Page 33 of Always Been You

Jess's punctuality, or lack thereof, was common knowledge in Whisper Lake, so she figured Daisy wouldn't bat an eye at her excuse.

"Oh, hello, Mrs. Steele," Amelia said as she emerged from the back of the building.

Thank God. Backup.

"Good morning, dear. And it's Daisy," Ethan's grandma corrected.

She’d been on a kick since her eightieth birthday that everyone called her Daisy, not Mrs. Steele. It took a little getting used to.

"How's Sabrina feeling?" Jess asked.

Amelia's daughter, Sabrina, had been running a fever over the weekend, so she'd had to skip Jess's parents’ party.

"She's doing a lot better. I think she must’ve picked up something at daycare." Amelia set her purse down at her station. "How was the party? I was so bummed that I had to miss it, I would’ve given anything to see your dad playing The Newlywed Game."

"It was great!" Jess enthused, hoping Daisy would let her out of revealing the big news for now.

"The game was a hoot." Daisy agreed. "Jess and Ethan won.”

Guess not.

Amelia's face scrunched in confusion. "Oh, you and Ethan played?"

"Yep." Jess wanted the subject to drop immediately.

Lying had never been a big deal to Jess. Maybe it was because she'd spent her childhood imagining that she was living a life that wasn't her own. Also, mortality puts things in a very stark light. A little white lie here and there, especially if it was for the greater good, didn't bother Jess. But this, this wasn't bending the truth, it was snapping that sucker in half and then putting it through a wood chipper. There might be shreds of truth, but they were in tiny, itsy bitsy pieces.

"Haven't you heard the big news?" Daisy shifted in her chair to face Amelia.

"Big news?" Amelia's eyes bounced between Jess and Daisy.

"Jess and Ethan are dating."

"They are?"

"They are!" Daisy enthused, before her perfectly drawn on eyebrows lifted. "It came as quite a surprise to everyone at the party as well."

Amelia looked at Jess. "I bet."

Jess reached down and got her spray bottle as Daisy settled back in her chair. Before either woman had a chance to say anything else, Amelia's first client, Mrs. Potter, walked into the shop.

The woman sat down, and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Boy that was some kiss yesterday."

And that was pretty much how the rest of Jess's day went. Everyone that came into the shop wanted to talk about Jess and Ethan. The kiss. The Not-So-Newlywed Game. There were Instagram videos of her pushing Ethan in the pool and, of course, their kiss. Being on the receiving end of the kiss, she’d missed the aesthetics of it. When Ethan's hands cupped her jaw, the look in his eyes was so...intense. So real.

By the end of the day, she wasn't sure if the things coming out of her mouth were lies or not.

Why had she ever thought this was a good idea?

Her lips tingled with a reminder of the hottest kiss in her life.

Oh yeah, that's why.

11

Ethan double checked the address that Jess had texted him and looked up at the nondescript warehouse in Rosewood Grove, a town about thirty miles outside of Whisper Lake. He was in the right place, he just wondered what this place was. There was no signage anywhere. He'd checked online to see what kind of business this was but hadn't been able to come up with anything.

He checked his watch. He'd arrived with five minutes to spare, and he'd been waiting for ten. Jess was late, which was not a shocker. She rarely, if ever, showed up on time.

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