Page 121 of At the Heart of It
On the back of the couch, Marilyn stood up and stretched, lifting both eyebrows with intense skepticism.
“Owl.” Her expression was one of disdain, though Jonah could have sworn he heard approval in the lone syllable. “Owl!” she said again, more adamant this time.
He looked back at his sister. “Just the show,” he said. If I agree to finish it out, that’s all I’m agreeing to.”
Jossy gave him a small smile and leaned over to pluck a pretzel from his hair. “We’ll see about that.”
Chapter 21
At nine the next morning, Kate tapped on Viv’s front door. They weren’t scheduled to shoot until the next day, or maybe ever, depending on how things shook out with Jonah.
The legal team was working on that.
But at the moment, Kate had something she needed to get off her chest.
The door swung open, and Viv looked at her blankly for a few beats. “Kate.” She smiled, but it wasn’t her usual soaring, serene smile. It was a tired smile. The smile of a woman who hadn’t slept well and perhaps ate six donuts for breakfast.
Maybe that was just Kate.
“Good morning, Viv.” She held up a white paper cup with an earthy cardboard sleeve around it. “I brought you some of that tea you like. The cardamom rose black from Metolius Artisan Tea?”
Viv seemed to force the corners of her mouth a bit higher as she held open the door and waved her inside. “You’re an angel, Kate. Such a good soul.”
The lump in Kate’s throat grew thick and sour, and she followed Viv into the parlor with guilt draped like a wet shawl around her shoulders. Her fingers felt numb around her own cardboard cup of tea as she looked about, almost surprised to see the space not cluttered with cameras and lighting equipment.
“Pete came by and collected everything this morning,” Viv said. “He said they needed the equipment on another shoot.” She gave a sad little smile and looked down at her fingernails. “He gave me a hug and told me not to worry.”
Kate smiled back, even though she didn’t feel it. “Pete seems like a guy who’d give good hugs.”
“That’s true.”
The small talk felt stilted and echoed in the hollow spaces of the room. Kate looked around, noticing the empty spots where cameras and lighting equipment had stood only days ago. “It must be hard,” Kate said. “Having the filming in your space. No privacy or escape.”
Viv turned and offered a small shrug. “Yes, but it’s what I wanted. What I asked for.” She gave a brittle little laugh. “Admittedly I haven’t always been a great judge of what’s best for me.”
Kate forced a smile of her own and wondered how much to read into that. Was Viv making small talk or offering something deeper?
“Please, sit down.” Viv gestured to the seating area, and Kate hesitated before choosing the squash-colored club chair where Jonah had seated himself at that first meeting.
God. How long ago was that? It seemed like years, though it was only a matter of weeks.
Kate found a coaster and set down her cup of tea on the coffee table. Viv arranged herself on the dove-gray leather love seat and tucked her bare feet beneath the hem of her linen skirt. Then she folded her hands in her lap and looked at Kate expectantly.
Kate took a deep breath. On the drive here, she’d practiced what she wanted to say, but now she was questioning her approach. She was questioning a lot of things, actually.
She cleared her throat. “In chapter sixteen of But Not Broken, you talked about having the hard conversations,” Kate began. “You described the moment you had to tell your best friend that your relationship was over and you’d decided to leave?—”
“Kate?”
“Yes?”
“Just say it.” There was the tired smile again. Viv lifted a hand and tucked thick swath of dark hair behind her ear. “Sometimes it’s okay to just jump right in and say what you need to say.”
“Right.” Kate cleared her throat. “Okay. First just let me say how much respect I have for you. I’ve made no secret of how much I admire you both professionally and as a person.”
“Oh, for the love of Christ.” Viv closed her eyes and pressed her palms together just below her chin. As Kate watched, heart pounding, Viv lowered her forehead to her fingertips. She breathed deeply, in and out, eyes shut tightly. “Just say it already,” Viv said.
“Okay.” Kate licked her lips. Hadn’t Jonah praised her for her way with words? But somehow it seemed harder now. Was it because she was talking to Viv, or because she wasn’t talking to Jonah?
