Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Hallie had a date tomorrow night. A date.
Coincidentally, it was with the most incredible woman she’d ever met.
Sitting at the front desk, watching the clock hands move so slowly that she wondered if something in space and time had actually broken, she found herself shaking her head at the sheer improbability of it all.
True connection was rare enough in this world, but for it to happen to Hallie? Absolutely bonkers.
For a long time, content was the word that she’d used to describe her life. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was comfortable. And Hallie did love to be comfortable.
Now, though, comfort was mingling with excitement and attraction and a whole hell of a lot of yearning.
All of these new feelings had burst Hallie’s world into vivid bloom, and there was no going back.
Even if it was scary, what was the alternative?
Somehow, literal perfection in the form of Brynn Fitzpatrick had simply waltzed into her life and then, against the odds, had made a home in it.
A woman who looked at Hallie like she’d hung the moon, when all she’d actually done was hang a piece of art on Brynn’s bedroom wall.
A woman she’d discovered—from Greg, on his first day back—had made it a point to send him a gift basket filled with items to help make his recovery as easy as possible. And of course she’d signed it from the inn instead of herself.
A woman who liked that Hallie would rather hang out at home in sweats and talk for hours than go to some event that was more about getting the best Instagram photo than actually having fun.
And, for the record, Hallie did have social media. She was the owner of The Stone’s Throw account, and she took that job very seriously.
Just today, she’d posted a picture of the fireplace in the sitting room, with the new wooden board games that had been delivered, organized in a very aesthetically pleasing layout, if she did say so herself.
She’d smiled like an idiot while setting up that mini photo shoot, thinking about how the games had made their way to the inn. The truth was, things like this didn’t happen to her, but she was trying her best not to psych herself out.
Because Brynn had done nothing but meet Hallie where she was at, holding space while she figured out how to navigate her way through her fear.
In the process, she was developing the muscle of bravery that may have felt intrinsic to most people but that made her feel a little bit like she was careening toward the edge of a cliff each time she flexed it.
And the craziest part was that… bravery was paying off. Instead of nerves, which were what she would normally be feeling in a new situation, she felt a skittering excitement that rolled through her body whenever she thought about tomorrow night.
Did she mention that she had a date?
It was all that Hallie could think about as she manned the front desk for her shift. Greg was back to work, blessedly, so she was back to managing one full-time job at the inn.
But the intensity of her schedule was practically irrelevant. She could have been the manager, the chef, the housekeeper, the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
Because so very soon—even if it felt like forever—she’d be taking Brynn to dinner.
Sure, the date wasn’t going to break the mold on originality, but she wanted to do everything with Brynn, big or small.
And as much as she loved the bubble they’d ensconced themselves in, she was positively buzzing with excitement to take her out.
Hell, if Brynn had wanted to go to one of the local resorts for a night of winter sports in the freezing cold, Hallie would have strapped those skis on her feet and hurled her ass down the biggest hill they could find.
Knowing that Brynn was going to be with her made everything feel like an adventure instead of an obstacle to overcome.
Even though Hallie had officially asked Brynn out last week, she’d had to wait until a reservation was available. She was going back to the tapas restaurant, which, in retrospect, she could accept had always been an outing planned with Brynn in mind.
And she wasn’t going to let a shitty date with someone else stop her from sharing the experience with Brynn.
Her new ethos was that she wasn’t going to let a shitty anything stop her from sharing experiences with Brynn.
She remained committed to that idea when her phone started ringing.
Hallie frowned when she realized it was her mom.
She hadn’t heard from her since she’d left Colorado abruptly.
There had been no check-in to make sure she’d gotten home safely.
No casual communication about how things were going in Stoneport or what Hallie had been up to lately.
Just… silence. The kind that, for the longest time, had made Hallie feel like she was invisible in her own home.
For a brief second, she thought about ignoring the call, but she couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t curious about what her mother had to say. And maybe she still felt the lingering wisp of the idea that things between herself and her parents could be different.
It would be great to get to share her elation about meeting Brynn. Share the updates about Sydney and Reese’s wedding planning. Let them know what was going on at The Stone’s Throw.
Her life, for the first time, was filled with incredible moments that she wanted to talk about with anyone who would listen. Was it so wrong to want to share that with her mom, too?
Taking a quick breath, she connected the call before it went to voicemail. “Hey. Is everything okay?” That was the appropriate response from a millennial when their parents called unprompted. Especially when it wasn’t a normal occurrence.
Her mom’s voice filtered through the speaker.
“I was hoping that I’d catch you.” For a moment, Hallie was elated that her mom had reached out just because.
But very quickly, her smile faltered, as her mom followed with, “I need you to run to the storage unit and get a few things to mail for me. Just some of Mason’s things from when he was little that I want for the twins. ”
For Hallie’s entire life, her parents had kept a large storage unit at a nearby facility. It was basically a shrine to Mason and all of his accomplishments since space at the inn was always at a premium.
Maybe some of Hallie’s stuff was there, too, but she doubted it.
Her stomach twisted into a painful knot. Of course her mother wasn’t calling to see how Hallie was doing. Embarrassment followed quickly, that she thought this time would be any different.
It would be just like the thousands of hours that Hallie had worked tirelessly for her parents when they’d barely ever noticed anyway.
Or how, growing up, there was never any room on the fridge for her drawings or report cards or school photos.
Why would they put them up when Mason’s were always better?
The truth was, Hallie was probably never going to understand why.
Why her parents had decided to have a second child when they were so clearly enamored and fulfilled with their first one.
Or maybe it was because Hallie, by virtue of her personality, had missed some mark that they were shooting for, and they had decided to dump all of their energy into Mason.
She’d spent her entire adolescence and adult life trying to reach some invisible goal post when what she actually needed to accept was that there was no way to win at their game. At least, no way that would ever let her feel good about herself.
Spending time with her family, even just talking to them on the phone, always left her feeling worse.
And she didn’t want to make space for that feeling anymore. To make herself pretend that she was okay with the scraps of affection thrown in her direction when they needed something.
It sucked.
She sat up straighter on the stool. She didn’t deserve this.
If there was anything she’d taken away from the last few months, it was the truth in that thought.
It had become clearer to her ever since Reese had purchased The Stone’s Throw and put her trust in Hallie, now that Sydney was back and she felt the unconditional love of a best friend who supported her no matter how long it took her to figure things out, and…
now that Brynn had come into her life. Brynn had shown her just how many incredible feelings on the feelings wheel she’d been missing out on.
“Hallie, did I lose you?” She knew that her mom had likely put her phone down and was staring at the screen to make sure that the call hadn’t dropped.
Briefly, Hallie considered hanging up and letting her believe that was exactly what had happened. Now that she knew why her mom was calling, she couldn’t wait for their phone call to be over. And she was really unclear if she wanted to have another one again at any point soon.
“I’m working right now,” she responded matter-of-factly, trying hard to keep her voice neutral. She felt the wobble in her throat that she hated, the one that happened whenever she knew a difficult conversation was on the horizon.
Briefly, she thought she might get to avoid it. She heard footsteps coming down the hallway that led to the first-floor rooms. She waited, but no one appeared. Probably one of the kitchen staff, she thought, realizing her disappointment that she had to listen to whatever her mom was about to say.
“Well, can’t you just take a break? I need to have the items shipped today if they’re going to get here before this weekend. I want the jerseys from when your brother played peewee football. We were going to watch the game this weekend, and they would look so cute on the twins.”