Page 51 of Always Been You

"So am I." He knew he was pushing his luck, but it was too fun not to push her buttons. "I'm seriously on the phone with you. And how am I supposed to answer your questions if I don't talk back to you?"

"Ethan Michael Steele."

Oh boy, she used his middle name. This was serious.

"I do not have the patience nor the inclination to play word games or joke around with you right now."

"Sorry, Nana," he automatically apologized. "What are you calling about?"

"I just ran into Doris, and apparently she knows more about your goings on than I, your grandmother, do. She almost let slip, several times, some secret that she is keeping for you."

Of course she did. He should’ve known that Mrs. Weathersby would want to lord over his grandma that she was privy to information that Nana wasn't. He should’ve seen this coming. He'd promised Jess that he wouldn't tell anyone what they were doing for the talent show, but he knew that his grandma would never let this go until she got to the bottom of it. Out of the two secrets he was keeping from her, this was the lesser of two evils.

"It's not a big deal," he assured her. "Jess and I are entering the talent show, and we're dancing-"

"You're what?" She interrupted again. "My hearing aid must be on the fritz. It sounded like you said you were dancing."

"Now who's got jokes?" he grinned, knowing that if she was teasing him, she wasn't that mad.

"I'm allowed to have jokes. You know what they say about your elders?"

"Put them in homes?" he teased back.

"Respect them."

"Oh, I always get those two mixed up."

"So why does Busybody Betty know about this and your grandmother doesn't?"

"Like you so kindly pointed out, dancing is not exactly a talent of mine, so Jess reached out to Mrs. Weathersby for a recommendation for a dance instructor."

"You're taking dance lessons?"

"Yes, but Jess wanted to keep it quiet because she thought we'd get better scores if no one knew what we were doing. The element of surprise." Ethan thought that she didn't want to get anyone’s expectations too high, especially the judges. "So we didn't tell anyone about the dance."

Since his grandma was one of the most competitive people he knew, he figured she'd be on board with that plan and forgive his indiscretion.

"Ahhh, I see. That girl is a smart one."

She was smart, and a lot more than that. He'd thought he knew Jess, but the more time he spent with her, the more he knew that what he'd known was just a small percentage of who she is. And he'd been all in with just that. But the more he got to know her, got to discover the depths of her soul, her mind, her heart, he was more and more impressed with the woman she was.

"It's the old NTKB."

He had no idea what she was talking about, so he guessed, "New Kids on the Block?"

"No, that's NKOTB," she said as if he were a moron. "NTKB. Need-to-know basis."

"I don't think people say that."

"Sure they do. It's like BTW is by the way, and TBT is Throwback Thursday, and LOL is laugh out loud."

"I'm familiar with the concept of an acronym. I was just saying I don't think people use that particular one."

"Well, you know me, I'm a pioneer."

"True," he couldn't argue with her there.

"Are you off duty?"

---