She Signed Up to Win Her Ex, Then Was Paired With Her First Love novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Door Closed
Pia came at dusk with takeout and a folded sheet of paper.
"The finale rundown," she said. "I copied it off the manager's tablet while he was in the bathroom. Ten minutes, two beers, and a man who talks too loud on speaker."
She spread it on the kitchen island.
Segment nine said: Mara returns to Ashton. Segment ten said: Keith, reaction.
Beside it someone had written, in pen, Hold on his face.
"They want a close-up of you losing," Pia said to Keith.
"They'll get one," he said.
We planned it over noodles with the living room clock turned to face the wall, which Pia swore looked like decor.
On air I would say yes to Ashton, in public, as asked.
First I would ask to play something for the fans who had stood up for me.
It would look like a video, a black screen with a sound wave and the date, but it was the voice memo, the recording.
Pia would be in the booth with a drive in her pocket, and the screen would belong to us for four minutes.
"The old phone goes on the table next to you," she told Keith. "Don't touch it until they've stopped lying."
"And if the manager cuts the feed?"
"It's live. The whole country will hear him cut it."
She hugged me at the door and whispered, "Be happy for one night, will you? You've earned it."
Then she was gone, and the car pulled out.
Vera and Ashton had left for New York at four.
The house was very quiet.
Keith put the plates in the sink and stood with his back to me.
"I was unfair last night," he said.
"You were right."
"Both."
He turned around.
He looked tired, and the lamp over the stove made him look younger.
"I've been angry at you for eleven years," he said. "I don't know how to stop in an evening."
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