Chapter 15 #4
Brynn seemed equally enraptured, making little sounds of happiness every few feet.
“Did you have pets growing up?” Hallie asked quietly, so as to not interrupt Eliza’s pitch. Even though Hallie could tell from the looks on both Sydney and Reese’s faces that everything happening now was a mere formality. Of course they were going to donate.
For all that Hallie felt like she knew about Brynn, there was still so much that she had left to learn. And she wanted the chance to learn it all.
Brynn shook her head. “We didn’t. But I remember, whenever my sister was in the hospital, they’d have therapy dogs come through. I loved the days that they were there.”
Sydney and Reese were walking near Eliza, a few feet ahead.
Even if they weren’t, Hallie still would have grabbed Brynn’s hand.
It meant something to her that Brynn had opened up about her sister.
Hallie knew that Brynn didn’t talk about her often.
Brynn herself had said as much. So Hallie never pushed, but she took these little moments and tucked them away, grateful for whenever she was able to peek behind the curtain and see how Brynn had become such an incredible woman.
“Now that I have more free time at the inn, I’m actually thinking that a dog may be in my future.” The more the idea had rolled around in Hallie’s brain over the last few minutes, the better it sounded.
Brynn gave her an appraising stare. “I had you pegged as more of a cat person.”
The statement earned a raised brow from Hallie. This oughta be good. “And how, pray tell, did you come to that conclusion?”
“They don’t need to go outside,” Brynn said, flashing Hallie a cheeky smile.
And while that was a completely fair point… “For the right dog, I’d go outside. We may even go on walks. The sky’s really the limit with this new version of me,” Hallie defended herself. She could be a dog person.
“Seems like under the right circumstances, and with the right motivation, you can find all kinds of get-up-and-go.” The implication was clear, as Brynn’s stare shifted down to Hallie’s lips.
Another moment passed between them. Hallie realized that they were still holding hands and had walked almost completely down the long row of kennels like that.
Which also meant that… Hallie looked up to find Sydney and Reese staring at them, different looks on their faces. Sydney had that goddamn grin again, and Reese, to her credit, just looked really confused.
Knowing Reese, she’d be too polite to say anything.
Hallie was really banking on that because she could not get into her and Brynn’s complicated relationship dynamic right now. She might say something crazy, like she’d been deluding herself when she’d told Brynn that she was falling for her.
The reality was that she’d already fallen. Hard.
It had only become clearer to her over the last few days because the slower she tried to go, the more her body was rioting against her. Even as she held herself back from Brynn. Even as she tried not to put a label like “dating” on their situation.
It was the ultimate pining paradox. In trying to grapple with her feelings and keep them manageable, all she’d actually done was open herself up to falling harder. Doing so had allowed the little moments to sneak in when she hadn’t been paying close enough attention.
Hallie gave Brynn’s hand a comforting squeeze before she let it go, even as her body screamed no at separating from Brynn. It wasn’t up to her to unilaterally decide to debut their… whatever it was that was going on. After all, that wasn’t what they’d agreed to earlier tonight.
“Oh, wonderful,” Eliza said, noticing something in the next row over, which Hallie couldn’t see.
It was probably for the best that their tour guide was oblivious to the moment playing out among her four guests.
Eliza gestured, probably to a person, since Hallie doubted they let even the cutest of the dogs—which, again, was all of them—run wild in the facility.
“One of our evening volunteers is here. Although the rescue is only open during the day, it’s a fairly twenty-four-seven operation, given that we’re dealing with animals who all have unique needs. ”
As soon as he came into view, Hallie’s lip curled. Jake. She’d recognize that mug from any old dating app. The idiot who’d gone on a date with Brynn and then unmatched her while Brynn had been walking home. What a—
“Brynn?” Jake said, seemingly oblivious to Hallie’s very serious interest in biting his head off.
Hallie had never considered herself a violent person, but she was now two-for-two tonight on vivid fantasies involving maiming the men who had wronged Brynn.
Brynn shot Hallie a worried glance before she looked back at Jake, who’d covered the few feet of space and was now standing in front of her.
“Would you be able to catch up for a second?” he asked, looking appropriately embarrassed in front of the group. Served him right.
Only… Hallie didn’t know what he wanted from Brynn. Or wanted to say to her. Either way, she didn’t like it. Brynn deserved an apology at the very least.
It was clear from the look on Brynn’s face that she was uncertain what to say. “Sure?” It came out as more of a question than anything else as another furtive glance was thrown in Hallie’s direction.
His face broke out into a broad smile. “Cool. Great.”
There was no amount of willpower in the universe that could stop Hallie from rolling her eyes. And for all of her internally violent thoughts, she wasn’t going to go all caveman on Brynn and try to stop whatever was about to happen.
“I’m going to see if Eliza will let me pet one of the dogs,” she said, already walking over toward Reese and Sydney, where Eliza was looking between everyone, seemingly trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
Well, she could join the club.
Mercifully Eliza seemed to have decided it wasn’t something she was interested in doing.
Hallie had barely joined the brides-to-be when Eliza declared, “I have a few things to wrap up before I head out for the evening. Take your time looking around. Why don’t you meet me back in the lobby when you’re ready? ”
“Sounds good,” Sydney said as Eliza walked away. She immediately turned to Hallie and whispered, with a nod in Brynn’s direction, “Who’s that?”
“Jake. He’s one of Brynn’s suitors, and I’m not his biggest fan.” She hadn’t even liked thinking of his name, but saying it out loud was even worse. It was physically painful for her to do so.
“I can’t imagine you would be,” Sydney mused, her eyes way too bright and playful for the tumult that had started coursing through Hallie.
What if he asked her out again? His boneheaded self had probably realized his mistake almost immediately. He would have been the luckiest guy in the world to be organ-harvested by someone as incredible as Brynn.
Hallie scowled, a look that didn’t dissipate when she glanced over to see Jake talking animatedly to Brynn, a huge smile on his face.
And Brynn, well, Hallie couldn’t quite clock the look she wore. Which didn’t help the anxiety churning in her gut.
The truth was… she wanted Brynn to be hers. Wanted it so badly that she could feel her molecules vibrating together at the realization. She didn’t want some idiot like Jake, who didn’t even know who he’d let get away, to think he had a chance.
More importantly—and the weight of the thought knocked her back a step—Hallie didn’t want to be one of those idiots who let Brynn get away either.
And this rush of awareness wasn’t happening because she was seeing Brynn with someone else, watching in real time as a new door opened that Brynn could walk through, away from what she and Hallie were building together.
No. It was happening because, slowly, at some point over the last couple of months, the possibility of losing Brynn had finally eclipsed her fear of rejection. Now, she couldn’t think of anything that would be worse than Brynn getting tired of waiting for her to get her shit together.
Brynn was so much better than some vague definition of their relationship status. She deserved to be wooed and adored and made to feel like the most special woman in the world.
Because, to Hallie, she was.
Hallie’s heart was thumping so loudly in her chest that she had to assume that was why Sydney was giving her a weird look. “Are you okay, Hal? You’re muttering to yourself like a crazy person.”
Blinking, Hallie brought herself back to the moment, where Sydney and Reese were both looking at her with concern. Reese managed to look more sympathetic while Sydney seemed half a second away from asking if she needed to pull the fire alarm for a quick exit.
Hallie was just considering taking Sydney up on that offer, imagined or not, when Brynn finally walked back over to their group, an embarrassed blush on her face.
Reese looked from Hallie to Brynn like she was realizing for the first time that there was something way bigger than she’d initially believed at play here.
She let out a loud, guffawing laugh that took everyone by surprise. “Does the extra bedroom in the owner’s quarters have a love spell on it or something?”
Hallie tried to level Reese with her best no-nonsense look. “I never realized you were such a jokester.”
Sydney clapped her hands together like this was the best thing that had ever happened to her. “We should put a plaque outside of it or something. I can see it now.” She fanned her hands out and said, “‘Love grows here.’ It has a nice ring to it.”
“It’s not a garden,” Hallie argued, even though she smiled. She wanted people to know that she and Brynn were more than friends. Wanted it a lot, in fact. Even though she knew it would come with a whole hell of a lot of explaining—and teasing—at her expense.
“Then is there a newsletter we can subscribe to for updates about whatever’s going on with you two?” Reese asked, looking at Brynn more than at anyone else.
And then Brynn looked at Hallie, raising her eyebrows in question. Hallie nodded, like the two of them had their own secret code. She loved the feeling of being so in sync as Brynn answered, “We’re taking things slowly. That’s the update we have to provide for you two.”
It was followed by Brynn giving her the most heart-clenchingly soft smile, so soft that it made Hallie go a little weak in the knees.
“And what about Jake?” Sydney asked protectively, crossing her arms.
Which pulled Brynn’s attention back to the group. Sydney specifically. She expected Brynn to waiver under her best friend’s scrutiny, but she only stood up straighter and then shrugged. “I told him that he missed his chance.”
Then, she shot Hallie another devastatingly perfect smile.
There was nothing else for Hallie to do except smile back and tentatively take Brynn’s hand again, guiding it back into its rightful place, nestled in her own. Because, yeah, there was no way that she was going to let herself mess this up.