Page 44 of It's Always Been You

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Isn’t Maddy having a Rachel sleepover tonight? I’m surprised you noticed anything. I would have thought you and Jeremy would have been…occupied.

Emma

We’ve been occupied plenty tonight. We were taking a snack break in the kitchen when I happened to look out the window.

Julie

And what did you see out the window? Give us every detail. Leave nothing out.

Me

She saw the tree that caved in half my roof.

Hallie

That is…decidedly not sexy. Are you okay?

Me

I’m fine, but my house is a fucking disaster. There’s a hole in my bedroom and it crushed my HVAC system in the attic.

Julie

I’m searching for emergency roofing companies right now. And you’ll probably need water remediation because of the rain. Email me your homeowners insurance binder too. I’ll check out your coverage for you.

Emma

Oh, none of that’s going to be necessary, Jules. Gabe is taking care of it for her.

Hallie

Okay, so now we arrive at the sexy portion of the story.

Julie

Home disasters are very unsexy.

Hallie

They aren’t if you hate anything house-related as much as Molly does and a sexy someone else swoops in and handles it for you.

Me

I don’t know why his take-charge attitude was so sexy, but it was. He was all, everything is broken but please let me handle it, and I’ll take care of everything. I almost melted into a puddle right at his feet.

I’m trying to stay all stoic and firm and let him work for his second chance, but he’s making it really hard to do that.

Emma

I think there’s another part to this story. What happened at the end of your date but before the tree fell on your house?

Me

He kissed me.

Hallie

*SCREAMS INTERNALLY*

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