Ali chuckled. “I think I just need to get some food in me. And caffeine. You want to go get something to eat?”
“Yes.” They’d barely had time to check into the hotel before Ali’s appointment, and Jess hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. “I’ll order an Uber while you change.”
Jess pulled out her phone to order the car and saw that she’d missed a text from Ethan. It was a funny meme of the Dirty Dancing lift. The top was a still from the movie and had the word “expectation” above it, and the bottom was a picture of a couple trying to recreate the scene at their wedding, except the bride is falling to the ground. The word “reality” was written over that one.
I hope I live up to your expectations,his text read.
He might’ve just been talking about the lift, but Jess felt herself getting emotional anyway. She kept trying to remind herself not to get attached. It was a ruse. She had a feeling that at the end of this, her fate would be similar to the bride from the photo who was about to faceplant onto the floor.
***
“Oh, by theway, I wanted to thank you.” Kade dribbled the basketball twice before passing it to Ethan.
Ethan reached out and caught it. “For what?”
He could tell by the smartass grin on his friend’s face that he was not going to like the answer. “For giving the town something to talk about other than Ali and me.”
“I aim to please.” Ethan took a shot and missed, again, but managed to recover the ball this time.
He could give a shit about what the town was saying, but Jess did.
When he’d talked to her last night, she’d said that she was happy to be getting out of town where no one knew about her and Ethan. Since her parents’ party, she told him that the only thing anyone wanted to talk about in the shop was the two of them.
He was starting to worry that this entire thing was going to backfire on him. His brilliant plan might not be so brilliant after all. He could feel her falling right back into her comfort zone of pulling away from him since their dance lesson, and he wasn’t sure why. But he knew that if she retreated now, the chances of him turning this relationship into something real was as likely as him sinking a three-pointer today.
The double doors of the gym opened, and Ethan saw Mrs. Weathersby enter the gym.
“Lieutenant Steele, can I have a word?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Ethan tossed the ball back to Kade, who gave him a look like he’d just gotten called to the principal’s office.
He grabbed a white towel from his gym bag and wiped the sweat dripping off his face before making his way across the court.
When he got within a few feet of her he stopped, but she motioned with her hand and jerked her head to the side in what he assumed she thought was covert but actually looked like she was having a seizure. He took another step closer to her and dipped his chin.
“I spoke to Miss Penelope, and she said that you and Miss Myers impressed her.”
“Oh, good.” As long as Jess was happy about the rehearsal, he was happy.
Plus, he’d never complain about getting to spend two hours touching Jess.
“She did say that you needed to loosen up your hips a little when you thrust.”
That sentence was not one he’d ever expected or had ever wanted to hear coming out of his eighty-year-old neighbor’s mouth.
Her eyes darted from side to side. “The trick is to bend your knees.”
She didn’t move her mouth as she spoke, as if she were afraid someone in the gym was trying to read her lips.
He rubbed the towel over the back of his neck, and as he did, he took a quick scan of the room. To his surprise, there were a few people paying very close attention to their interaction. Living in this town was like living in a soap opera. People created drama for their own amusement.
He ignored the onlookers and turned back to Mrs. Weathersby.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” he assured her. “You have a good day.”
He started to turn, but she stopped him. Her fingers wrapped around his forearm and she began gyrating her hips. “It’s all in the knees.”
She still wasn’t moving her lips as she spoke and now she was looking up at him with crazy eyes, grasping his arm, wearing a strange smile, and rolling her hips around in a circle. Forget him and Jess, this was what was going to have the town talking.