"You look very nice tonight." He said politely.

Abby smiled proudly, "I went shopping with your sister today."

"I was wondering where she ran off to." Jacob murmured. "Are you sure it's alright not to tell her?"

Abby hesitated. The truth was that she felt very guilty towards Elle. "Well she is your sister. What do you think?"

Jacob scoffed. "She's my sister only by law. Everyone can tell how much she dislikes me. You two are the ones who are close, you should decide."

"I don't want to hide it from her, but I don't want to tell her just yet either." Abby finally decided.

The relations.h.i.+p was too new. Abby wanted to at least see if things were serious before telling Elle, whom she knew wouldn't like the match. To Elle Jacob was an outsider who disrupted her family, but to Abby Jacob was the only one who understood her.

Abby had only just moved back, everything was strange to her and she hadn't been able to adapt quickly despite living in this city for the majority of her life. She was surrounded by new people and thrust into a new job. Elle was sweet, but she was also very busy. Recently Jacob had been the one to give her encouragement and listen to her worries. Because, just like her, Jacob had also been thrust into a new world. A new house, a new family, and a new job. Elle wasn't sympathetic to his simple troubles, but Abby could understand them all too well.

"How did the inspection go?" Abby asked, forcefully changing the subject.

"It went well." Jacob replied, equally eager to let the topic of his stepsister fall.

"Hopefully with this your father will stop nagging you."

"What about you?" Jacob asked. "How was your day?"

Abby recounted her day out shopping with Elle, conveniently leaving out exactly how many stores they went to.

"Elle wore her pretty necklace again, I'm so jealous of her." Abby said with a dreamy sigh.

"That bluebird necklace?" Jacob asked. She wore it so often that he had begun to notice it but he hadn't realized it was anything special.

"That's right. It's a limited edition release from MK so there are only ten in the world. I have no idea how she was lucky enough to get her hands on one." Abby continued.

Jacob's eyebrows knit together as he wondered the same, but he quickly let the thought go. "You like MK a lot don't you. You also wear that necklace of theirs quite often." He said nodding at the necklace around her neck.

"Ah, this." Abby said, subconsciously reaching up to touch it, "It was actually a Christmas gift from Elle."

"I see." Jacob said, looking down at his food. Abby silently cursed. Elle wasn't even there yet she ended up bringing her up so much. The conversation always seemed to lead back to her.

Abby made a mental note to not bring up Elle for the rest of the night. It seemed to work, the rest of the night went well. The, not official, couple enjoyed a nice meal while exchanging casual conversation.

Abby had driven to the restaurant herself so at the end of the night Jacob simply walked her back to her car. Abby was a little regretful that the night ended on such a dull note, but Jacob brightened her spirits by asking her out again for dinner next week. Abby ended up driving back home with a smile.

Meanwhile, Elle and Adam were still out together. They were enjoying each other's company too much; they were slow to return home that night. Even when Elle finally returned home and went to bed her dreams were full of Adam.