Page 91 of At the Heart of It
She turned to see Amy poking her head out of her room. Her face was bare, and she wore a serious expression, along with fuzzy pink pajama bottoms and an oversized black sweater.
“Hey, Amy,” Kate said carefully. “You’re up late.”
“So are you.” Amy slipped out the door and leaned against the wall, hands tucked up inside the sleeves of her sweater. “Pete texted as you guys were finishing up at the shelter a couple hours ago. Said filming went really well.”
“It did. Everything was great.” She waited for Amy to ask where she’d been in the hours since filming wrapped, but it was probably obvious. And it was obvious from the look on Amy’s face that she’d already guessed.
“I didn’t sleep with him again,” Kate blurted.
Amy smiled, but didn’t laugh. “I didn’t ask,” she said. “And I wouldn’t judge if you had. But I do need to talk to you about something.”
Kate glanced at her watch. If she went to sleep now, she’d still get six hours. That sounded heavenly. “Can it wait until morning?”
Amy shook her head. “No. It can’t, actually.”
Something in Amy’s tone, in the tenseness of her expression, made the skin prickle on Kate’s arms. This was more than a conversation about Chase Whitfield’s latest request. More than a briefing about drama between the test couples or a suggestion from Viv about the direction of the show.
Kate slipped the key card into the front pouch on her purse and turned to face Amy. Hopefully they could keep their voices down and get this over with quickly. “Okay, but let’s make it fast,” she said. “What’s up?”
Amy shook her head. “Not out here. This isn’t a conversation for the hallway. Let me grab my laptop and I’ll meet you in your room in two minutes.”
Kate sighed and tried not to be irritated. Building drama was part of Amy’s job. She couldn’t blame her for not flipping the switch after hours.
But she also knew whatever this was could wait. “Amy, I’m tired and I have to pee. Can you just spit it out now so we can?—”
“He’s married,” Amy said. “Jonah’s married.”
Kate’s blood went cold. She’d heard that expression before, but this time she was sure she felt flecks of ice pricking her veins from inside. She grabbed hold of the door handle, unsure whether it was for balance or an urge to get away. To duck into her room, burrow under her covers, and pretend she hadn’t heard those words.
He’s married.
Jonah’s married.
Amy watched, her expression wary. “Kate?”
She nodded, even though there’d been no question asked. But she knew Amy was right about one thing. This wasn’t a conversation for the hallway.
“Come on,” she said, fumbling for her key card again. “Come inside and tell me everything.”
Chapter 14
Kate stared at the paperwork spread out across her hotel bed, too dumbfounded to comprehend the words dotting the pages like blood spatter.
She looked up to see Amy watching her with a nervous expression. “Say something,” Amy urged. “What are you thinking?”
Kate swallowed, trying to get her bearings. “So the divorce papers were never officially filed,” she said. “Which means the divorce never happened.”
“Right.” Amy nodded like a teacher responding to a pupil prone to hysteric outbursts. “As soon as I uncovered all this, I called Viv.”
“What?” Kate knotted her fingers in the bedspread and ordered herself to keep breathing. “You called Viv about this?”
Amy reached across the bed and laid a hand on Kate’s arm. “No, not like that,” she said. “I didn’t tell her what I found. I just asked a few questions about the divorce paperwork. She knows I’ve been working on all the due diligence. The background checks and legal stuff.”
“Right. I’m sorry, of course.”
“I wanted to see if I could figure out what happened. Get a handle on things so we know how to proceed.” Amy gave Kate’s arm a squeeze, but didn’t draw her hand back. “I gave Viv this totally convincing story about some other show we worked on where an actor’s divorce was filed in the wrong state and his ex-wife came after his checks and—well, it doesn’t matter. She bought it. She didn’t seem suspicious about me trying to track down copies of their divorce certificate.”
Kate looked down at the paperwork again, willing there to be a divorce certificate somewhere in the jumble. She saw photocopies of driver’s licenses and birth certificates and something that looked like a Costco card.
