{"id":2746,"date":"2025-12-24T00:29:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=2746"},"modified":"2026-01-10T19:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T19:01:25","slug":"lesson-3-cold-front-at-the-table-bonus-jamies-pov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=2746","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 3, Cold Front at the Table, bonus: Jamie’s POV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jamie<\/strong> felt the first warning sign when Wendy touched his arm\u2014that feather-light tap she probably didn\u2019t even realize she did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t a problem for him<\/em>, exactly. Wendy was Wendy: friendly, chaotic, sunshine-in-human-form. She touched everyone. Desks. Coffee machines. Strangers in elevators. It was just her default setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he knew one thing with absolute certainty: Tessa would hate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t even need to look to know she\u2019d seen it. He felt her attention land on him like a soft but unmistakable weight. He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, hoping it looked natural. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing about this felt natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy laughed again\u2014too loud for how small the joke had been\u2014and he managed a polite smile. He always tried to be kind to colleagues, especially during the office Christmas dinner. No drama. No tension. Not tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWow, you\u2019re finally smiling,\u201d Wendy teased lightly. \u201cThat\u2019s a holiday miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie forced another smile, the safe kind. The please-don\u2019t-let-this-look-like-anything<\/em> kind. Then he risked a glance at Tessa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was holding her wine glass with the same posture she used when someone cut her off in traffic. Calm on the surface. Storm system building beneath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He swallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tessa wasn\u2019t jealous. Not really. She just had\u2026 radar. Sensitive, pinpoint-accurate radar for anything that felt like disrespect. And Wendy\u2014oblivious, sparkling Wendy\u2014was basically a walking radar trigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the waiter placed the turkey in front of them, Jamie tried to break the tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTessa? You okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her smile didn\u2019t reach her eyes. \u201cPerfect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh no. The worst word in the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He fought the urge to swear into his mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wanted to reach for her hand under the table, reassure her, make a joke\u2014something<\/em> to pull the pressure valve before this turned into a conversation back at home that started with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not Wendy, it\u2019s the principle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Wendy leaned in again, asking about the Q1 campaign, and Jamie felt his soul leave his body. He angled his torso away by a few degrees\u2014subtle, but intentional\u2014hoping Tessa saw the message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not encouraging this. Save me. Please.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Wendy turned toward Tessa with a compliment. \u201cYour dress is stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie held his breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tessa blinked. Slow. Controlled. Dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He almost called the waiter back and requested a fire extinguisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clinking of cutlery resumed. The small talk continued. And Jamie sat there in the flickering candlelight, silently praying the evening would survive the next two hours without anyone\u2014wife or colleague\u2014committing emotional manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas dinners were supposed to be peaceful. Why did he ever believe that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 2025 M\u00e1rta Vajai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wasn\u2019t part of the assignment, but I had a lot of fun writing the third POV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamie felt the first warning sign when Wendy touched his arm\u2014that feather-light tap she probably didn\u2019t even realize she did. It wasn\u2019t a problem for him, exactly. Wendy was Wendy: friendly, chaotic, sunshine-in-human-form. She touched everyone. Desks. Coffee machines. Strangers … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lesson-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2746"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3045,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions\/3045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}