Chapter 30
PIPER
Hallie’s crouched down on the dirt trail, shifting around with her eye poked into her camera’s viewfinder. When she finds the right angle, she clicks the shutter button, filling the silent trail with mechanical clacks.
I have off from the bakery today, and Hallie has off from her waitressing job, so we decided to hang out in the city. We’re at the walking trail on Red Bud Isle, a small island sitting in the Colorado River, separating the two sides of Austin.
Hallie has her film camera with her. She told me she wants to “experiment with light” today, taking pictures of nothing but the leaves in the trees while the sunlight hits them at different angles, studying how different settings on her camera affect the different angles and shades of light.
She’s a true artist with her camera, and she’s taken some of the most stunning photographs I’ve ever seen.
In a just world, she’d be making a living with her talent rather than working at that shitty restaurant, which she spent the first hour or so of our hangout venting about.
“Five shots left on this roll,” Hallie says, checking the counter on her camera.
We continue walking down the trail, Hallie with her eyes open and attentive to find the right shot, me just clearing my head and enjoying the fresh air.
Try as I do to keep my head clear, a thought worms its way into it. A subject I’ve dwelt on too much over the last couple days.
“Hey, Hallie?” I ask.
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember me complaining about how Nash was a jerk back when I first met him in college? When I went next door to give him that little welcome gift?”
Hallie laughs. “Oh, yeah, I remember. It’s crazy that’s the first I ever heard of my eventual brother-in-law.”
“Do you remember what the gift was?”
Hallie tilts her head, looking thoughtful. “It was a mug, wasn’t it? With some kind of hockey pun?”
“Right.” I press my lips together, wondering if it’s even significant enough to bring up. But I’ve never not talked something out with my sister when it’s been weighing on my mind. “He still has it.”
It takes a couple steps to realize that Hallie isn’t shoulder to shoulder with me anymore.
I turn my head to see her standing still behind me, her eyebrows crawling up her forehead.
“He kept it? Since junior year of college?”
Hallie’s reaction has a strange feeling rolling through my stomach.
“It’s not a big deal, right?”
A devious smile twirls on my sister’s lips. “You brought it up, you tell me.”
I sigh. “Everyone randomly has things they hang onto for years and years for no real reason, don’t they?”
Hallie shrugs, walking with me again. “Sure, I guess.”
“That’s the most likely explanation. He just didn’t want to throw away a perfectly good mug, even if he had no sentimental attachment to it.”
Hallie makes a thoughtful sound next to me. “Sure, it’s a possible explanation. I don’t think it’s the most likely one, though.”
I have a feeling I’m going to regret asking. “What’s the most likely explanation, then?”
“The most likely explanation for why he kept the first thing you ever gave him for almost ten years? It might just be because your husband likes you.”