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“Right,” Jo said. Her smile was weak. “Okay.”

She went into her office, leaving the door open behind her.

Jo was supposed to be writing all day. Only taking breaks to troubleshoot if anyone needed anything on set. Days like this, she usually stayed behind her desk for hours.

Today she came out and leaned against the doorjamb after less than an hour.

“You okay?” she asked.

Emma ducked her head in an approximation of a nod. Jo’s attentiveness made her warm all over. She had to get ahold of herself. There was no way she’d survive this crush if she blushed during every interaction.

Jo went back into her office. When Emma sneaked in later to check if she needed a refill, Jo held her tumbler away from Emma’s hands.

“Is there anything you need?” she said.

Emma let out an exasperated chuckle. “I need to refill your coffee, Jo,” she said. “I need to do my job.”

“You know if you need time—”

“You’re making it weirder by asking every hour how I am.” Emma wasn’t lying when she said, “I really am okay, boss.”

Jo smiled softly at her. Emma’s stomach went wobbly. She reminded herself that the crush didn’t matter. Nothing would everhappen between them, but that was okay. Being Jo’s friend—and they were friends, even if Jo was her boss, that didn’t mean they weren’t friends—wasn’t a consolation prize. Emma liked the way Jo relied on her. She liked everything about Jo, and she liked it before she figured out she had feelings. The crush didn’t have to change anything between them. As long as she could pull it together and stop the swooping feeling in her stomach every time Jo looked at her.

Jo’s face went more serious. “I want to do something about this.”

“Idon’t,” Emma said. It was easier to think about her feelings for Jo than about everything that had happened with Barry. “I don’t want to cause any trouble. I just—I know I should. I know I should stand up and do what I can to make sure he doesn’t do this to anyone else but—”

“His behavior is not your responsibility,” Jo said. “You don’t need that weight on your shoulders. I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to say anything.”

Emma let out her breath, her shoulders sagging.

“But I am asking—you don’t have to do anything,” Jo said. “But I’m asking your permission to do things on my own. I know you don’t want me to release a statement about why he wasn’t hired, and I won’t. But what’s the use of being a former child star Hollywood darling if I can’t stand up for people who can’t do it on their own? You can’t possibly be the only person he has said something like this to. I want to bring him down.”

Emma shrugged, feeling helpless. “I don’t want to be a part of it.”

“You don’t have to,” Jo said. “I was just going to do it, without asking, but... it seemed better to tell you.”

Emma heard everything Jo wasn’t saying. They’d only just—made upmight not be the right term, but it was all she could think of. They’d just made up after a fight because Jo didn’t tell her things. Emma hadn’t been moved by Jo’s first apology because it felt like an empty gesture. But this one was more than words—Jo was backing it up with actions. Still, Emma didn’t want to be involved.

“I don’t want to be a part of it,” she said again. “At least not right now. I don’t want to know about it. I really appreciate you telling me, but... I don’t want to know anything else. You can do whatever, just keep me out of it.”

“Okay,” Jo said. “Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

—

Emma ate lunch withPhil, and he gave her such a pitying look that she knew he thought she was pathetic.

“Howarethings with you and Jo?” Phil asked.

“Fine,” Emma said immediately. She didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t want to explain how Jo’s reaction to what Barry had said made her feel safe. She didn’t want to tell anyone else what Barry said, but she wasn’t sure she could adequately describe how things were between her and Jo without it.

“Girl, she tore youapartyesterday,” Phil said.

“Yeah but she apologized.” Emma shrugged. “She says I was right.”

“So you kissed and made up?”