Chapter Sixteen #2
She picked a sweatshirt and pants from the closet, enjoying the satisfied look on Hallie’s face when she did.
“I’ll call River while you get ready,” Hallie said. “Here, I’ll show you the bathroom and all the toiletries. You can take a shower, whatever you need. We’ve got loads of really good hot water.”
Audrey laughed. “Thank you.”
“Do you want me to take a shower too?” Hallie asked as she led the way. “Uh. After you do, just to be clear!”
“It’s okay,” Audrey said. She could be controlled by her mind but she could not let it dictate what Hallie did, no matter how much it wanted every particle of the Sinclairs and that cabin off Hallie. She knew it was just nonsense.
“I’ll take a shower.”
“You don’t need to—”
“I know.” She smiled and flicked the light on in a beautiful, welcoming bathroom, and she opened a cupboard to show off all of the toiletries.
◆◆◆
When Audrey was done scrubbing every trace of the day and her family off her that she could, her skin felt a little raw but the clothes Hallie had given her were soft and soothing.
She headed back to the bedroom and was surprised to see Hallie sitting on the bed with wet hair and a different outfit.
She smiled up at Audrey and put her phone away. “I used my mom’s en suite.”
“Oh. Right. Cool.” Audrey cleared her throat. She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly being so awkward at the sight of Hallie in pajamas and wet hair. “Did you, uh, speak to River?”
She nodded. “I did. Everything is taken care of.”
Audrey’s stomach ached. “Was she angry?”
“Not at all.” She hesitated. “Well, actually, a little, yeah, but not at you. She’s annoyed as hell at your family.”
“She is?”
Hallie smiled and nodded, patting the bed beside her. “I think this whole thing might be… good isn’t really the word, but good for her.”
“How?” she asked, bewildered.
“River’s been very… don’t rock the boat up to this point. She doesn’t love how they treat you but she hasn’t really internalized how bad it is for you. Now, she’s seeing it.”
“We all have to grow up at some point? Is that what you’re saying?”
Hallie laughed. “I guess, a little. And, hey, better late than never.”
“I always liked that River has kept her innocence so late into adulthood. I don’t want to ruin that for her.”
“The woman’s about to turn thirty. She can handle it. Just like she can finally see that your family is in the wrong.”
Audrey winced. “So, they’re being terrible then?”
Hallie sighed and held out a hand, waiting for Audrey to place one of hers in it. When she did, Hallie pulled a tube of something from behind her. “I got this from my mom. It’s antiseptic but she gave me the new tube so you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.”
“She doesn’t have to—”
“She wants to. Everyone here cares about you, Audrey. We all want to make your life easier, better. This is a really small thing that makes existing easier for you right now. And that’s okay.”
Audrey chewed her lip as she nodded. The logical part of her understood it. The fragile, emotional part of her didn’t understand it at all.
Hallie uncapped and unsealed the cream, squeezing a tiny bit out onto the tips of each of Audrey’s fingers in turn. She rubbed it in so gently, so carefully. The cool cream was soothing to Audrey’s screaming skin.
Of course Hallie had noticed how battered and bruised they’d become. And, of course, Audrey had no idea what to do with that. She wasn’t used to people paying so much attention.
When she moved to Audrey’s other hand, Hallie sighed again. “River says they’re… having a lot of feelings, your mom especially.”
Just like in her messages. “Right.”
“River, however, thinks you made the right choice coming here. She’s happy to pass along a message to them all, gather up our things for us, and she’s even threatening to leave herself if they don’t control themselves.”
Audrey stared at her, confused. “River would do that? She loves this week.”
“Did she tell you that, or did everyone else tell both of you that?”
“Oh.”
Hallie shrugged, massaging Audrey’s palms carefully.
“She loves parts of it, sure, but it comes from the same place as you hoping they’ll get better.
You both want a family that gets together, that loves each other, but she’s realizing the cost of what your family is offering too.
She even said how bullshit it is that she felt the need to fake a girlfriend for people who’d… Well. Yeah.”
“You’re really great, you know?” Audrey asked quietly. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you.”
It was a really good thing River had only been faking her attraction to Hallie, otherwise Audrey would have been worse than the rest of her family combined, having feelings for her cousin’s girlfriend.
Hallie laughed. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did. You showed up and cared. You helped me when I couldn’t help myself. You aren’t required to do that. You don’t have to save me.”
“I’m not sweeping in and trying to keep you from your life. I’m just here when it gets too hard to bear alone.”
Audrey nodded. She understood that. She just wasn’t sure she’d had that kind of thing before. There was Zora, but that whole dynamic was so different. They were friends, but she wasn’t sure, with Hallie, that friendship was all she could see.
Of course, it was going to be all they’d get because the distance was substantial, but she still wanted to stay in touch with Hallie.
“Now,” Hallie said, sitting up a little straighter and smiling at Audrey. “I think you could do with a little distraction, so, do you want to tell me your favorite insect fact?”
Audrey laughed in surprise. “I promise I’m more than just insects.”
“I know that. Maybe I’m just trying to learn everything I can from you.” There was something loaded in her tone that made Audrey feel tingly, even with everything else going on.
She cleared her throat. “Okay, well, I don’t know if it’s my very favorite one, but it’s the one that’s coming to me, and that’s how funny and interesting it is that dragonflies are some of the best predators on the planet.
They’re one of the most popular insects because people think they’re beautiful rather than just disgusting or annoying like they think most bugs are, but then they’re just out here being these little killing machines. ”
“Oh, I have heard that before, actually,” Hallie said with amusement, holding one of Audrey’s hands in each of her own, stroking reassuringly. “And, if the entomologist is saying it, that must make it true.”
Audrey nodded. “Yeah, their success rate is way up in the nineties.”
“Well, I’ll never look at them the same again! Mom actually gets a lot of them here in the summer. A lot of bugs in general, you know, around the lake. You’d love it.”
Audrey laughed. She was sure she would. Part of her wondered if she’d ever get to see it. “Okay, your turn.”
“To tell you a fact?”
“Yes, please.”
“About my job? I don’t think I like it the same way you like bugs. I don’t know a lot of inn facts…”
“About anything you want.”
“You’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met.”
“That doesn’t count. That’s an opinion, and I’m sure you’ve met more interesting people than me.”
“Haven’t. And I think that’s interesting.” She pressed her lips together, considering. “I’ve learned more about bugs in the last few days than I had in my entire life before I met you.”
Audrey smiled, shy and delighted. That wasn’t massively surprising. People really did not love learning about bugs as a general rule. “I’m glad to be of assistance. Still not sure if that counts, but I’ll take it.”
Hallie looked intently at her, and the air in the room suddenly felt thick and loaded.
Audrey’s heart thudded demandingly. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever looked so very lovely with wet hair before.
Her own wet hair definitely had nothing on Hallie’s.
They’d probably need to dry it soon but she couldn’t find it in herself to want to bring it up and move.
Hallie sucked in a breath and smiled. “I don’t think you’ll like this one either.”
“I’m willing to take my chances,” Audrey whispered back.
“You might just be the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”
Audrey was pretty sure her heart stopped for a moment. Her breathing definitely did. It sounded ragged when she sucked in an urgent breath. “That’s not a fact.”
“It definitely is.”
Everything about it made Audrey want to be brave. Hallie had given her permission to choose herself. Just for tonight, maybe she could ask for what she wanted.
“Stay in here tonight?” she whispered, catching the moment Hallie’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. “With me?”
Hallie was nodding even before she’d finished speaking. “Anything you want.”
Audrey laughed, suddenly feeling like she was floating. “For you to tell me a fact.”
“I’m staying in here with you tonight,” Hallie said, ecstatic and shy at the same time.
That was a fact, apparently. Audrey didn’t quite understand how, but it was a fact. “That wasn’t quite what I meant.”
Hallie laughed. “You said a fact. I gave you plenty. Your turn.”
Audrey’s insides felt molten but it was good. She was used to the way shame burned. This was something else entirely. And, she supposed, if Hallie wanted another fact, she could do that. For the woman who was turning her whole week around, she could do anything.