Chapter 39
James
“God, I missed this.” Sebastian sighed as the two of us sipped on our drinks at Whiskey Locker during Monday’s happy hour. We’d decided to celebrate the end of my time at Berkley Williams after I’d handed in my resignation.
I twirled my Old Fashioned in circles on the table.
This should be a day of celebration. I was on the verge of starting something new, something exciting.
But the last thing I wanted to do was celebrate.
Not when nearly every waking moment was haunted by Hallie.
She waltzed into my life with a stubborn attitude that I couldn’t get out of my head.
I developed feelings over the next few months of getting to know her, only for her to show her true self.
Part of me wanted to be grateful that I’d realized before it had gone any further.
But a bigger part of me refused to believe that Hallie could be that calculated.
It felt completely out of character for the woman I thought I knew.
A few of the men I knew from different financial firms had come up to me after hearing the news that I was leaving Berkley Williams. Most of them were trying to figure out where I was going next.
I kept quiet about my new position at Rooster’s venture capital, which wasn’t to be announced for another week.
I was too distracted by reliving all those nights I’d spent trying to disrupt Hallie’s carefully crafted plans to find a man in this bar.
Neither of us had expected that the man she had been looking for all along was me.
“Dude, if you’re going to be a fucking bump on a log, you could have just told me you didn’t want to come,” Sebastian said. “I’ve been trying to get you to come out with me for over a week, and you’ve been turning me down left and right. Is this still about Hallie?”
Sebastian’s normal antics had never bothered me before.
I couldn’t remember if he’d ever fallen head over heels for anyone before.
His relationships usually had a twenty-four-hour expiration.
He couldn’t fathom why I was still reeling from everything that had happened with Hallie.
In his eyes, I should have gotten over Hallie by getting under someone else.
But that was where he and I differed. Hallie wasn’t a girl one could simply get over.
The girl I thought I knew was now just going to be the one that got away.
“Of course this is about Hallie. How couldn’t this be about Hallie?
” I downed the rest of my drink, relishing the burn it left in my throat.
It provided some relief from the constant focus on the ache in my heart.
“I think I’m in love with her, Sebastian.
Or the person I thought she was. How in the hell am I just supposed to get over her?
Nothing makes sense. I still can’t figure out why she would do something like this. ”
“And you still won’t reach out to her to find out?” Sebastian asked. “For someone so smart, I would assume you’d want all the facts. This isn’t like you.”
Sebastian was right. It wasn’t like me to act so emotional.
It was why I was a numbers guy. I made decisions based on facts and provable scenarios.
But there was no way of making sense of all of this.
Which was why I’d avoided Hallie’s texts, calls and voicemails for so long.
If I just ignored it, my brain didn’t have to turn it into logic.
But for once, maybe Sebastian was right.
I hesitated for a moment, then pulled out my phone. My thumb hovered over Hallie’s contact—the one I’d blocked days ago in a moment of anger and hurt. With a deep breath, I tapped unblock.
Almost immediately, the unread messages poured in.
It was tempting to ignore them, to pretend they didn’t exist and keep moving forward with my life. But a small voice inside me whispered I could never move on, not without understanding what had really happened.
I opened the first one. Hallie’s words spilled out, a mix of apologies and explanations.
She swore she hadn’t written the article that was published.
That what I read wasn’t hers. Her messages were filled with disbelief and desperation.
She claimed her original version had been changed by Anthea, who didn’t think the piece was “strong enough” and had replaced the heartfelt tone with something far more cynical.
As I scrolled, a part of me wanted to believe her, to give her a chance to explain herself. But another part—the part that was still bruised—wasn’t sure if I could trust her again.
Sebastian leaned closer, his eyes scanning the messages on my phone. “What did she say?” he asked, his voice laced with curiosity.
“She said the article that published wasn’t hers,” I replied, my voice tinged with uncertainty. “She said that her boss changed the entire article without her knowledge.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Do you think she’s telling the truth? I know she really wanted that food critic position. What if her boss shot down her first article and asked her to put out the one she wrote instead, without telling you about it?”
I took a moment to gather my thoughts, weighing my options. The logical part of me screamed to walk away, to protect myself from further pain. But deep down, a flicker of hope burned, reminding me of the connection we had shared.
“I think I need to talk to her,” I finally answered, surprising even myself. “I need to understand why she did what she did, and if there’s any chance for us to move forward.”
Sebastian nodded. “Good for you, man. Go get your girl.”
I tapped into Hallie’s contact to call her despite how loud it was getting in Whiskey Locker.
Things were just getting going for everyone looking to enjoy a night out.
I covered my ear, trying to block out some of the noise as I put the phone up to my ear.
My heartbeat was nearly in my throat in anticipation.
Far more nervous at the prospect of hearing Hallie’s voice for the first time in over a week than I’d expected.
But just as I expected the phone to ring, I instead heard a long beep, indicating a disconnected line.
I tried to send a text message instead, which immediately failed to deliver.
Before I could question what was happening, my web alert for Hallie’s column flashed across the top of my screen.
I’d almost forgotten that it was Monday, when Hallie’s articles normally came out.
My finger hesitated over the link. Now that she and I weren’t going on dates, would her boss have made her go out for her last article?
Or would she have had to come up with it all by herself?
“Jesus, are you going to share anything?” Sebastian asked. “You’re leaving me in the dark over here.”
“Hallie just published an article.”
Sebastian’s brows furrowed, mirroring my confusion. “But you two didn’t go on another date.”
“Exactly.” I clicked into the article, only to see “Overheard in NYC” instead of “Love on Wall Street” and to make matters even stranger, a different journalist had written it.
I shot off another text to her—only for it to bounce again. Then, like the definition of insanity, I tried to click on her number again. The disconnected tone sounded once more.
“Damnit.” I clutched my phone tightly in my hand, remembering that Hallie had only given me her work phone number. If the number was disconnected, could it really be that she’d left Sophisticate ? “Seb, I think Hallie might have been telling the truth about her boss. I think she quit her job.”
“And she’s not answering your calls or texts?” he asked.
“I think she gave me her work phone number when we first met, and she never gave me her personal.”
I realized, just as Hallie did, that someone had changed the article. Then she had been trying to reach me that night, only for me to shut her out.
“Don’t you know where she lives?” Sebastian asked me as he casually sipped at his drink.
“That’s a great idea, Seb,” I said, already standing up from the table.
“Wait, you’re leaving now?” Sebastian asked as he shot straight up.
“Yes,” I told him as I tossed some cash on the table. “You can come with if you want, but you don’t have to.”
“Well, fuck.” Sebastian downed the rest of his drink. “Of course, I’m coming. What else am I going to do? This is far more entertaining than anything that’s been going on in my life recently.”
“Are you sure you’re not just tagging along in the hope that you’ll see Roxie?” I asked as the two of us walked out of the bar. I tried my best to ignore all the curious glances thrown in my direction as we walked out the door.
“Now, why would you think that?” Sebastian asked me with a mischievous smile.
Sebastian called a car to take us uptown toward the West Village.
He was many things, but a man that took the subway was not one of them.
But of course, there couldn’t be any more traffic than there was on a Monday night after work.
Which only made the anticipation feel that much more serious as we inched across the city.
If Hallie had quit her job in response to what had happened with her boss, that told me a lot of what I needed to know.
I was already out the door before the car came to a full stop outside of Hallie’s apartment. Sebastian was nearly ten steps behind me as I pressed the buzzer to the correct apartment.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice crackled across the speaker.
“Roxie?” I asked, instantly recognizing Hallie’s best friend. “Is Hallie home?”
“James? What are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to Hallie. Is she here?” I asked again.
Roxie sighed down the line. “Hold on. I’m coming down.”
Sebastian stood on the sidewalk, just before the stoop, behind me. But I watched his shoulders straighten when he heard Roxie’s voice.
It only took a minute before Roxie pushed open the front door—without Hallie in tow.
“I tried to call Hallie, but I think she gave me her work phone number. All my texts are failing, and her phone is disconnected.” I didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
If Hallie had sent Roxie down here to send me away, I would not go down without a fight. I wanted a chance to speak with her.
“Yeah, she had to turn her work phone and laptop back in when she quit Sophisticate ,” Roxie replied.
“She really quit?” I asked. “Why?”
“Because Anthea Sparks has no integrity,” Roxie spat. “She changed Hallie’s article without her consent. Hell, she basically published an entirely different article with Hallie’s name attached to it.”
“But what about the food critic position?” I couldn’t believe that Hallie would walk away from her dream just like that. Not after the lengths she’d gone over the past few months for it.
“She and I are finally starting our own blog together. We’re still working with our website developers and finalizing branding, but our first review should be up in the next few weeks.”
Pride bloomed in my chest for Hallie’s bravery. It was inspiring to see her refusing to let someone else dictate her success.
Sebastian, who had been listening attentively, broke the silence. “Congratulations, Roxie. I know that was something you’d been hoping you could do.”
Roxie peered over my shoulder down at Sebastian, who was now standing sheepishly with his hands shoved in his pockets. She let out a long sigh that I couldn’t quite read.
“Do you think Hallie would be open to talking to me?” I asked, my voice filled with a mix of hope and apprehension.
Roxie looked at me, her expression softening.
“I can’t speak for her, James. I know she tried her hardest to reach you, to explain, and when you shut her out, the guilt nearly overwhelmed her.
She barely got up from our couch for nearly a week, if I’m being honest. I thought I was going to have to call reinforcements in to help me peel her off the cushions and force her to shower.
But ,” Roxie paused, a small smile playing on her lips, “she hasn’t stopped talking about you. ”
“Is she home?” I asked for the third time.
Roxie shook her head. “She’s out doing a freelance project while we wait for our business to get off the ground.”
My shoulders sank. I wasn’t sure I could go another day without speaking with her.
“I have an idea, though. How do you guys feel about going to Whiskey Locker tomorrow night?” Roxie quirked an eyebrow.
“When aren’t we there?” Sebastian piped up again.
Roxie acted like she hadn’t heard him. “I can make sure Hallie is at Whiskey Locker tomorrow night. If that’s something you’d want?”
“Yes,” I replied fiercely. “I want a chance to clear the air, to start fresh.”
“Then let’s make that happen. For the both of you, because you also look miserable and it’s a real vibe killer, if I’m being honest.”
With a renewed sense of hope, I stepped off the stoop of Hallie’s apartment building. The same stoop that I’d first kissed her on.
“Hey!” Roxie called out once Sebastian and I were halfway to the car.
“You know she went to the pizzeria to do the review she agreed with you to do? She wants it to be our first review on the new website. She asked your family not to tell you until it was published, in case you’d be mad.
But now you’re here, well I think it’s okay that I tell you. ”
I was so overwhelmed all I could do was nod. If there was one thing I wanted more than anything, it was to have Hallie Woods back in my life.