Page 27 of At the Heart of It
“Do you want a tiny bit of advice?”
“Not really.” Kate smiled and shook her head. “I’m kidding, it’s fine. Lay it on me.”
Amy bit her lip. “Be careful with Jonah.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I saw the way you looked at each other at Viv’s place. It was probably shock, I get it.”
“Shock is an understatement,” Kate said. “I swear I had no idea?—”
“I know,” Amy said. “That was pretty obvious. So was the fact that there’s some pretty intense chemistry between you.”
“No way,” Kate said. “I mean, yeah, the guy is hot. And yeah, I’ll admit the first time we met in Ashland, I was sort of attracted to him.”
Amy studied her face. “And now?”
Kate shook her head. “Please. He’s the ex-husband of my freakin’ idol.”
“Hero worship doesn’t preclude you from wanting to knock boots with her ex-husband.”
“It’s not like that. This program has the potential to skyrocket our careers to the next level. The show has the power to change a lot of lives. Any passion you’re picking up on is all about that.”
“That sounded really good.” Amy smiled. “Almost like you believed it.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hey, your secret’s safe with me. I don’t care if you really did sleep with him or?—”
“I didn’t,” Kate interrupted. “I swear.”
“Okay,” Amy said. “I believe you. But I also believe something else might’ve happened. Just be careful, okay? We don’t want anything to get in the way of the show.”
“Nothing’s more important to me than the show,” Kate said. “Cross my heart and hope to die, I’ll be careful.”
Amy grinned and grabbed her arm. “Good. Now let’s go look at dining room tables sturdy enough to fuck on,” she said. “I’m thinking ahead to episode five.”
Kate laughed and let Amy tow her across the store, ordering herself to push Jonah out of her brain.
Chapter 5
Kate appeared on the doorstep of Cornucopia Books precisely at eight just as a woman with a nose ring and a bright-pink pixie cut was flipping the door sign from Open to Closed.
Kate’s surprise must have registered, because the woman smiled and pushed the door open. “Are you Kate?”
“That’s me.”
“Come on in. I’m Beth. The boss man’s in the Cat Café. He’s elbow deep in some project in the kitchen, so he asked me to let you in.”
“Oh. Thank you.” Kate ran her hands down the front of her navy striped T-shirt dress and wondered if she should have dressed down more. Maybe skipped the blazer or gone for casual-casual instead of business-casual.
“Come on,” Beth said. “It’s right this way.”
The young woman led her across rustic wood floors through a spacious lobby filled with racks of postcards and reading glasses and bright mugs printed with phrases like Never judge a book by its movie, and My book smells better than your tablet.
They continued past a barista station with a gleaming espresso machine and tap handles boasting the names of breweries Kate had never heard of. Then again, she wasn’t a beer drinker, though it was clear from the chalkboard menu listing a dozen kinds of beer that it was a popular choice here.
At a red door marked Cat Café Beth halted and turned to Kate. “You can wash up at that sink right there and go on in. He’s either in the kitchen or in the lounge area already.”
