Page 61 of At the Heart of It
“Jonah.” Viv’s gaze drifted over his chest and lingered for a good three seconds before she lifted her eyes to his.
He hurried to pull the shirt over his head, struggling to stuff his hands through the arm holes. As he yanked down on the hem, he felt better about not being so exposed.
“You just put your shirt on backward,” Viv pointed out.
“I like it that way.” He tugged the hem down as Viv continued to study him. “What brings you here? Christ, I’ve seen you more lately than I did when we were married.”
The thought didn’t cheer Jonah all that much, but Viv just smiled. He waited for her to answer, but her gaze swung to his left instead.
“Josslyn,” she said. “It’s so good to see you. Would you mind if I stole your brother for just a minute?”
“That’s kinda up to my brother.” Jossy looked at Jonah, her expression flat. “His shift as my shirtless dog walker is over, so his schedule is his to determine.”
Jonah heard the prickliness in his sister’s voice, and wondered if he should do something to soothe it. He also wished they had some sort of secret sibling signal to cue an impromptu game of make-believe. An ear tug to indicate Jossy should fake a fainting spell, or maybe a chin scratch to suggest she play along if he announced a need to reroof the building today.
The memory of his game of make-believe with Kate gave Jonah a sharp pang of longing. Hardly convenient with his ex-wife standing here appearing unlikely to leave until he agreed to chat with her.
“Yeah, fine,” Jonah said at last. “I’m free for a few minutes, I guess. I do have somewhere to be in an hour, though.”
“A date?”
Jonah stared at her. Since when was Viv interested in his personal life? “Not a date,” he said. “Something at the bookstore. Come on. You want to hit that coffee shop around the corner?”
“They have tea?”
“I’m sure they have tea,” he said.
He marched toward the door and pulled it open, then turned back to see Jossy pantomiming a gag. He started to give her a dirty look, but caught Viv smiling up at him and decided to ignore his sister.
“Thank you,” Viv said as he held the door open. “You know, we didn’t get to finish our exercise before filming began. This is another thing I always appreciated about you—the way you hold the door open for others.”
“Yeah, I’m a real fucking gentleman.” He sounded like an asshole, and tried to figure out why he was acting that way. Something about Viv being here in his space. Well, Jossy’s space.
Stop being a dick, he ordered himself.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he started toward the coffee shop. He glanced over to see her shiver a little in the autumn breeze, and instantly felt sorry for her.
“I appreciated a lot of things about you, too, Viv,” he offered.
“Like what?” She looked up expectantly as she fell into step beside him, and Jonah scrambled to come up with something meaningful.
“Your feet,” he said. “You have nice feet.”
Viv burst out laughing, then stopped walking and lifted one sandal-clad foot. “You’re a real romantic, Jonah.”
Funny, the way she said it with fondness now instead of shouting it at him the way she had a year before the divorce. Jonah walked faster, trying to escape the memory of those words.
“I’m just asking you to meet me where I am,” she’d said in that way Viv had of yelling without raising her voice at all. “To offer some romantic gesture to show you even see me anymore?—”
“Here we are!” Jonah announced unnecessarily as he jerked open the door of the little coffee shop. A bell tinkled, and he gestured for Viv to walk through first. She smiled and floated across the threshold in that stately way she always had of moving through the world.
He let her order first, then asked for a plain black coffee and a blueberry muffin. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten anything. The day’s filming had left his stomach too knotted up to do much more than pick at the elaborate spread the TV people had laid out in Viv’s kitchen.
Since Viv didn’t whip out her wallet, Jonah paid. That earned him a show of gratitude that seemed much more effusive than a ten-dollar tab warranted.
“Really, Jonah,” Viv gushed. “That’s so thoughtful.”
She clutched her mug of chamomile tea and drifted to a quiet table in the corner. Jonah followed, wondering what the hell she was up to. He’d find out soon enough.
