Page 52 of At the Heart of It
He took another sip of water and wondered if he was supposed to add to this conversation or just let Viv talk.
“Anyway,” she continued. “When it came time for her to do the real pitch, Kate pulled out all the stops. Every persuasive technique she used, every communication strategy—it was straight out of my books. It’s like she was not only making her case for why I should do the show, but why I should pick her to produce it.”
“That must have been flattering.”
“Yes. Well. That’s Kate for you. Knows exactly what buttons to push to make things happen. I admire her tremendously for that.”
Jonah nodded, searching his ex-wife’s face for a bigger sign of that admiration. It was there, of course. But so was something else. Something Jonah couldn’t quite put a finger on.
“Oh!” Viv clapped her hands together and stood up. “I almost forgot—I bought some of those sourdough scones you used to love so much. The ones we used to eat with the honey butter? They’re staying warm in the oven right now. Let me go grab those.”
She bustled out before Jonah could argue that he wasn’t in the mood for scones. He wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened in that conversation, but he knew he probably shouldn’t let his guard down. Not with Viv, not with anyone, really.
He glanced at his watch and wondered how much longer he had to wait before Kate would arrive. She’d texted this morning when he was in the shower, and Jonah had read the message while standing naked on the bathmat dripping water onto the screen.
Don’t stress about what to wear today.
That’s what she’d written, even though Jonah had been doing no such thing.
Jeans and a T-shirt are fine. Or long-sleeved flannel. Or solid colors. Just no busy prints.
Jonah had smiled to himself and typed a response before winding a towel around his waist.
You mean I’m not required to be shirtless like I am when I walk dogs?
There had been a long pause, and Jonah wondered if he’d crossed a line. When her response popped up, he’d laughed out loud.
LOL! Camera crew has been discussing what you’d look like shirtless and whether you’d do it for TV. They didn’t believe me when I said I witnessed it firsthand. Kinda wish I’d nabbed a photo of you at the park.
He’d hesitated, not wanting to read too much into that. But hell, it wasn’t like he didn’t parade around shirtless all the time. He’d aimed his phone camera at the mirror, careful not to shoot anything but his torso. Fired off a couple shots, then glanced at the screen, making sure he hadn’t gone too low or captured his messy bathroom counter.
Then he’d pulled up his text exchange with Kate, attached an image, and hit “Send” before he had a chance to change his mind.
Holy shit!!!
She’d texted him back less than two seconds later.
You just made my morning.
Before Jonah could respond, she followed up with another message.
I meant that in a purely professional way. OMG. The camera crew will be delighted. That’s assuming it’s okay to share?
Share away
He’d replied with a weird mixture of pride, embarrassment, and longing.
“Here we go!” Viv swept back into the room and presented the scones with a dramatic flourish. She set down a small stack of plates in varying hues of yellow and robin’s-egg blue, along with a small white bowl of honey butter with a tiny spoon in it.
“Thanks,” Jonah mumbled as he helped himself to a scone. He felt awkward and out of sorts. Part of him wanted to be guarded about any show of kindness from his ex-wife. Hadn’t that always come with a price before?
But part of him—the part he really wanted to embrace—felt like a jerk for not giving her the benefit of the doubt. They’d be working together, after all. Maybe he should make more of an effort to mend fences.
He slathered butter on his scone and tried to come up with a suitable olive branch. “Thanks for being gracious about this,” he said. “I don’t mean the scones.” He cleared his throat and looked at her, noticing she wore a guarded expression. “I know it wasn’t your idea to have me as part of the show. I know deep down, it probably pisses you off that the network insisted on dragging me into this.”
Something flickered in her eyes. He watched in that split second she wavered between denying any angst and acknowledging that yeah, she was mad as fuck.
She settled for a tight nod. “Thank you.” She lifted her water glass. “Here’s to making the best of things, even when they don’t work out the way we expected.”
