She flung herself on the sofa and wrapped herself in the blanket she’d snagged earlier from the suite’s bedroom and watched her assistant as she buttoned her pea coat.

The concern returned to Lexie’s eyes. “Are you sure you want to be doing this?”

“You’re the one forcing me to eat something.”

“I meant the plays.”

Heather ran her hand through her hair. “Why wouldn’t I? I always do the plays when I have time in my schedule.” She had considered canceling, but what would be her excuse? Life went on. She had to figure out how to go on with it. Without Seth.

The thought of moving on without Seth brought a fresh wave of remorse. Which made her irritated. Which made her irritated with Lexie. “Jesus, you’re so weird. I mean, months ago you were eager to sign me up without telling me and now you’re being all freaky because I want to do them.” It couldn’t just be because she’d been moping around. Lexie was always the biggest proponent of the keep-yourself-occupied mentality. There had to be something else.

Heather sat up and glared at her friend. “What is it you aren’t telling me?”

“Seth’s doing the plays too.”

She’d said it so quickly it took Heather a moment to register her words. When she did, she’d wished she hadn’t asked. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she slumped back into the couch cushion. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

It hadn’t even occurred to her that Seth would be invited. Of course he would be. His addition to the plays in L.A. had brought in a lot of additional funding. If she’d had any capacity to think at all the last few weeks, she would have already realized it.

Lexie should have already realized it.

Heather shifted to give her assistant the best glare she could manage. “Why didn’t you tell me before we got here?”

Lexie crossed the room and sat on the couch next to her before answering. “Because I was afraid of what you’d do. But I feel guilty. So I told you. Besides, I think you should be prepared.”

A lump formed in Heather’s throat that she quickly swallowed down. “I don’t know why you’re so concerned. I’m a professional. We can figure something out.” She was an actress—those lines should have been more convincing.

“You’ve refused to talk to him or see him for weeks and now you’re okay with it?”

Heather flung her arms halfheartedly in the air. “No, I’m not okay with it, but I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Don’t you? You didn’t want to work with him anymore on Girl Fight and poof! He was off the film. It seems to me you have all the choices, Heather.” Her tone was laced with malice.

Heather hadn’t realized Lexie felt that way. They hadn’t talked about it before now. Yeah, throwing Seth off the movie hadn’t been one of her finer moments, but she just couldn’t see him then. Not when the wounds had been fresh.

She didn’t know if she could see him now either. She was still working that out in her head. One thing she knew for certain—she wouldn’t get him fired from the plays. He was too important to the cause.

“Girl Fight was different,” she explained to Lexie. “He was there for the wrong reasons. He works on the plays because he believes in them.” Seth at that elementary school flashed through her mind. “He did a lot of good for other people in L.A. I wouldn’t take that away from them because I got my silly little heart broken.”

Her voice choked and Lexie put her arm around her in a hug.

Heather let herself fall into the embrace, relishing the warmth of human contact. She wasn’t usually a hugger, but now, after so many weeks of missing Seth’s touch, a hug was exactly what she needed.

When she pulled out of the hug, Heather leaned her head against Lexie’s. “How do you know Seth’s here, anyway?”

“He, um, told me.”

Heather shot upright. “You’ve talked to him?”

“Maybe once or twice. Or five times.” She shrugged like it was no big deal.

But it was a big deal and Lexie knew it. Her play-it-off tactic was not working on Heather. “Five times! Behind my back? How could you do that?”

“You refused to talk to him and he wanted to know how you were.”

Heather wavered between feeling this was yet another betrayal from a loved one and an intense curiosity to discover whatever she could about her ex-lover.

Before she could figure out which emotion to go with, Lexie added softly, “I’ve talked to him enough to genuinely believe he cares about you.”

Heather wanted to believe that. Almost did. But his lie… “Yeah, he’s got a real fine way of showing it.”

“So he f**ked up. Have you never f**ked up in your life? I want you to think long and hard about that answer before you give it.”

Heather didn’t have to think long and hard. She’d f**ked up plenty. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d f**ked up with Seth, though she didn’t know how she would have played it differently.

She bit her lip, hoping to curb any emotion that might spill out when she spoke next. “How is he?” Then she held her breath while waiting for Lexie’s answer.

“He’s not good. He misses you. He seems to be a real mess.”

She let the air out of her lungs in a shaky exhale. “Well, that’s something.”

“You should talk to him.”

Three weeks ago, she’d vowed to never talk to him again. Two weeks ago, she’d still believed she could keep that promise. But now… She wasn’t quite sure when her resolve had weakened, but now she found herself considering.

Then she stopped considering. “I just…I can’t, Lex.”

“You’re going to be working together. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least smooth things over?”

Smoothing things over wouldn’t be necessary if she planned on avoiding him the entire twenty-four hours. But she didn’t say that to Lexie.

“Since the interview’s aired, you should probably decide how you’re going to address questions about the two of you.”

Heather closed her eyes and held her head in her hands. “I don’t want to think about the interview.” Her Jenna Markham special had aired earlier that week to record network ratings. So far, Heather had managed to avoid any follow-up press. Lexie had warded off most of the media by releasing a statement that Heather needed some personal time to deal with people affected by the things she’d said in her interview.