Page 118 of At the Heart of It
“Way to keep an open mind.”
He stepped around the sofa but didn’t sit down. He was too keyed up. He raked his hands through his hair and paced in front of the fireplace. “She played me for a fucking chump,” he said. “It’s bad enough that I seem like an idiot for botching my own divorce, but she set me up.”
Jossy frowned and tucked her good leg up under her on the sofa. “Why are you pissed at Kate? You should be mad at the executives or Viv or the cameraman.”
“Or myself,” he muttered. “I’m the one who fucked up the damn paperwork.”
“I wasn’t going to point that out.”
“God, I’m such an idiot,” he fumed. “I remember all that shit showing up in the mail and thinking Viv had just gone ahead and filed. That she’d given me a task to do, and then done it herself like always. I assumed—” He shook his head. “Never mind. Isn’t that what they say about why you never assume anything?”
“Because it makes and ass of u and me?”
“Exactly.”
“Owl,” said Marilyn.
“You keep out of this,” Jonah muttered.
“You’re arguing with a cat,” Jossy pointed out. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little?”
He shook his head, still trembling with anger. “God, I’m such a dumbass.” He kept pacing, but felt his sister’s eyes on him. Back and forth. Back and forth. He was such a pathetic cliché.
“So you’re mad at yourself,” Jossy said.
“Yes.”
“And Viv and the producers and all the TV people.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re taking it out on Kate.”
He stopped pacing and whirled to face her. Something about hearing her name was like a bucket of cold water tossed on his face. He thought about her standing out there on the porch in the rain and felt his heart split right down the middle.
“I didn’t spill my guts to Chase,” he said. “I didn’t sleep with the cameraman.”
“That would make for one helluva reality show.”
He glared at his sister. “Not in the mood for jokes, Jossy.”
“Owl.”
He glared at Marilyn. “You have something to say?”
The cat lifted both eyebrows in scorn, but refrained from further comment. He looked back at his sister, who was glaring at him with more heat in her eyes than Jonah had seen in a long time.
She pointed at the sofa. “Sit down.”
“What for?”
“Because I said so!”
Jonah sat, not sure why he was following orders given by someone whose diapers he’d helped change. Then again, he’d spent a lifetime doing whatever he thought would make Jossy happy. Now wasn’t the time to stop.
He picked up a beer can off the coffee table, knowing it was empty and had been sitting there all week. He just needed something to hold. Or maybe he wanted to crush it, feeling the aluminum crumple in his fist as he?—
“What’s pissing you off more?” Jossy asked. “That you might look dumb on national television, or Kate kept a secret from you?”
