Page 84 of At the Heart of It
Pete nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to set up in the corner over there.”
“Cool.” Kate turned away and got busy unpacking gear. “What do you think about saving the OTFs until the end?”
“Good call,” Pete said, scratching his beard. “You want to give me a quick opinion about the lighting?”
As Kate slipped away, Jossy sidled up to Jonah and whispered in his ear. “What’s an OTF?”
“On-the-fly interview,” he replied. “I thought you were the world’s biggest reality-TV fan.”
“I watch it, I don’t film it.” Jossy’s eyes followed Kate across the room as she helped Pete string cable from one side to the other. “I like her. Very unpretentious.”
“Very smart,” Jonah agreed. “Very good at her job.”
“Yeah, but not in a Viv sort of way. She doesn’t seem like someone who needs to overshadow everyone else so her light looks brighter.”
Jonah nodded, but said nothing as Kate shuffled back toward them in her clown shoes. “Tell me a little more about the whole shirtless dog-walking thing,” she said. “How has it worked out for you from a marketing standpoint?”
“Great!” Jossy said. “We’ve seen a thirty percent uptick in adoptions since my gross brother started stripping for charity. I’m thinking of trolling for other men to take a shirtless shift.”
“Impressive,” Kate said, and Jonah couldn’t help noticing her gaze flick over his chest. But she quickly brought her focus back to Jossy. “Are the pets he takes for walks always the ones who get adopted?”
“No, that’s the great thing. Once he gets people through the door, the animals sort of sell themselves. We’ve found homes for a lot of pets that might have been overlooked otherwise.”
“That’s terrific.”
“Yeah,” Jossy agreed. “Turns out my big brother can be kinda useful.”
“He does have a certain charm.” Kate looked at him and gave a quiet smile that gave Jonah a pleasant ache in the middle of his chest. He longed to wrap his arms around her and press his mouth against the warm skin behind her ear, but Kate turned back to the camera and lighting guys. “You guys about ready to roll?”
“Five minutes,” Pete reported.
Kate nodded and bent down to pet a persistent puppy who’d started tugging at her shoelace. Jonah’s shoelace.
“You can pick him up if you want,” Jossy said. “It’s good to handle them as much as possible.”
“You just made my whole week.” Kate bent down and scooped up the fluffy mop, pressing her face into his fur. She murmured something against the little dog’s ear, then began strolling the perimeter of the room. Jossy fell into step beside her. Jonah stood watching, feeling like an outsider in his own life.
“Are you comfortable giving us an on-camera interview?” Kate asked. “It’s okay if you say no. We’ll keep the focus on Jonah.”
Jossy glanced at him, looking for a cue. He nodded, trying to convey he was game for anything. “Sure,” Jossy said, looking back at Kate. “I mean, whatever you think will help shed some light on what we do here. Puppies, shirtless ex-Marines, a crippled girl with a prosthetic leg.”
Kate froze. She turned and looked at Jossy with an intensity in her gaze that made Jonah’s breath catch in his throat.
“You have my word that we won’t do anything to exploit you like that,” she said softly. “That’s not why we’re here. Not at all.”
Jossy smiled and reached over to stroke the ears of the puppy in Kate’s arms. “It’s okay. I was joking, mostly, but I don’t mind if you do want to show it. You know, zoom in on the fake leg or whatever.”
Kate shook her head. “If we do choose to show that—and I promise you’ll get to consent if that’s the case—I promise we won’t do anything to make you look weak or hopeless. If anything, there’s a benefit to showing the normalcy of someone with a disability doing something amazing.”
Jossy beamed. His sister had just made a new best friend.
“Come on,” Jossy said. “Let me give you a tour of the rest of the place.”
By the time they finished filming for the day, the sun had long since gone down. Jonah glanced at his watch and tried to remember the last time he’d eaten.
He looked up to see Jossy yawning. “Come on.” He slung an arm around his sister’s shoulders and resisted the impulse to give her a noogie. “Let me take you to dinner. How about Cactus?”
“Tempting, but I’ll pass,” she said. “I’m pooped. Besides, I need to get home and feed all the assholes before they tear my kitchen apart.”
