Something to Talk About(64)

Her attendants shared a look.

“Did the girlfriend text?”

Jo rolled her eyes. “I thought we broke up.”

Kelli grinned like she was baring her teeth. “So you’re not denying she texted.”

“I’m keeping her updated on Jaden’s mother’s cousin’s daughter’s cat,” Jo said. “She’s very invested.”

The conversation shifted to teasing Jaden, and Jo relaxed.

She kept her phone in her hand, and Emma kept texting. Nothing important. She was watching an arrivals show with her sister. Jo couldn’t imagine who would be arriving this early before the ceremony. She was going earlier than usual herself, taking time to do an interview or two about the Cassandra Project.

I have a real hankering for pigs in a blanket right about now, Emma texted, and Jo had to swallow her laugh. Emma immediately followed it up with: Actually, I made Avery make us some so I’m literally eating them right now.

You have a pretty good sister, Jo texted back.


She’s not terrible.



Eventually, Jo had to actually go to the theater. She let herself be handled on the red carpet a bit more than usual, went where she was supposed to go, and ended up doing four separate interviews. As soon as she was off the red carpet and inside, she checked her phone. She’d missed three messages from Emma.


Wow. You look really nice, boss.

The interview with E! was great!

Seriously if you’re not on a best-dressed list, they’re wrong.



Jo grinned to herself and found her table next to Chantal and the cast.

She didn’t turn off her phone during the ceremony. She kept it in her clutch and checked it on commercial breaks. Emma worked just as well as a buffer through the phone as she did in real life, though it was less fun texting. Jo much preferred the SAGs, muttering things under her breath with Emma beside her, trying not to laugh. Laughing emojis and lols weren’t the same as the way Emma bit the corner of her mouth to keep a chuckle in.





15


    JO


A few weeks after the Emmys, there was a quiet knock on Jo’s door. She looked up to see Emma, and Jo smiled until she registered the look on her assistant’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your father called,” Emma said. “He’s planning to stop by around lunch.”

Jo’s spine straightened of its own accord. She sucked in a breath.

“Excellent,” she said, though her jaw stayed clenched. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“I told him you had a busy day,” Emma said. “But when I suggested he schedule a better time, he said he was sure you could fit him in and hung up the phone.”

That sounded like her father.

“Thank you, Emma,” Jo said again. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t, of course. But there was nothing to be done about that now. When her father decided something, it was decided.

Jo sent Emma on fifteen different errands at eleven and told her she could stop for lunch while she was out.

“Should I grab you lunch, too, boss?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Honestly, Jo was nauseated at the thought of her father visiting, and annoyed at herself for it. She was forty-one years old and a multimillionaire, and she got nervous at the thought of her father disapproving. Worse still, she already knew he disapproved, had known that since she was a kid. She should’ve been over it by now. Instead, her stomach roiled too much for her to eat anything. She waited in her office, one foot tapping, unable to get any work done.

Eventually, her father appeared in her open door, ramrod posture and stern expression. He knocked on the doorjamb as though she hadn’t noticed him. Jo took a breath and affected something approximating a smile, standing to greet her dad.

“Father,” she said.

“Josephine.”

She didn’t cringe at her full name. She offered her cheek for him to kiss. It was that or a handshake—her father did not hug. She left her office door open. There weren’t many people around, but her father didn’t know that. Maybe it would keep him from making a scene.

It did, at first. He asked after her—he didn’t seem particularly interested, but the fact that he asked at all was something, she supposed. He talked about Vincent, proudly, as usual. Jo was fine with that. When she could think rationally about it, she really didn’t mind disappointing her father.

His good behavior only lasted about ten minutes. Then: “The debacle with Barry Davis,” he said. He shook his head. “You could have handled that better.”

“I’m handling it just fine,” Jo said. “And I’m not discussing it with you.”

Her father’s lips pursed. He glanced at the door, then looked back at Jo. “I’m glad you’ve gotten rid of that assistant girl.”

Jo rolled her eyes. “Her name is Emma. She’s a lot more than that assistant girl, and I haven’t gotten rid of her. She’s running some errands for me.”

“She still works for you,” her father said. “But I was referring to that dating nonsense that thankfully appears to be over. Honestly, Josephine, what a disgrace.”