Page 53 of Thank you, Next
“I need to speak with you in private.” April turned to Will and apparently decided to pretend that Alex wasn’t even there anymore.
Will looked concerned rather than irritated with his ex, and that pissed Alex off. She knew it wasn’t fair that she wanted him to stand up for her, but she couldn’t help it. She also wondered if she should just leave them to talk whatever this was out. She didn’t want to insert herself into the situation in a way that would make it contentious. Maybe he could get rid of April more quickly if she made her exit now.
“What you have to say to me, you can say in front of Alex.” Will’s voice was emphatic.
April did not react well to that. “This is private. It’s between you and me.”
Alex figured that Will’s ex wasn’t going to bend. Because he had a thing for Alex, and April seemed to be her own brand of iconoclast, she figured that he had a thing for obstinate women.
Her coffee had cooled enough that she could down it without burning her throat, so she swallowed the rest of it. Will had been right; her mood had vastly improved with coffee. When she walked toward the bedroom to get her purse, April said, “Oh, so she’s sleeping here now?”
Alex stopped in her tracks when Will said, “That’s none of your business, April.”
“Did you have a thing for her the whole time we were together?” April asked, her voice rising at least two octaves. “Is that why you wouldn’t try marriage counseling one more time? I always knew you had a thing for her. And it was painfully obvious that she was in love with you. I just didn’t think either of you were gross assholes enough to act on it. It’s disgusting. You’re practically related. You can just look at each other and know what the other one is thinking.”
“April—” Will’s voice held a warning, but April barely paused in her tirade.
“I came over here to talk about business, Will.” The hairs on the back of Alex’s neck went up. They were legally divorced, which meant that April should have no interest or say in Will’s business. When Will’s lawyer had brought the tentative final settlement on their assets to him, he’d asked Alex to look over it. It had made her a little uncomfortable to look at another lawyer’s work because she had been conflicted out of the case, but Alex hadn’t been able to say no.
It was a solid agreement, and they shouldn’t have any business to discuss. But Alex didn’t have a chance to say any of that.
“April, if this is about that stupid idea for the reality show...” Alex didn’t know anything about an idea for a reality show that included April. If Andrew wanted a wine expert on the show, he could pretty easily find one. And he could probably hire someone a lot easier to work with than April. If he was stuck on Will’s ex-wife, it would be because he wanted to insert a romantic storyline.
And she could suddenly see why April wasn’t happy to see her there. It wasn’t just about Alex and her history with Will. It was about the fact that he’d moved on and it might cost her an opportunity.
But Will was looking at her as though he was planning to earnestly hear her out. Alex couldn’t say anything because she would sound unhinged and jealous. She’d already used up any credits she had on being unhinged with her pre-coffee tirade.
“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to leave so that I can talk to my husband?”
It was clear that April wanted Alex to respond to her leaving the “ex” off of “husband,” but Alex refused to take the bait. Instead, she went into the bedroom and grabbed her purse.
Will moved away from his ex to try to keep Alex from walking out the door. The thing was, Alex wanted to talk to him alone as well. She was pissed that he hadn’t mentioned the direction Andrew wanted to go in with the show, or even if he’d met with him again. Sure, he’d wanted her to spill her guts to him last night about her work, but he didn’t think it was important to share this. She wouldn’t have put it past Andrew to announce April’s appearance on the show, even if the parties hadn’t agreed to appear, just to gauge whether people would be interested.
And people would be interested. Will and April were both beautiful people, and people would tune in for tension and fighting and drama. But then the show wouldn’t be about Will’s approach to food as much as it would be about the interpersonal drama. It wasn’t like people watched Vanderpump Rules to get an education on how the restaurant industry worked. And they hadn’t watched the Kardashians to learn how to become an influencer.
But when he asked her, “Are you mad?” she couldn’t quite get herself to tell him the truth.
He expected her to share with him, but he was only going to give her so much back. She wanted to tell him that yes, she was so angry she could spit fire, but it didn’t make sense. They’d only been hooking up for a few weeks, and they only felt as close as they were because they’d both been in Lexi’s orbit for so long.
She knew that she would cool off once she got back into her own space and processed this. That it wasn’t a big deal in the long run. Even if they both did the show, reality television had a very loose relationship with reality.
It didn’t spell the end of her relationship with Will. It just felt like it did.
So instead of throwing a fit, Alex smiled brightly. “Of course not. Everything is fine. Have your talk with April, and I’ll see you later.”
“I have to be at the restaurant tonight, so it probably won’t be until the opening.”
It hurt Alex more than she could admit that they wouldn’t be able to connect until his big public opening. She’d come to count on their private moments together, even though she was scared of depending on them. On him.
She thought that maybe Lexi had been wrong about her acting skills after that commercial when she was five—the one where she’d set a backdrop on fire while blowing out birthday candles—when she was able to keep her smile affixed. “See you then.”
And because she couldn’t resist rubbing the fact that Will was with her now in April’s face just a little, she went up on her toes and kissed Will on the mouth.
TWENTY-TWO
Will intended to get rid of April as soon as possible—her dropping by at his apartment was seriously not cool, especially when the visit definitely could have been a phone call. Apparently, she wanted to do the reality show and keep the fact that they weren’t going to get back together secret. Apparently, she’d had extensive talks with Andrew about a show that was supposed to be featuring him.
When she said this, he laughed at her, and that made her angry. “What the hell are you doing with that woman?”