Chapter 40
Hallie
“The last thing I want to do is go to Whiskey Locker tonight,” I told Roxie as I watched her get ready in her room. I was still in my pajamas and Roxie was casting wary glances my way when she realized I still hadn’t attempted to change to go out with her.
I propped my laptop on my chest as I put the finishing touches to the freelance work I’d done the night before.
A new Indian restaurant had reached out through a private message to my social media account.
I’d taken the job while our business was still being developed, so Roxie and I didn’t end up on the streets of New York City.
“I have an article to finish.” Once our new website was live, my old blog would reroute to the new one.
We recommended city restaurants and tagged them with my old reviews.
“Plus, I don’t want to go pretend I’m happy when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I don’t even know if I can stomach walking into that bar.
Can’t we go somewhere else? There are so many other places to get drinks. ”
I’d finally started coming to terms with the fact that I may never see James again. The last thing I wanted was to go to a place that reminded me of him.
“Just for old times’ sake,” Roxie pleaded. “I heard they have karaoke tonight. Can you imagine a group of inebriated men in finance singing along to ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’? You may not need something like that for content anymore, but why not enjoy the entertainment?”
She and I both knew that if Roxie wanted something, she was going to get it eventually. Roxie threw a top at me from her closet.
“Wear that. You’d look amazing in that.”
“I’m not going, Roxie,” I argued again.
She rolled her eyes at me, knowing just as much as me that soon I would be in a taxi with her on our way to the Financial District.
“I want to celebrate our new website.” Roxie stuck her lower lip out, giving me her best puppy dog eyes for good measure.
“Fine,” I sighed, reaching for the top Roxie had given me before rolling off her bed to go change in my room.
It would be like saying goodbye. It was the closure that I would never get from James.
But even as I attempted to persuade myself of that, a little voice in my head whispered that maybe, just maybe, he’d be there.
Maybe if we saw each other, and I had a chance to explain, everything would finally be okay.
I held on to that tiny seed of hope as the two of us rode across the city in the back of a taxi. We used the time in traffic to discuss outstanding business issues.
Which font did we want our logo to be in?
Did we like the pastel orange or the pastel red?
The amount of tiny details to stress over were endless. I did not know how difficult starting our own business would be, but neither of us was deterred. The universe had laid the path, and it was now up to us to follow it.
The cab stopped in front of the familiar bar, one that I had spent weeks in boring myself to death attempting to find the perfect finance man.
Only to realize that the perfect man had been the one smirking at me across the bar the entire time.
Roxie was halfway to the front door of Whiskey Locker by the time I finally got the courage to step out of the taxi.
Flashes of the night James and I had made our original agreement played across my mind as I followed Roxie inside. I didn’t regret making that deal despite how everything ended. Without it, I never would have had the chance to feel seen and appreciated, how James had made me feel.
I spotted a few familiar faces hanging around the bar.
The first guy I attempted to talk to—Mark.
Then there was Graham, still lingering near the dart board.
Even that bastard Henry who was now trying to flirt with another woman that hadn’t picked up on the ring tan line on his left hand.
But the one familiar face I wanted to see was nowhere to be found.
I wasn’t sure if the feeling pooling in my stomach was one of relief or disappointment.
“What do you want to drink?” Roxie asked me.
For a split second, I almost asked for an Old Fashioned before I thought better of it. Was I trying to make myself miserable? “I’ll take a glass of white wine.”
“Grab us a couple of seats at the bar?” Roxie asked me before she sidled up to the bartender, Joey, who gave me a smile and a wave when he recognized me.
“Sure.”
Oddly, this place felt like a second home after all the time I’d spent here over the past few months.
But I felt like a completely different person since the first time I had stepped inside.
Back then I would have done anything to claw myself into Anthea’s good graces.
Now I was taking matters into my own hands.
“Should we play a round of darts?” Roxie asked, eyeing Graham’s friend, who, I’m pretty sure, was devastated because Roxie hadn’t given him her number that night.
“I think I learned my lesson last time,” I said as I took my glass of wine from her.
“If you say so,” Roxie sang as she scanned the room.
My eyes drifted toward the entrance of the bar as I was wondering when we could leave, only to see a familiar face walk through.
6′5″.
Blue eyes.
The most handsome man in all the financial district.
All the air seemed to leave the room, but my gaze stayed glued on James.
He was here.
Then, like something out of one of my favorite romance movies, his eyes found mine across the room.
My heart stuttered. I forgot how to breathe. And then James was walking toward me—confident, familiar, impossibly handsome—his smirk soft but unmistakably him .
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper, as if speaking too loudly would break the spell between us.
The air shifted. It was heavy with everything we hadn’t said. With hurt and hope. With all the words we’d carried in the silence.
“Can I buy you an Old Fashioned?” he asked.
That warm smile I had grown so fond of flickered across his face.
“I would love an Old Fashioned,” I replied, and he signaled to Joey, who nodded in understanding the minute he saw James.
“It’s really good to see you, Hal.” That familiar nickname that I once hated was like music to my ears.
It was strange not being able to reach out to him.
“Hi, Hallie,” Sebastian’s voice broke the moment.
He slid onto the barstool next to Roxie, offering a little wave.
I blinked, noticing how easy he and Roxie looked together.
Much more at ease with one another than the last time I’d seen them together in the Hamptons.
Roxie totally avoided my gaze as she turned to Sebastain, asking about his day with the innocence of someone who hadn’t just orchestrated an entire romantic ambush.
“How are you?” I winced the second the words slipped from my lips. Because I had a feeling I knew exactly how he felt. Betrayed.
“Maybe the better question is, how are you doing?” James asked. “You’re no longer at Sophisticate ?”
“You’re right,” I said. “I left Sophisticate after I found out that my boss had published a completely different article under my name.”
I tried to choose my words carefully, worried I might offend James and end our conversation before it started.
James tilted his head slightly, concern filling his eyes, but he didn’t interrupt. Didn’t pull away.
“What was your article meant to be about?” James asked.
I hadn’t dared to send it to him before.
I’d been too afraid of rejection. Of more silence.
But now … I didn’t hesitate. I pulled out my phone, opened the document, and handed it to him.
The real article. The one where I took a risk, laid my heart bare and talked about just how much that date and meeting James’s family meant to me.
He took my phone from me, his brow furrowing in focus as he read. Every flicker of his expression hit me like a wave—until finally, he muttered under his breath, “Goddamnit.”
My stomach sank. “You didn’t like it?”
He looked up quickly, eyes wide. “No! Hallie, it’s incredible . This would’ve been your best piece. The way you wrote about us, about that night … There’s so much heart in it. I feel like people would’ve really felt it.”
I gave him a sad smile. “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”
“That’s not your fault,” he said. “You couldn’t control what your boss did.”
“No,” I murmured. “But I should never have brought you into this mess.”
His expression shifted. “And that’s what you truly think? That you shouldn’t have met me?”
“No. God, no,” I said quickly. “You’re the first person who ever really saw me. Who understood me. I don’t regret one second of it. But I still feel terrible that you got caught in the fallout.”
“I don’t,” he said, his voice certain. “It was the best few months I’ve had in a long time. I think it was the catalyst I needed to step away from the grindstone that is Berkley Williams and do something out of the ordinary.”
“You took the job with Rooster?” I asked, eyes wide.
He nodded, grinning now. “I did.”
“James!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him before I could second guess myself. “That’s incredible.”
It wasn’t until I felt the warmth of him, his arms winding around me, that I realized what I’d done. I started to pull back, awkward and apologetic. “Oh, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be,” he said, his voice fierce as his grip tightened, holding me close. “I missed this. I missed you . I’m sorry I didn’t reach out to you. To let you explain sooner. It felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me, like what happened last time with Cassidy. That wasn’t fair to you.”
I tilted my head back to look at him. His eyes were full of everything we hadn’t been able to say.
Was he going to kiss me?
God, he had to kiss me.
But he didn’t move right away. He just looked at me, as though memorizing every detail, every piece he thought he’d lost. My heart pounded so loud I thought for sure he could hear it.
And then, finally, he leaned in.
Soft at first, tentative. But after a few moments, everything we’d been holding back finally broke free.
The kiss deepened, slow and consuming. Longing poured behind every movement.
The world narrowed down to just this—the smell of his cologne, the press of his mouth, the way his hand slid up to cup my cheek like he was anchoring himself to the moment.
The cheers startled me.
We pulled apart, just barely, and realized the entire bar had erupted around us.
Even the guys I’d attempted to get dates from—Graham, Mark, even Henry—were lifting their glasses. Regulars at the far end of the bar were clapping. Joey winked at me from behind the counter and mouthed, finally .
I blinked through the laughter and surprise, then turned back to James. His eyes were still on me, unwavering.
“I want to make this clear, Hal. I like you. A lot,” he said, when we pulled apart.
“These past couple of weeks have been awful without you. But this? Seeing you tonight? It’s reminded me how much better everything feels when you’re part of it.
You make me excited to go to build something new.
To come home to someone who actually gets it—gets me . ”
I laughed softly, teary-eyed. “James … I don’t just like you. I think I’m in love with you.”
“Damnit,” he whispered, pulling me closer. “I wanted to say that first.”
His thumbs brushed my cheeks, and he looked at me like I was everything.
“You didn’t need to,” I told him. “You showed me. In every way that matters.”
And then he kissed me again. Long and slow. As if he had all the time in the world.
The cheers echoed in the background. But I didn’t hear a single thing. It was only me and him in the middle of the bar where it had all started.
Because as far as perfect moments go, I couldn’t think of a better one. After months of searching, I’d finally found my man in finance.