Chapter 37 #2
Jonathan comes out onto his porch and waves at us. “Y’all looking for Hallie and Margie?”
“Yes!” I shout back to him.
“They ran to pick up pizza for dinner. Should be back any minute.”
“Thank you,” I say, right as Hallie’s van rounds the corner at the end of the street and heads our way.
The van comes to a stop and the back door slides open.
Mrs. Kinkaid is at my side, just like Zach would have been.
Mia hops out exclaiming, “Coach G! What are you doing here?”
Avery steps out of the passenger seat, carrying two boxes of pizza and eyeing me with suspicion. “Yeah, Coach G. What are you doing here?”
“Can I talk to your mom alone?” I ask Mia.
Hallie rounds the front of the van. “Greyson? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be out and about.”
“I’m going inside, Mommy,” Mia says, skipping past me.
Avery stands there, unmoving.
“Ave,” Hallie says. “Could you give us a minute?”
Mrs. Kinkaid leans close to me and says, “I’ll be in my car if you need me.”
“What happened to the speech?” I ask her.
“I think it will be better if you improvise,” she says.
Avery walks past me. In a warning voice, she says, “This better be good.”
And then Hallie’s here, in front of me.
“You should put your leg up, Greyson. The doctor said to keep it elevated.”
“I will,” I say. “After I tell you what I need to say.”
She stands a few feet away from me, just out of reach.
“If Zach were here …” I shake my head, at a loss for words. “What I mean is …” I clear my throat, looking her in the eyes.
She takes a step closer. “What is it, Greyson?”
I search her face. Then I take a breath and say, “I choose you.”
“You … ?” Her brows lift and her eyes soften.
“I choose you,” I repeat myself.
I’ll tell her every day if she needs me to.
“Remember when I told you about DC and you said you wouldn’t be the reason I stayed?”
She nods. Her voice is soft and careful. “Yes.”
“What if you were?” I ask. “What if being with you and Mia is enough to keep me here in Waterford?”
She takes another step. She’s close enough that I could reach out to touch her, but I don’t. Not yet.
“What about the risk?” she asks, her voice thick with emotion.
“Life is risk, Hallie. Someone told me that recently. Just today, actually. Love is risk.”
I reach out, running my hand through her hair. “And I love you.”
“You …” She tilts her head, resting it in my palm. “I love you too, Greyson.”
I brush my thumb down her cheek and the tension in my body bleeds away.
I lean on my crutches, propelling myself toward her. I wobble slightly and she reaches out to grasp my elbow. I stabilize my crutches and pull Hallie into my arms, breathing her in and holding her close.
She tilts her face up and I kiss her, softly brushing my lips over hers.
This isn’t a kiss full of desire or chemistry. It’s a reunion and a promise.
She carefully loops her arms around my neck, holding on and kissing me.
Hallie pulls back, whispering my name, “Greyson.”
I rest my forehead on hers. “Hallie.”
She sighs and a soft smile takes over her face.
“I was such an idiot,” I say. “I meant to lead with that.”
“You were,” she agrees, laughing.
“You don’t have to agree so wholeheartedly.”
“You didn’t have to be so completely idiotic,” she teases, leaning in so her head is tucked under my chin. She wraps her arms around my waist and holds on to me.
Mrs. Kinkaid rolls down her window and whoops. Then she shouts over to us. “I figured Zach would whoop. I’m just improvising here.”
I smile, wishing Zach could be here, but knowing deep down he’d be proud of me for getting my head straight before it was too late—before I lost Hallie.
Jonathan claps from his porch.
I look down at Hallie and smile. She’s blushing.
“We can tell Mia about us whenever you’re ready,” I say.
“She’s pretty smart. I think she figured it out already.”
Hallie’s front door opens and Hallie’s mom’s head pops out. “Mia figured it out already.”
“Mom!”
“She’s in her room if you two want to talk with her.”
Hallie’s mom walks out toward Mrs. Kinkaid’s car, passing Hallie and me as we make our way up the walkway, into the house.
“Mia?” Hallie calls down the hallway.
“Yes, Mommy?”
“Can Coach G and I talk with you?”
Hallie turns to me and points to the couch. “Put your leg up. Please.”
I take a seat on the couch, positioning my leg to stabilize it.
Mia comes down the hallway, smiling.
“Are you staying for pizza, Coach G?”
“We’ll see,” I tell her.
“Have a seat, Mia,” Hallie says, pointing to the chair and taking a seat on the coffee table so she’s facing me and Mia.
“So,” Hallie starts. “Coach G and I have been spending some time together.”
“Like at practice?” Mia’s face scrunches and she looks up at the ceiling. “But you aren’t really together at practice. Coach G is on the field with us. You stay in the bleachers.”
I chuckle and Hallie looks at me with what I’d definitely call a mom look.
“Right. No. Not so much at practices,” Hallie says. “We’ve spent some other time together.”
“Like for playdates?” Mia asks.
“Yes,” I say. “Playdates.”
Hallie shoots me another look, but she smiles at Mia. “Yes. Like playdates.”
“That’s so fun!” Mia says. “But you can’t really do anything with your leg hurt.”
“Well,” Hallie says. “Coach G and I really enjoyed our playdates.”
I smile and then purposely thin my lips, tucking them in so I don’t get a third scolding glance in under a minute.
“And,” Hallie says, “we’ve been getting to know each other when we’re together.”
“Just like me and Stacy!”
“Sort of like that,” Hallie says.
I don’t know who Stacy is, but I’m pretty sure Hallie and I haven’t been getting to know one another in the same way Mia and Stacy have. I keep that thought to myself.
“Yes. Coach G is a special friend. And I like him so much,” Hallie glances at me and smiles. “That we’ve decided we’re going to start dating.”
“Like playdating?” Mia’s brows draw in and she tips her head to the side.
“It’s kind of like playdating,” I say, looking to Hallie for any sign that I should back off and let her handle this. “But it’s a special kind of playdating—when a man and woman like each other.”
“Ohhhhhh.” Mia’s eyes go wide.
Hallie’s eyes go wide.
“You mean like a boooyyyyfriend?” Mia asks. And then she bursts into a fit of giggles.
Hallie laughs too.
“What’s so funny?” I ask Mia, truly wanting to know.
“You and Mommy being boyfriends.” She laughs so hard her breath comes out in gasps. Then, through her laughter she says, “Mommy’s not even a boy!”
The three of us laugh together.
Then Mia says, “But if you like my mommy, does that mean you want to be my daddy?”
My laughter dies. I don’t know what to say. Do I want to be Mia’s dad? One day. Definitely. I’m pretty sure today’s not the day to give her that piece of information.
“Mia,” Hallie says. “It would be a long time before Greyson and I decided to get married. And when it gets close to a time like that, we’ll talk like this again.”
Mia looks at me. And then at Hallie. “But could we have ice cream sandwiches at that talk?”
“Definitely,” I say.
“Okay,” she says. She stands from the chair. “I want pizza. It’s probably getting cold.”
“Can you stay?” Hallie asks.
“As long as my leg is up, I think I can. I should tell Mrs. Kinkaid. Can you drive me back home after dinner?”
“Why don’t we see if she can stay too,” Hallie suggests.
I nod. “I’ll text her.”
Mia’s about to leave the room when she pivots and says, “Oh no!”
“What?” Hallie and I both say at once.
“Will you still be my coach?”
“Of course,” I tell her.
Mia pumps her fist in the air like we do after a big play and she whoops. “This is awesome!” Then she says, “Okay, I’m going to wash my hands and get pizza. I think Auntie Avery is listening to us in the kitchen.”
Hallie and I laugh.
I text Mrs. Kinkaid and she comes in. Avery appears from somewhere down the hallway, obviously having heard every word of our conversation with Mia. She’s carrying the boxes of pizza with a stack of plates on top.
“Good job, Coach G,” Avery says when she sets the pizzas on the coffee table.
“Thanks,” I say, smiling at her.
“I’m really glad I don’t have to hunt you down and break your other leg.”
“Ave!” Hallie shouts.
Avery just shrugs.
Hallie’s mom appears on the porch.
“Mom?” Hallie says.
And then a second later, Jonathan appears right behind her.
“What?” Hallie’s mom says. “He knew we were getting pizza. You can’t flaunt pizza and not invite the man in.”
Jonathan just smiles. Avery hands him a plate.
We all eat dinner in the living room so I can keep my leg up.
When I’m leaving, Hallie and I step onto the porch.
I pull her aside. “I officially turned down the job in DC today.”
She asks me, “Are you sure? If it’s something you want to pursue, we can figure it out.”
“I’m sure.” I tip my head toward the front door where Mia’s still inside. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything.” Then I place my hand on Hallie’s arm. “Or this.”
I rest on my crutches and reach for her. “We belong in Waterford. I want this life—with you.”
She smiles up at me, looping her arms around my neck and carefully placing a kiss on my lips.
When she pulls back, she says, “Maybe we should exchange numbers.”
I smile down at her and say, “Maybe.”