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No Fixing It
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All Grown Up The Life He Built
Jesse“That must have been rough,” Audrey said quietly, but where normally, the pity and the sympathy drove me crazy, there was something in the way that Audrey said it that made me feel somehow better. Like a weight had been lifted from my chest.“Me running the hardware store, I don’t even know if that’s something that he would have wanted,” I said. “We hadn’t really ever talked about it. But I just feel like I have to do it now. Like if I don’t, I’m turning my back on him.”Audrey was quiet, and I wondered what she was thinking. Would she try to convince me that there was no reason for me to stay here in Aberdeen, that I was just making excuses for why I couldn’t be with her?Except that, of course, she wouldn’t say anything like that. Just like I couldn’t bring myself to ask her not to go back to Paris, she would never be able to tell me to leave North Carolina and put aside my ghosts.Audrey put her hand over mine. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that,” she said softly. “
All Grown Up Placing Her in Bed
AudreyI tried to figure out the expression in Jesse’s eyes as he sat me down on the bed. There was an unmistakable tenderness there, and a certain level of amazement too. He slowly ran his hands down my sides, the touch gentle and soft. He kissed me as he worked to undress me, baring my breasts and then helping me out of my pants as well. I arched against him, feeling the drag of his soft flannel shirt against my naked skin. I sucked in a breath as he nibbled at my earlobe.He grinned against my skin, his fingers tracing lines of fire along the waistband of my panties. He rocked against me, and I could feel how hard he was already. My fingers fumbled with his belt, pausing as he nibbled at my neck, my train of thought gone out the window.He laughed and pulled back, helping me out as he stripped off his own clothing, letting it fall in a heap on the floor. Then he pulled me close again, pressing his lips insistently to mine, his tongue slipping easily inside my mouth as I moaned, hea
All Grown Up Go-Getter
JesseThe last thing I wanted was to drive Audrey home after we had sex, but I could tell from the look on her face that I had to. I could also tell that she hated it as much as I did. Was she feeling the same way that I was? That we were playing with fire here, that it was going to be too hard to lose her already, without spending the night together, without waking up to miles of warm, soft skin every morning? I wished I could offer her some kind of solution, but I didn’t know what to say.“Your mom would probably worry if I didn’t bring you home, anyway,” I said, giving her the easy way out.Audrey looked at me in surprise for a moment, and I could tell that she was on the brink of telling me that that was the least of her worries at the moment. But then she smiled at me. “Yeah,” she said, sounding relieved that yet again, we were going to bypass that conversation about our relationship, about her return to Paris, and about everything else that was important between the two of us.“
All Grown Up Less Important
Jesse“I guess he could,” I said, feeling even more agitated. I had been so sure that she wouldn’t ask me to give all of this up. Just like I wouldn’t ask her to give up her dancing. Did she think that my work here was somehow less important than hers in Paris?I knew that wasn’t what she was asking, though. She was just trying to come up with some resolution, the same way that I was. We were hurting one another, I knew. There didn’t seem to be a way to stop it, however.I sighed again, even more heavily. “It wouldn’t be a long-term solution,” I explained to her. “Joe could look out for things. But short of turning over the whole business to him, well, it just wouldn’t be fair. Anyway, what the hell would I do with myself in Paris?” I tried to turn it into a joke, but I could barely manage a smile, and Audrey didn’t look like she was laughing either.“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess it’s stupid for me to even ask. I just, I don’t know, I keep thinking about all the
All Grown Up Homesick For Paris
AudreyTwo weeks of minimal time on my feet had my ankle feeling, if not better, then at least as good as it had been when I first rented out the studio in town where I could dance on my own. Maybe it wasn’t totally responsible to go back to dancing so soon. Maybe I was jeopardizing the healing process. I was going stir-crazy without dance, though, and I figured if I took it a little easier, then things would be okay.I wrapped my ankle tightly and went through some basic moves, grinning as I did so. There was barely any pain, and my ankle actually felt stronger than I would have expected it to. Maybe I would be back to Paris sooner than I’d thought. Another month and I could have this whole thing put behind me, I was sure.For a moment, I had to wonder if I wanted to put this whole thing behind me. Not everything about my time here in Aberdeen had been bad. A certain someone popped into my head as I thought about that.I couldn’t stay in North Carolina just for Jesse, though. I had t
All Grown Up Contract
JesseI frowned as I scrounged around on Joe’s desk for something that I could open a box with. Unlike my desk, which was neat and tidy, always organized to perfection, he seemed to keep pretty much everything out where he could see it. He claimed he knew exactly where everything was at any given time. That didn’t help when he was out front with a customer and I was trying to open up the boxes with the new equipment that we’d received that morning.Finally, I gave it up as a lost cause and headed for my own office to grab my box cutter, grumbling under my breath as I went. Should’ve just had the boxes delivered straight to my office, but Joe had been the one in the back at the time that the delivery came in, while I tried to explain more of the opening procedures to Chance before he left for the day, since he was only part-time on Tuesdays.The kid still wasn’t getting the opening procedures, but he had made a little progress in checking out customers, getting more efficient all the t
All Grown Up Pizza and a Movie
AudreyAnnabelle hopped up on one of the seats at the counter of the pizza place, drumming her fingers against the red countertop as we waited for our pizzas to be ready. Dino’s was the same as it had ever been. I was surprised to hear that they still didn’t deliver but only offered take-out pizzas. Same as it had ever been. I shook my head. North Carolina had barely changed since I had left it. Yet again, I felt hopelessly adrift, like I had far outpaced this town and everyone in it.I considered Annabelle for a moment. She seemed happy here. Oh, I knew she had talked about getting out and going somewhere else. She wasn’t planning on staying in Aberdeen forever. It was why she had two jobs and was living at home, after all: so that she could save up the money that she needed to get a fresh start somewhere else. All the same, she didn’t seem like she was unhappy. She somehow managed to make things work, even while she was dreaming of getting away.Could I ever be like that? Settle in
All Grown Up Catching Up with Sis
AudreyI bit my lower lip. “Isn’t it kind of weird to you that Clayton moved in so soon after he met Mom?” I asked, unable to help myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Clayton, I was just still trying to figure out how to act around him, and he was pretty much always there. Including at these family nights, which used to just be about the three of us.I guess that was one thing that had changed around here, but it was a change that left me feeling even more uncomfortable and out of place.Annabelle pursed her lips as she considered that. Then she shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Mom really seems head over heels for him. That’s a good thing for her, too. It’s about time she found someone who could keep up with her.” She grinned at me, but then looked considering again. “You haven’t seen her the past few years. It’s been tough.”I frowned. “I’ve seen her,” I said defensively. “She’s come out to Paris a couple of times, and we did that tour of Australia together. Oh, and London. Reme
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