I asked for when I agreed to do the show?”
“Besides money?”
It was a bit of a jab, but she had to put that out there. To remind him that his involvement in the program wasn’t just some benevolent gesture on his part. That there was something else at stake here. A chance to help his sister, to make a difference in her life.
Jonah glared, but didn’t take the bait. “I wanted a chance to repair my image,” he said. “To stop looking like the idiot buffoon and have a chance to contribute something meaningful.”
“You did contribute something meaningful,” she said. “Those couples?—”
“Are having a good laugh at my expense,” he said. “The dyslexic dumbshit who can’t even file his own divorce papers right.”
“Jonah, no. It could happen to anyone.”
“But not on national television,” he said. “You could have chosen to handle it privately.”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Kate shook her head, hating the hurt in his eyes more than the anger in his voice. “I did my best to stop the train wreck. I even thought about forging signatures. Trying to push your divorce through so no one would ever have to know.”
“Forgery?” Jonah shook his head and looked at her with disgust. “A felony is your idea of doing the right thing?”
Kate gritted her teeth. “I said I considered it,” she said. “I didn’t do it. But I did try to stop them from going this direction. I explained to them what you’d shared with me about wanting to move out of Viv’s shadow.”
“So that’s what it was all about?” He snorted. “It all makes sense now. Sleep with me to get the dirt to make the show better.”
Rain lashed the leaves behind her, sending a trickle of ice water down her neck. She wished he’d invite her inside, but knew that wasn’t going to happen. “That’s not why I slept with you,” she said softly. “That’s not what happened at all.”
It was almost like he didn’t hear her. “God, to think I actually believed that was real.”
“It was real, Jonah. You have to know that.”
He frowned as if a new thought had just occurred to him. “Wait. Was this planned out from the start? When we met in Ashland that first time?—”
“Of course not!” Kate snapped, stung by the accusation. “I was as surprised as you were when you showed up at Viv’s house that first day. I had no idea who you were, and I sure as hell didn’t mean to fall for you.”
“When did you know about the divorce?” he demanded.
Kate fumbled around in her brain. Not for the date, but for the wording in her contract. Was that a detail she couldn’t reveal? She couldn’t be sure.
“I can’t say,” she said softly.
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Can’t,” she repeated. “Look, I couldn’t say anything. I still can’t say too much about?—”
“You’ve said more than enough.”
