Page 124 of At the Heart of It
Kate grimaced, not sure what he was implying. “Thanks, but it wasn’t me,” she said. “His sister told me?—”
“Quiet on set!” Pete shot them a pointed look and gestured to the mic.
“Sorry,” Kate mouthed, and edged away from Chase. Across the parlor, Amy flashed her a sympathetic look. Kate sighed and directed her attention back to the center of the room.
Jonah was seated next to Viv, close enough that either of them could touch the other if the mood happened to strike. Kate hadn’t spoken to Viv since that day in the parlor. She had no idea if Viv had told anyone about their conversation, but Chase had been in constant contact.
“I’ve been working my magic with Vivienne,” he’d told her on the phone that morning. “I’m making sure she doesn’t back out on the plan to seduce Joe.”
The thought made Kate’s stomach churn.
She’d tried texting Jonah once since the night he’d slammed the door in her face, but the message had gone unanswered.
“He’s processing things,” Jossy told her when Kate stopped by the animal shelter with a short promo clip to share. “Be patient. He’ll talk to you again as soon as he comes around.”
Kate wasn’t convinced.
She shook her head and ordered herself to focus on the set. Viv was dressed in a fitted purple tunic and black leggings that somehow made her look both regal and comfortable. Kate envied her on both counts.
As Kate watched, Viv leaned forward and spoke in earnest tones to the new couple she and Average Joe were tasked with helping.
“Roger, I can see you’re hurting very deeply,” Viv said. “You, too, Abby. I want you to know I understand where you’re both coming from. Mistakes have been made on both sides.”
Roger started to open his mouth, but Jonah cut him off. “If you’re about to offer a tally of who committed the most errors, so help me God I’ll take that list, tear it into a thousand pieces, light it on fire, and force you to stomp out the flames with your bare feet.”
Roger blinked and shut his mouth.
“Metaphorically speaking,” Jonah added. “Was there something else you had to say?”
Roger shook his head and looked down at his lap. Abby looked triumphant for a moment, but Viv shook her head. “None of this is about winning or losing,” Viv said. “Being right doesn’t make you happy. There’s very rarely a correlation between winning an argument and finding joy.”
“Let’s just agree that you’ve both fucked up,” Jonah said.
Viv nodded, not even wincing at Jonah’s word choice. “The thing that’s important to understand here is that everything happens for a reason.”
“And sometimes,” Jonah added. “The reason is that you’re an idiot who makes poor decisions.”
A few people on set chuckled, and Chase gave him a thumbs-up. But Jonah didn’t look at him. He kept his focus on Roger and Abby. Kate’s chest ached from the compassion in his eyes.
“I’m including myself in that,” Jonah added. “God knows I’ve made plenty of dumb choices over the years. But I’ve always tried to learn from them.”
“And that’s what’s most important,” Viv added. “Moving ahead instead of spinning your wheels.”
Abby sniffed and glanced at her husband from behind a curtain of caramel-colored hair. “I just don’t know if I can trust him again,” she said. “I know things weren’t always great in the bedroom, but I never expected him to—to—to go looking in someone else’s bedroom.”
Roger put his face in his hands and shook his head. “I told you, Ab—it was a mistake. And it wasn’t actual sex. I swear to God, I never even took my pants off all the way.”
Kate glanced at Chase, unsurprised to see he was eating this up. God, there were some great sound bites. At least Abby and Roger were getting help. In the end, that’s what mattered.
“Intimacy is something you treasure,” Viv was saying. “Something special that?—”
“Cut!” Chase waved a hand in the air, though none of the cameras stopped rolling. The crew knew damn well that the exciting stuff usually happened when no one thought they were being filmed.
Chase moved forward, bumping a camera with his shoulder and earning a glare from Pete. “You all sound great, but I was wondering what this would feel like if we moved the scene someplace more intimate,” Chase said.
“Intimate?” Viv looked confused.
“Right. Since Roger and Abby here have been having trouble in the bedroom, maybe you and Joe could take them back there and show them a few things.”
