Chapter 6 #3
While Brynn was thinking about the ridiculousness of what Hallie had just said, Hallie had stood up, crossed the room, and was already on her way back with the whiskey bottle in hand.
“Most people who forsake love for work at least have high-paying jobs. Or, like, because they’re a doctor and save lives or something.
” She plopped herself unceremoniously back down on the sofa and extended her arms dramatically.
“I am, by the grace of Reese, squatting in this apartment, where I’ve lived for my entire life.
And working eighty-plus-hour weeks on top of it. ”
Generally, Brynn loved consistency. It was comforting to know what to expect.
It was clear that Hallie didn’t feel the same, at least in this respect.
Unfortunately, Brynn didn’t see herself being especially good at pep talks.
This would be going so much better if the roles were reversed, she thought dimly.
And then she had an idea. “What would you tell me right now, if I came to you and said exactly what you said to me to you?”
Hallie blinked slowly before pointing the bottle of whiskey at Brynn. “First, I’m going to need you to run that by me again.”
Brynn laughed but pressed on. She didn’t have the same feeling of embarrassment that she usually did when she was misunderstood.
Maybe it was the whiskey flowing through her veins, or maybe it was just Hallie.
Either way, her heart rate picked up excitedly.
“If I came to you and told you that my romantic life wasn’t where I thought it was going to be and I was struggling, what would you tell me? ”
This question earned Brynn a squinty eye, but it was clear that Hallie was thinking it over. “That it’s never too late to kidnap Grant and strand him on an island.”
Again, Brynn laughed. She didn’t mind that Hallie wasn’t going to make this easy. It let her fixate on the feeling of a good challenge instead of the unfamiliar warmth pinging around in her stomach. “Okay, but let’s say that I want to focus on the future. What about then?”
“Do you know your astrology sign or have a penchant for mullets?” Hallie’s delivery was dry, even as the edges of her mouth tipped into a smile.
Brynn remembered Hallie’s comments at dinner with Sydney and Reese, about how difficult it was out there to meet people. Maybe Brynn had been the one who’d had relationships, but she’d never dated casually or used an app before. Hallie had the experience level on that one.
Hallie lifted her eyebrows, seemingly waiting for Brynn’s answer to what she’d assumed was a joke. “Oh, you’re serious?”
She was met with a quick nod, followed by, “Well, we live in a small town that’s hard up for tourists for the next few months.
If you want to meet someone, apps are really the only way to go.
They cast the widest net. I guess once you move back to Boston, you’ll have a much easier time,” Hallie added with a smirk, “Or I guess we could always just prowl The Lobster Trap.”
The idea of prowling The Lobster Trap aside, which seemed like it could only end in hilarity —especially if Hallie was there, too—Brynn didn’t like being reminded that her time here was finite.
Not so soon.
She was just finding her footing in Stoneport. At the inn. As an independent person. It was the clearest sense of anything future-facing she’d had in the last few months, and she didn’t want to give it up.
And she liked… this. Their conversations. The way she felt when Hallie’s thoughtful yet playful stare was trained on her. She especially liked that she’d never met anyone like Hallie before.
She didn’t know what to call it, whatever it was that was happening.
Camaraderie? A developing friendship? These were the closest approximations she could find to describe the pleasant but fluttery feeling that still settled low in her stomach.
Brynn let out a deep breath, the flurry of warmth expanding outward. It threaded through the rest of her body, lighting her up from the inside out. The whiskey, she had to assume, was doing its job.
This was further evidenced by how aware she was of the woman sitting next to her, hazel eyes bright and arresting.
Hallie’s dimple was present, on her left cheek.
At some point, she’d placed her elbow on her knee, and her chin was pressed down into her palm.
She looked a bit like Rodin’s The Thinker, and Brynn wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen such a perfect example of beautiful art embodied in the flesh.
What were they talking about again?
Oh, right. “So if I came to you, wanting to find a romantic partner in a small town during the winter, you would encourage me to use a dating app?” Brynn asked, forcing her mind to whir to life. Which was not usually something that she found difficult.
Hallie slapped her hand against her forehead. “Why does it always come back to the apps?”
“I assume that they’re efficient,” Brynn guessed, further orienting herself in the conversation at hand.
This was all to help Hallie, and she wasn’t going to let herself be distracted.
“A broad dating pool along with criteria to be connected. Theoretically, it should elicit even more compatibility than just approaching someone because you find them attractive.”
Brynn poured herself another glass of whiskey, waiting for Hallie’s answer. She was having fun. More fun than she’d had in a long time. It was like their own little philosophical debate on the merits of online dating.
Still, she had zero practical experience, which made her feel like it was difficult to have a true stance on the topic.
This became clear when Hallie hit her with, “You think they’re efficient.
” She shifted her legs, crossing them underneath her, and quickly grew emphatic, waving her hands around.
This was obviously a subject that Hallie herself was passionate about, whether she wanted to be or not.
“That’s how they get you. But it only creates the illusion of choice, with too many messages to respond to or people who are unwilling to prioritize setting a time to meet.
Don’t even get me started on people actually showing up for said date.
On the apps, you’re just a profile, not a person. ”
“So, how do we meet people then?” Brynn asked, feeling like they’d hit a wall. But she wasn’t going to give up. She wanted to help Hallie. And that eagerness only continued to balloon.
It was how she decided to focus the still-present thumping of her heart, which was beating just a little too fast to feel normal.
Hallie gave her a curious smile, which did nothing to quell her leapfrogging pulse. “We?”
“I mean… I’m here. I’m single. I’m looking for what comes next. How better to do that than get out there and date?” Brynn listed off the reasons, this idea making more and more sense by the minute.
And even though it seemed like it, she wasn’t thinking anymore.
She was feeling. She couldn’t quite connect the dots between her mind and her body, but there was something there.
A desire, pulling her forward, something that she’d never felt before.
It was spurred on by this conversation, every molecule in her body screaming, for the first time, for her to listen.
To what, exactly, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she wanted to keep seeing Hallie smiling. Would do anything to make it happen, in fact.
“Doesn’t it seem like halving the dating pool between the two of us is a bad idea?” Hallie asked, but it seemed like she was really starting to take this seriously, which elated Brynn. “It’s already a limited supply.”
“Who says we can’t go on dates with the same people? If it happens,” Brynn clarified, “Not as an intentional thing.”
“And I date women, which also expands my pool.”
Brynn thought about it for a second, a presence in her chest and stomach that made her say, “I could date women.”
She liked women. They were beautiful and soft and smart, and thus far, none of them had led her astray romantically. At minimum, spending the night talking to a woman seemed far preferable to hanging out with a guy.
Hallie gave her a look like Brynn had lost the plot. “Are you into women?”
Brynn shrugged even as excitement skittered through her.
Hallie was a woman, and she couldn’t imagine having a better night with anyone else, regardless of gender.
“I don’t know who I’m into. Just that it isn’t Gregory or Grant.
I think the responsible thing to do is leave as many doors open as possible. ”
Her mind felt cleaved down the middle, two paths warring for her attention.
She thought about the possibility of approaching dating from a scientific perspective. How she could quantify, measure, draw conclusions. Experiments excited her. They always had.
But there was also that buzzy sensation that made her feel like nothing was quite real, the one that hadn’t really left. It scared her, but, maybe even more than the scientific method, it excited her, too.
She wanted to lean into it. A lot.
But even as she tried to work through the mechanics, the edges of her brain were starting to feel fuzzy. Her first glass of whiskey had done a stellar job of making everything seem like a great idea, along with making said ideas difficult to execute.
Hallie grabbed Brynn’s phone from the coffee table, where it had sat during their conversation, only pinging with texts from her parents over the last few hours. “You need to make a dating profile.”
Trepidation, for the first time that night, coursed through her. A dose of cold water flickered but didn’t fully extinguish the flames smoldering in her stomach. “I don’t know what I’d say.”