JesseTo say that Friday afternoon was slow was an understatement. There hadn’t been anyone in the hardware store in the two hours since lunchtime, and we had long since finished going over inventory and all the other side tasks that I kept for days like this.I had sent Chance home when it became clear that if the floors took another polishing, we were going to need ice skates to get around the place. Now, it was just Joe and me. He was scrolling through something on his phone, but I could tell that he was just as bored as I was.I straightened up off the counter. “All right,” I said, finally making the decision. “Let’s get out of here for the day.”Joe raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you suggesting that we close early?” he asked, pretending to be horrified.I rolled my eyes. “Yes,” I said. “There’s no one here right now, and I doubt anyone is going to have anything too pressing that they need between now and tomorrow morning. It’s one of the first really nice days of the summer. Let’s

AudreyI was surprised to hear Annabelle come in that evening while I was getting ready to go over to Jesse’s house. “What are you doing here?” I asked her as she came into the bedroom. “I thought you were working at the bar all afternoon and evening.”“Micah called in sick, so my manager sent me home for a couple hours so that I can work the late shift instead,” Annabelle said, rolling her eyes. “I hate when they do that, but oh well. It’s better money working late anyway. Everyone’s already tipsy by the time you start serving them. Makes for better tips.”I laughed. “Yeah, fair enough,” I said. “Guess things are a little busier as the night goes on too, huh?”“Definitely,” Annabelle confirmed, nodding her head. “Especially on a Friday night. The rush usually comes around ten or so.” She flopped down on her bed, looking over at me. “You look nice.” Then, she groaned. “You’re going out with Jesse, aren’t you?”I frowned in the mirror at her. “Yeah, I am,” I said, wondering why she was

Jesse“Not all of them,” I admitted. “But probably ninety-five percent of them? Why?”Audrey shook her head. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you? They never could get you to read anything when we were still in school.”I grinned crookedly at her. “And you were expecting me to be just an idiot hardware guy, weren’t you?” I asked teasingly.“It’s not that,” Audrey said. She paused, staring quietly down at the table for a moment. “It’s just, you really aren’t the same old Jesse, are you?”“Are you the same old Audrey?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Weren’t you the one who was telling me that you don’t feel like you fit in here anymore because you’ve changed so much and no one else has?” I tried to say the words lightly, teasingly, but I could tell from Audrey’s startled expression that she hadn’t thought of things that way.She shook her head. “I guess you’re right. Sorry, I just don’t think about all the things that are different until…” She trailed off and shrugged, takin

JesseI usually never minded going back to work on Monday morning. Where most people dreaded that day, it was normally just another day for me. The hardware store wasn’t open as late over the weekends, but it was still open. This weekend, however, I had called Joe on Saturday morning and told him that I was taking a rare weekend off.I knew I was being too transparent. He had to know exactly what I was up to, but at the time, curled up on the couch with Audrey in my arms, I didn’t care. Let him suspect. I wanted to spend the whole day with Audrey. The whole weekend with her. Joe might tease me, but it would be worth it.We might not have much time. At some point, I knew I was going to have to talk to Audrey about what Annabelle had said about her heading back to Paris sooner rather than later. As much as I didn’t want to think about that, it kept weighing on my mind. Would this be the last day that I got to see Audrey? Would next weekend be the end of us?I wanted to spend every momen

AudreyI finished up my email to the director and started another one, this one to some of the girls that I shared an apartment with in Paris. I had gotten over my initial jealousy that they were all still there dancing. I’d gotten over my frustration about the lack of things to do there in Aberdeen. Now, we all emailed regularly, and getting emails from them was one of the highlights of my days. I tried to make sure I responded as soon as I could.Not that there was all that much to say. I had steered mostly clear of talking about Jesse, although I had mentioned that I had hung out with an old friend of mine on a few occasions. I wasn’t sure why I was trying to hide my liaison from everyone. I knew that they wouldn’t have a problem with it. It wasn’t like I was the first ballerina to ever sleep with someone. The costumes and choreography might be pretty traditional most times, but we still lived in the modern day and age.Was I trying to protect my reputation? Was I ashamed to be wit