Page 20 of At the Heart of It (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #4)

“But that’s really it,” he said. “We have to stop now.”

Kate nodded and took another sip of beer. “Okay,” she said, and lifted her glass again.

Jonah half expected Kate to leave right after the second kiss. He wouldn’t blame her. What the hell was he thinking planting one on her like that when they’d already agreed that was a horrible idea?

Maybe she was sticking around for the beer.

That seemed unlikely, since she wasn’t exactly chugging it. But she did sip it slowly as she answered all of his questions about the television show. The ones he hadn’t thought to ask before.

“It’s called an airable pilot,” Kate explained, shifting a little on the sofa. “All the color correction and sound mixing will be up to broadcast standards. That way, if the network says go, we’re ready to roll.”

“So they’d put it on the air just like that?”

“More or less. Amy’s making sure all our ducks are in a row as far as releases and legal clearances. We’ve got a good head start already on the paperwork side of things.”

“So what happens after they air it?”

“We cross our fingers for a series order from the network.” Kate shifted again, bumping his knee with hers. Jonah didn’t think it was on purpose, but part of him wished it was. “We’re hoping for fourteen episodes to start.”

“Fourteen?” He stroked a hand down Marilyn’s back, glancing over to see the cat looked as surprised as he felt. “I can’t believe you have that many victims lined up.”

“Victims?”

“Contestants—subjects—what are we calling the people whose relationships we’re supposed to fix?”

“Oh—I’m not sure yet. Viv wants to call them patients , but the network guys think that’s too clinical.”

“It sounds like we’re treating them for venereal disease.”

Kate laughed. “Exactly. I think for now it’s safe to say couples . And yes, casting has about four dozen of them pre-screened and ready to go in case we do get picked up.”

Jonah leaned back against the sofa and took another sip of beer. His glass was almost empty, but he didn’t want to leave this spot, this conversation, to get up and grab a refill.

“What do you think the odds are?” he asked.

“That the network will pick us up?”

Jonah nodded and Kate tipped her head to the side, considering. “Above average,” she said. “Obviously we don’t even have a pilot yet, but I can see it in my head.”

“And how is it?”

She grinned. “Very good. Excellent. I have a pretty nice track record.”

“I’m glad.”

Jonah glanced down at his glass, not sure he was telling her the truth.

Did he want the show to get picked up? He thought so, but his reasons for it had nothing to do with helping troubled couples.

They were selfish reasons. Or maybe selfish wasn’t the right word.

He was doing it for Jossy, but wasn’t that still selfish?

Or maybe he was trying to make up for the selfishness in the first place. That seemed like a better story.

“Can I ask you something?” Kate said.

Jonah looked up. “Fire away.”

“Why did you say yes? If it wasn’t my kissing skills, I mean?”

She gave him a small smile, but he saw something serious in her eyes. Something that told him she knew there was more to his story than he’d let on so far.

Jonah hesitated. “I want to help my sister.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” Understanding flashed in her eyes. “The one with the animal shelter?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s noble of you.”

He thought about dispelling that idea. Just opening his mouth and letting the whole story come spilling out. But he bit back the words and gave a small shrug. “Not really. It’s family. You help each other out when you’re family.”

“Your father was killed in the line of duty?”

He must have looked alarmed, because Kate reached out and touched his arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get too personal. Viv mentioned it in that first book. I wondered if maybe that had something to do with why you’re protective of your sister.”

Jonah nodded, and studied her face. There was nothing there to suggest she knew the rest of the story. Even so, he wondered. Maybe Viv had said something.

But no. Kate’s expression wasn’t calculating. It wasn’t pitying. It was sincere. He could see it in her eyes.

She lifted her glass and drained the last few drops of pale-orange liquid. Then she rested the glass on her knee. “Just be careful, Jonah. You don’t want to sell your soul to be someone else’s savior.”

Something in those words sounded familiar. He thumbed fast through the Rolodex in his brain, trying to place them.

“Viv wrote that,” Kate said, reading his mind. “It’s a line from But Not Broken . I think it was in chapter twelve or thirteen, right after she leaves the abusive relationship.”

“Right, of course.” His gut churned. “I remember now.”

Kate looked down at her glass. “I should probably go.”

She stood up before he could say anything else, and Jonah wondered what she’d seen in his face just then. Had something tipped her off that her words had touched a nerve? Or had he kept his expression as impassive as he’d hoped to?

He didn’t have time to ask. She’d already carried her glass to the kitchen. He could hear her rinsing it out in the sink. Then she walked back into the living room and stood behind the sofa, stroking a hand down Marilyn’s back.

“I’m really happy to be working with you, Jonah,” she said. “Even if we got sort of a weird start.”

“I’m happy to be working with you, too.” That was true, even if he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the show itself.

“I think this series is going to touch a lot of people.”

He nodded, ignoring the voices in his head that told him the only person he really wanted to touch was her. That wasn’t going to happen. Her body language now made that perfectly clear, even if they hadn’t already agreed there would be no more kissing.

Jonah set down his empty glass and stood up. “I’m glad you came by. I definitely feel better about the show. About what happens next.”

Kate began walking toward the door and Jonah fell into step beside her while something inside him screamed at her not to go. At the threshold of the door, she turned and looked at him.

“You think you’ll feel ready to start shooting in a couple days?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Good. Well, then.” She took a deep breath, and Jonah waited for her to say something else. To tell him she felt the same way he did, even though he had no idea how either of them would put that into words.

“Goodnight, Jonah.”

“Goodnight.”

An air of finality clung to the word. An echo of goodbye, even though they’d be working together. Even though they’d be seeing each other every day for the rest of the foreseeable future.

But they wouldn’t be kissing again. They’d both made that clear.

“See you Wednesday at ten,” she said. “At Viv’s place.”

“Viv’s place,” he repeated as a tight ball formed in his chest.