Chapter 15 Hazel
FIFTEEN
Hazel
“You sure you don’t want to crash at my place?” Jackson asked.
I had to tear my gaze away from the picture Reid had texted me.
The fact that he was at the gym with my ex right now made my skin physically crawl.
Would he say something to Paul? Would Paul say something to him?
I mean, either scenario seemed highly unlikely.
Paul had no idea who Reid was, and Reid wasn’t the type to engage in small talk with a suspect. Still. I didn’t like it.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m okay.” I bit my thumbnail, waiting for Reid to text me back.
My last client of the day hadn’t arrived yet. The Greek salad I had picked up from the diner next door sat forgotten on my lap.
“But it sounds fun,” Jackson pouted, organizing his heat styling tools. “I’ve always wanted a roommate.”
“Then get one. But I’m not moving into your tiny-ass studio.”
“It’s cozy,” he argued.
“And my apartment-less-ness is temporary. I’ll be home soon enough.”
With or without Vermont.
Queasiness roiled in my gut at the thought.
I had made the mistake of allowing optimism to work its way into my mind recently.
I blamed Reid. He had this way about him that made me feel like everything would work out.
Just being around the guy had been a pretty solid distraction as of late, but any time I stopped to think about my situation for even a second, dread descended.
Because in reality, we weren’t any closer to finding answers.
I looked back at the message Reid had sent me. A picture of my ex in his natural habitat—the gym.
Could Paul really have done this to me? Part of me had slowly become convinced.
Who else could it possibly be? But at the same time, I still found it hard to believe that he could stoop to such a level.
Our breakup had pissed him off, though. I couldn’t deny that.
Before he’d cut off contact, he used to alternate between being angry at me and begging me to take him back.
His drunk dialing had been relentless, begging me to come to his apartment and talk things through.
If it was him, he hadn’t cracked yet, and we were running out of time. He’d said nothing about a cat to the fake profile Reid was using to message him. I knew where Paul lived, and it might be time to convince Reid to take a slightly more aggressive action.
“Do you have an extra comb?” Ruby asked. She stood above me, right behind Jackson.
I set the salad on my counter—my appetite was long gone, anyway—and pulled out a fresh comb from my drawer. “Here you go,” I said, handing it to her.
“Thanks.” She smiled and leaned to the side, jutting one hip out. “How have the past few days been?”
She didn’t have to be specific to make her line of questioning clear. She wasn’t asking how work had been, or about the state of my mental health (fragile, for anyone wondering). Nope. She was asking how it was staying with Reid.
“Oh, okay, I guess. I feel bad for invading his space, but he’s seriously been so nice about it. Thank you for having such a kind brother,” I said, as if she had somehow had a hand in making him that way.
She laughed. “He’s always been like this. Saint Reid, we used to call him. Always been our parents’ favorite—although they try and deny it. He’s sweet and responsible, and easy to have in your life.”
Easy to have in your life.
That described Reid perfectly. Ever since I met him, I’d wanted him around. He made everything lighter.
Unfortunately, no one would ever use the words easy to have in your life to describe me. I was the opposite of easy. Challenging, my Gran used to say. Paul too, for that matter.
Heat rose to my cheeks. Was I weighing Reid down?
Of course I was, who the hell was I kidding. And he was far too nice to say anything about it. Was he counting down the minutes until our time together was over? What did I really bring to the table, aside from a laundry list of problems to solve?
“I think he’s having fun with you,” Ruby continued, oblivious to my spiraling.
“It’s all he talks about lately. Or doesn’t talk about, I should say.
You can always tell how happy Reid is by how much he ignores the family chats.
If he’s ever too quick to respond in those, you know he’s having a rough time. ”
“You think he’s having…fun?” I hated the hope rising in my voice. But I needed a little reassurance that I wasn’t the menace I thought I was.
“For sure. Hey, you should come by for family dinner this Friday.”
“I couldn’t intrude.” The thought of meeting the rest of Reid’s family made my heart hammer violently against my chest.
“Can I come?” Jackson asked.
Ruby ignored him and stayed focused on me. “I’m serious. It’d be fun. Plus, our whole family has heard about you by this point. They’d be really excited to meet you.”
I bit my tongue to keep from asking what, exactly, they’d heard. There was no way it could be all that flattering.
“Maybe,” I offered, fully planning on coming up with an excuse to bail later. I wasn’t about to crash Reid’s family dinner when he hadn’t even invited me himself. Not after I had already infiltrated every nook and cranny of the rest of his life.
Ruby gave me one last, seemingly genuine, smile and went back to her station and client.
“What, you don’t like them or something?” Jackson asked, once she was back at the front of the salon.
“Jackson,” I scolded, jerking my head in the direction of his client who sat in the chair, eyes covered by bangs.
“Oh, don’t stop gossiping on my account,” she said. “I’ve been seeing Jackson for years. I’m used to it.”
Jackson pursed his lips and tilted his head giving me a “see” look.
I sighed and shook my head. “I like Ruby and Reid,” I insisted, snatching my salad back and forcing a bite into my mouth.
I glanced at the time, realizing I only had fifteen minutes until my next appointment.
“But I don’t want to be any more of a burden then I already am.
I know when people are being nice to me because they feel sorry for me.
I appreciate the gesture, but I’m not going to take advantage. ”
Jackson raised his eyebrows and pulled away from his client to fold his arms across his chest. “Taking someone up on an earnestly offered dinner invitation is not taking advantage, Hazel.”
I just shrugged in response.
He could think what he wanted, but I had years of evidence to back me up.
Sleepovers where Zoe was the main invite and I was the obligatory plus-one.
Coworkers who included me in plans just because the whole salon was going.
People didn’t really like me. That was just my reality.
I’d gotten used to the look people got when a conversation with me stretched on too long, like a light slowly dimming behind their eyes.
When I’d started dating Paul, it had been easy to pull back even more. I stopped even making an effort with other people. Aside from Gran, I’d let him be the center of my life. I realized later there was a name for that. Codependency. I had liked not being alone more than I liked him.
“So, how is it living with the guy?” Jackson asked when he realized I had stopped talking and was instead inhaling my salad.
When I glanced at him through the mirror that ran across the entire side of the salon, he and his client were both staring back at me.
“It’s fine, but I’m just ready for this nightmare to be over.”
Jackson dipped his chin and narrowed his eyes. “That’s the dullest answer you could have given me. Fine? You’re living with Ruby’s hot brother, and you haven’t made a single move?”
My cheeks burned. “You think Reid is hot?”
“Oh yeah,” he looked down at his client. “He’s got this whole tall, adorable, nerdy thing going on. And that jawline? Hard to ignore. Right, Hazel?”
“I guess.”
I more than guessed. Reid’s attractiveness had smacked me right in the face the moment I met him, and now it constantly prodded at me—tortured me.
And after spending the past week with him, his personality had sent me into full-blown crush mode.
He was just so freaking nice. And genuine.
And seemingly looking out for my best interests.
Jackson snorted. “Whatever. Maybe he’s not your type. You seem like someone who would go for a bad boy, or someone a bit more reckless.”
“I think I’ve had more than my fair share of those,” I muttered. “Can we stop talking about this twenty feet away from the guy in question’s sister?”
I jerked my head in Ruby’s direction.
Jackson twisted his face into one of annoyance. “She can’t even hear us.”
“I’d prefer not to take that chance.”
He sighed dramatically before going back to sectioning off his client’s hair. Finally they fell back into conversation about her ex-husband, and I was able to effectively tune them out, grateful the attention was off me.
I didn’t care that Jackson had called it on the nose.
I wasn’t about to go through the embarrassment of admitting out loud that I liked Reid.
Especially since there was no realm in any universe where he would ever go for someone like me.
After seeing his house, and how he lived, I was more certain than ever that he thought I was a complete and total hot mess.
He was all organization and routine. I was all spontaneity and chaos.
And yet…
Why did I feel so accepted around him? Was he just that patient?
Or was I reading too much into basic human kindness?
Maybe everyone felt like this after talking to Reid.
Ruby did say their family used to call him “Saint Reid,” after all.
For all I knew, I was just one more lost soul mistaking calm energy for connection.
My next appointment walked in before I could spiral further. Her red-box-dye hair was twisted into a lopsided bun, and tear tracks were still fresh on her cheeks.
“Oh, honey.” I sighed and guided her into my chair, already switching gears.