Page 61 of Resisting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 3)

Losing her virginity had woken something in her. Not just desire, although, she was definitely feeling a lot of that. If it had been up to her, she would have spent every night since they got back from Moonlight River in bed with Josh. But sadly, it wasn’t up to her and he didn’t seem like he was interested in a repeat performance.

What had been unearthed by her first sexual experience was a new determination to live every day to its fullest. She didn’t want to waste any time being scared or shy. She didn’t want to spend the next eight years of her life not being honest about what she felt and what she wanted.

She didn’t regret waiting as long as she had before having sex. It had been perfect. The perfect night. The perfect man. The perfect experience.

But just like the theme song to Dawson’s Creek said, she didn’t want to wait for her life to be over, she wanted to know right now what it would be. Would it be yes, or would it be sorry?

If Josh wasn’t even interested in continuing to hook up, then maybe it was time to let go of the fantasy of the two of them ending up together. The one that she’d been dreaming of since she was four years old.

“What do you guys think?” Ava asked as she spun around.

“You look so beautiful,” Grace smiled warmly.

“You look hot!” Viv exclaimed.

“Dad is going to freak when he sees you!” Blake smiled widely.

Ava couldn’t imagine the stoic Asher Ford “freaking” when he saw his bride, but she guessed stranger things had happened.

Ava looked over at Audrey expectantly, waiting for her reaction.

“It’s perfect.” Audrey smiled, and she wasn’t just talking about the dress. She was talking about the man she was marrying and the family that they would share together. Blake and Asher were a package deal, and Audrey couldn’t think of a better person to be a stepmom than her sister Ava.

Grace, the perfectionist of the group, stood and walked over to speak to Maria who was doing the alterations. Blake started filming a video of Ava in her dress who spun around and smiled. As soon as the other women were distracted, Viv hooked her arm through Audrey’s and drug her into the corner of the shop and pretended to look at the tiaras on display.

“Okay, spill,” her sister whispered as she picked up one of the jeweled headpieces.

“Spill what?” Audrey asked.

Viv smiled and spoke between her teeth without moving her lips. “The cabin.”

Audrey wasn’t sure why Viv was behaving like this was a covert mission and she was asking for state secrets. “I left you a message. It’s amazing. You should definitely raffle off a package there.”

Viv’s eyes narrowed and she spoke at a regular volume. “Do you think I don’t know that you were at the cabin with Josh?”

That was what she decided to say out loud?! Audrey’s eyes widened as she silently shushed her sister. In her experience audibly shushing someone only drew more attention to the conversation.

“How do you know that I was there with Josh?” Audrey hadn’t told anyone that the two of them had gone to the cabin together. She had texted Viv that she was stuck up at the cabin and asked her to go feed the kitties, but she’d made no mention of Josh.

“I know everything,” Viv responded ominously.

Audrey wanted to argue with her sister, but she couldn’t. Viv did have the inside scoop on a lot of the comings and goings around town.

Then her mind started flipping through a rolodex of who else might know something and also how her sister could have found out. Audrey mentally retraced her steps.

Besides Viv, the only other person that knew she’d even been up at the cabin was Manny. She’d texted him because he was opening with her the morning she got home, to let him know she wouldn’t be in until later in the morning. When she got to the shop around nine, he’d asked her if everything was okay, and she’d explained that she’d gotten stranded up at the cabin. He’d gotten a funny look on his face and said that he’d thought he’d seen her car in the back, and she said that she’d gotten a flat tire the day before and that she’d gotten a ride from a friend.

Okay. That was it. That’s how she knew. Because Manny had probably seen Josh drop her off so he’d put two and two together. And she guessed that he must have mentioned something about it to Viv. Audrey had never pegged Manny for a gossip, but he had been in Hope Falls for about three years now and it did tend to rub off on people.

“Soooo, what happened?” Viv prompted.

“Nothing,” Audrey responded casually.

“Nothing,” Viv repeated in a tone that conveyed she thought Audrey was lying. Which she was.

“Nothing,” Audrey maintained.

Viv’s brows lifted. “Nothing happened?”

Okay, this was getting them nowhere.

Audrey sighed. “I got flat tire, so I went to ask Josh to fix it. He offered to drive me up there because he’d been wanting to see how Thor did in the car to make sure he didn’t get car sick. We drove there. Got stranded. Had dinner. Watched This is 40. Went to sleep. Came home. That’s it.”

“If nothing happened, why didn’t you mention that Josh was with you when you called me to ask me to go feed Frank and Lucy? Why are you being so secretive?”

“Are you serious?” Indignation laced Audrey’s tone. “Look how you’re acting right now. Look at what you think happened. Now multiply that by the entire town.”

Viv stared at her, and she could see that her sister still wasn’t convinced.

“Josh and I are friends. That’s it.” Unfortunately, that was the one thing she was telling her sister that was actually true.

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