Page 45 of The Sound Of Silence

“You owe me big-time for this. I was having very pleasant dreams,” she says, bouncing her eyebrows with a grin.

“Come on, Pippa. I don’t need to know that.”

She barks out a laugh. “Oh, are you jealous?” she asks, batting her eyelids.

More like grossed out.I stare her down with a blank expression. “So jealous,” I deadpan. “‘I want you; I need you. Oh baby. Oh baby.’”

Pippa’s jaw drops as she gapes. “Did you just quote10 Things I Hate About You?”

Fuck.

Tucking her knees under her on the booth, she bounces in excitement. “Did Jesse Hastings just quote a rom-com? This is huge! Why is there no media around right now?” She exaggeratedly searches the room.

“Fuck off.”

Sitting back down, Pip pulls her lips between her teeth and tries to hold back her smile. “Okay, I’ll stop. But I happen to know someone else that throws out the occasional movie quote here and there. You wouldn’t know anything about that, though, right?”

“Right,” I say bluntly, refusing to give her anything else. I can’t believe I just did that. I donotquote movies. Especially nineties rom-coms.Goddammit.I blame the lack of sleep…and Willow.

“Okay,” Pip says again, thankfully leaving it alone. Though I am curious as to why she’d ask me about Willow, but I can’t question her or she’ll read more into it. And I don’t need that right now.

God, Willow is getting under my skin. It’s making me wish I’d said no to Pippa; then I’d have avoided all of this and never seen her again.

When we’ve finished our breakfast, I leave Pippa to order more coffee and head to the restroom. Anything to delay our inevitable venture back to Willow’s place. Though I have no idea how I’m going to avoid her for the next couple of days. She’s everywhere. If I’m not seeing her, I’m hearing about her, or worse, thinking about her. I’m losing my goddamn mind.

I have no idea how long I’ve been washing my hands when my phone vibrates in my pocket, causing me to jump. I read the text from Pippa on my way back to the table, and for once, I want to thank her for being so annoying.

Pippa: The longer you take, the more I add to the check.

I send her a middle finger emoji as I smile, and an idea pops to mind. An idea that will help distract me, and she’s going to love it.

I’m silent when I slide back into the booth, but Pippa doesn’t take any notice. According to her, I’m a moody asshole in general, so this is pretty much normal. Though when I ask her to play tourist with me—to avoid Willow’s house—I can tell she senses it’s more than my usual grumpiness. And yet, I knew she’d agree.

We spend a couple of hours wandering around, taking in the sights until Pippa complains about the heat. And I don’t blame her. It’s the hottest day we’ve had so far. If I wasn’t reluctant to go back to Willow’s, I’d have given up an hour ago.

“One last store and then I’m going to need a drink. I’m thinking housewares,” Pippa says, motioning somewhere down the street.

“Let’s just get a drink now,” I say, hoping we can bypass everything and go straight to the break.I need a hard drink and it’s barely ten a.m. “Housewares aren’t really my thing.”

Pippa scoffs. "Neither is candy, but we still went to the candy shop.”

“That was foryou.”

“And so is this.” She smiles and grabs my hand, giving my fingers a squeeze.

Closing my eyes, I subtly wince at her touch but plaster a fake smile on my face, once again channeling Willow’s way of life, not even realizing how quickly that smile would drop.

“Willow!” Pippa calls out as we walk through the door, and I come to a halt, holding back an incredulous laugh. I knew the gift and homeware shop was Willow’s.How did I forget?

Willow looks up at the sound of her sister’s voice, but doesn’t notice me lagging behind her. And I’m thankful for the few seconds of respite it allows me to prepare. “Pippa, hi,” she says with a smile, subtly hiding something under the counter in front of her.

“Got time to show us around?” Pippa asks with a lift of her shoulders. At the wordus, Willow’s eyes flash to where I’m still hovering near the door.

A light shade of pink coats her cheeks as she brushes a hair out of her eyes. “Jesse,” she says as a greeting while all I do is nod. “Of course. Come on in, and I’ll give you a quick tour.”

Her hand briefly drops out of view and then she stands, brushing her palms over her dress. “Where do you want to start?” she says, clearly hoping nobody noticed. But we both did.

Pippa eyes her curiously, and I can see her mind ticking over. I take a few quick steps forward to stop her, but she shakes me off, running to the other side of the counter, trying to get a look at what Willow has to hide. They scuffle for a few seconds before Willow huffs and Pippa holds her hand triumphantly in the air. “Ha! Got it.”

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