Chapter 6 #2
She didn’t know how to interpret the feeling that sluiced through her veins.
At least there was the possibility of happiness after Grant.
For Sydney, anyway. She needed to hold on to that amidst words that Brynn hadn’t expected to find so jarring.
But also, and more importantly… “I could have picked you up.”
Hallie looked at her dubiously. “You’re already doing this job as a favor to Reese. I’m not going to force you to be my personal chauffeur on top of it.”
“I like you,” Brynn stressed. Hallie had made her feel more at home in the last few weeks than she often felt with people that she’d known for years.
And with all of the upheaval in her own life, she didn’t take that for granted.
“I may be doing Reese a favor, but you’re the one doing me a favor by being so patient with me.
” Understatement of the year as far as Brynn was concerned.
She was met with an arched eyebrow before Hallie’s lips tipped into a smile that made Brynn’s chest feel full.
“Brynn, I can honestly say that you are the most thoughtful employee I’ve ever had.
Everyone has skills to learn, but I can’t teach people to care.
You innately have that, which is insane because you’re, like, a gazillionaire, probably. ”
“I’m not anything. Whatever my family has, it’s my parents’ money.
” It was the approach she had always taken in life.
Brynn was so lucky, she knew that, but she never automatically assumed that she could spend money with unfettered care.
Sure, she knew that her family’s wealth gave her freedom.
Access. A safety net that most people could never dream about.
But she wasn’t going to be reckless with what they had worked their entire lives to achieve.
She also knew that no amount of money in the world could matter, when it came down to it.
Hallie held her glass up and tipped it toward Brynn. “Good you learned that ethos early. I never thought that my parents would, like, give me the inn or anything, but I didn’t think that they’d sell it without so much as a conversation with me.”
Brynn frowned. “I didn’t know that.” Reese hadn’t mentioned it, much less that there was any bad blood related to the transition of the inn.
And Hallie hadn’t let on about her feelings over the last few weeks.
Every day they’d worked together, Hallie had seemed like she wanted to be at The Stone’s Throw.
Like she was wholly in her element. Brynn was always so in awe of Hallie’s ability to navigate through the day-to-day and make it look effortless.
“And then they moved away,” Hallie continued, the sadness heavy in her voice, “and now I’m left here. Exactly where I thought I’d be, but everything is different.”
Brynn took a conservative sip of whiskey.
It burned her throat first, but then a warmth settled in her stomach.
Suddenly, she empathized so deeply with Hallie.
The idea of being lost. Adrift. Without purpose.
All because they’d trusted people, and that trust had been misplaced.
“I’m sorry they did that. It’s clear to anyone who sees you at The Stone’s Throw that you love this place. ”
“It’s fine,” Hallie claimed as she started playing with her ponytail. “I don’t know why I’m telling you any of this. I had a few drinks on the plane, and they hit me really, really hard.”
“One drink in the sky is the same as three on the ground,” Brynn supplied. “Your body can’t absorb as much oxygen due to the low air pressure. It’s a condition known as hypoxia. Airplanes are notoriously dry, so dehydration also compounds the effects.”
Hallie already being a little drunk was making their unexpected heart-to-heart make a lot more sense.
And when Brynn looked closer, she did realize that Hallie’s cheeks were flushed, even more than her normal, rosy complexion.
Her bright hazel eyes were slightly glassy, but they were trained on Brynn so intently, you’d have thought that she’d just given a speech ending world hunger.
Hallie laughed. Loudly. “You’re like a human encyclopedia.”
Brynn flushed, embarrassment rushing through her. “I know that I—”
But Hallie cut her off. “No, I love it. Really. It’s so refreshing that you have all these wild interests or curiosities that you go so deep into learning about.
It’s really cool. Genuinely,” Hallie stressed, all of her attention still trained on Brynn.
“And anyone who makes you feel badly about it wouldn’t deserve someone as great as you anyway. ”
A pleased warmth settled through her then as she basked in what was maybe the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. Somehow, Hallie managed to cut right to the core of who Brynn was and hold those traits up like they were to be prized instead of tolerated.
And the craziest thing was that Brynn believed her. The way Hallie’s voice was steeped in sincerity. Brynn didn’t trust her gut on many things, especially not after the last few months, but she just had this overwhelming feeling, like she could trust Hallie and that her trust wouldn’t be misplaced.
She was still basking in the feeling when Hallie asked, “Where did you think you’d be?”
That was a question that opened a can of worms. Brynn had been doing a really great job not thinking about this very subject, but New Year’s Eve had a way of making people contemplate their life choices. She didn’t fault Hallie for being the one to voice it out loud.
But, if she was going to answer the question, she was going to take it seriously. “Let me think about it,” she said, shooting Hallie a quick look.
Hallie gestured around the room and grinned. “I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”
Brynn scrunched her face up, thinking deeply. Usually, she loved a good thought exercise.
At this time last year, where did she think she would be on New Year’s Eve? Married? Probably. Living in Boston, too, she guessed. It was strange how she couldn’t picture things clearly. Was it because everything had fallen apart? Or had she never been able to do that?
The only thing that she could really see in her mind's eye was the idea of her parents being happy that she was settled and safe. Summers at their beach house in Bingham. Her own sense of satisfaction that she’d checked another milestone off of her list.
Grant, for the upheaval that he’d caused her life, didn’t really factor into her thoughts.
And that was… strange. For lack of a better word.
Maybe she could have found a better word, but for months she hadn’t wanted to pick things apart.
Because what did that say about her? God, she’d been planning to marry him!
But instead of visualizing their life clearly, it was fuzzy.
That feeling alone left her feeling off-kilter.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” she admitted, her mind growing more and more confused as she tried to poke around inside of it for any understanding as to why she’d been pushing forward with a life that she couldn’t even envision clearly.
At the same time she took a generous gulp of her drink, she was met with an arched eyebrow from Hallie. That look stirred something foreign in her that she didn’t understand either. “That seems strange for someone who was already engaged.”
Hallie’d cut straight to the quick.
Brynn realized then, with startling clarity, that she’d never been able to see a future with Grant because, deep down, she hadn’t wanted one.
Grant was… “My ex-fiancé was a huge asshole, wasn’t he?
” she asked, trying the words on for size.
And god, they fit so perfectly that they knocked the air out of her lungs.
She didn’t expect the strangled laugh that burst out of Hallie’s mouth, but it was loud and took over the entire room with its exuberance.
“Brynn, you could run a puppy smuggling ring, and you’d still be ten times the person that Grant Devereux is.
I don’t even understand how he managed to get both Sydney and you,” Hallie mused out loud as Brynn tried not to get fixated on the idea that there was any world in which she and Sydney were on the same level.
Or that Hallie, of all people, genuinely believed that to be the case.
“Two relationships, and my first boyfriend ended up being gay, and my second one ended up being… Grant.” God, what did that say about her and her taste in people? Gregory was an incredible man, but there were signs. Plenty of signs. Only, just like with Grant, she hadn’t wanted to see them.
Hallie waved her off at the same time she polished off her drink, not nearly as overwhelmed as Brynn that her romantic life was crumbling before her eyes. “So you kissed a few toads. It happens to everyone,” she said, like it was no big deal.
“Has it happened to you?” Brynn wondered out loud, thinking about the recent conversation at Reese and Sydney’s house.
Hallie squinted at her. “No…”
“Well then—”
“I don’t have relationships,” Hallie admitted. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t want a relationship, but I’ve just never had one. So, really, maybe yours didn’t end up the way you wanted, but at least you tried. That’s not nothing, Brynn.”
“That’s crazy,” Brynn said, genuinely aghast. Hallie was a catch; it was an objective fact. Pretty and kind and funny and unbelievably great with people. And she made Brynn feel good whenever they were together. She imagined that had to be true for other people, too.
It was hard to imagine a world where Hallie didn’t have people eating out of the palm of her hand. At the very least, lining up for a chance to date her.