It Slips Out

Jesse

If I went anywhere else in town, I’d not only be leaving the shop in Joe and Chance’s hands—and who knew what might happen then—but everyone in town would wonder why I wasn’t there in the middle of a workday. Joe would probably be more than happy to tell them why I was gone.

Besides, there was a part of me that wanted to use this as the excuse to go and talk to Audrey. She might not like me like that, but I still liked her, and she was my friend.

I slowly walked over toward the park.

Audrey saw me coming and put her book down, smiling up at me. “I was wondering if you were actually going to walk over here, or if you were just going to stand there watching me,” she said teasingly, and I realized abruptly that while my whole inner struggle had been going on, she had been sitting there watching me.

I ducked my head, kicking at the grass. “I didn’t want to disturb you,” I muttered. “You looked, I don’t know, peaceful.”

“Honestly, this book is terrible,” Audrey said, holding up some