Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
The day of Emma’s party, Jesse’s parents take her to breakfast while I bring everything to the Kings’ house and into the furnished basement to set up with the help of Jesse. Wren will be here in about an hour to help once she’s done making the birthday cake.
“Hallie,” Jesse says, his voice a low warning that, despite being in his parents’ house, settles in my stomach with warmth. He sets the helium tank I bought for balloons next to the three giant boxes and a dozen or so bags filled with decorations and party things that he helped me carry in.
“Yes?” I say, as I dig through bags and start unloading them to set up.
“Did you leave anything at the store?” I look over my shoulder and grin.
“A bit, but not much.” His eyes narrow. “You only turn twelve once, Jesse. Go big or go home.” He fights a smirk, wanting to pretend he’s annoyed by me, shaking his head and taking off his hat, flipping it around, and taking in the room.
“I’ll pay you back,” he says, and I don’t even bother to look at him, continuing to take out the seven boxes of air mattresses and adorable bedding I got to go with our decorating theme.
“Sure, you will,” I say.
“I mean it, Hallie.”
“I’m sure you do.”
I move on, sorting through the bag where the goody bags are: a tote bag with each girl’s name on it, filled with various fun things I know will totally blow them away.
“The way you’re saying that makes me feel like you aren’t going to take the money when I give it to you.”
I stand and pat his cheek. “Now you’re catching on.” I attempt to step back, but his warm, rough hand wraps around my wrist and stops me.
“This shit wasn’t cheap, Hal.” I lift a shoulder but don’t reply, and his eyes narrow on me. “Let me pay you back.” When I don’t respond, irritation flashes on his face. “Hallie,” he says, his other arm wrapping my waist to hold me in place.
“I have too much money,” I say in defense. He gives me a disbelieving look, and I shrug. “Talk to your mom about it. Colt already got a new tenant, so he won’t take my rent, and neither will your mom. I have to spend it somewhere.”
“Bank accounts exist, Hallie. Saving accounts exist.”
“So do shopping sprees and birthday parties.”
He sighs but drops my wrist, using the hand to tuck hair behind my ear. The back of one finger grazes the earrings he got me, his eyes lighting up when he sees them, the way they always do.
“She’s my kid, Hallie. My responsibility.”
For a brief moment, I think about brushing it off, about playing it safe. But lately, I’m not feeling like playing it safe is actually the right choice anymore or even what I want.
“The goal is for her to be mine, too, right?” I ask low, and his breath stops.
It might be wrong to use this against him, so I can help pay for Emma’s party, but I don’t feel bad about it.
Especially not when it feels like the truth.
In fact, if I’m being honest, it very much feels like Emma is already mine.
“You’re a pain, you know that?” he murmurs, then leans down to give me a soft kiss before resting his forehead on mine. “Does that mean you’re ready to admit you fit here with us perfectly?”
My pulse pounds, and I tell myself it’s the proximity, his voice, his touch, but I know it’s what he’s saying, how he’s saying it—the confidence in his words.
I part my lips, second-guessing and old worries flooding me, but Jesse just smiles and presses his lips to mine again.
“I’ll wait.”
Before I can respond, a familiar voice calls out from upstairs, and he steps away.
“Hello?” Wren moves down the stairs, coming into sight just as Jesse turns to start unpacking the helium tank. “Hey party people!” In her arms is another giant box, and behind her, Adam has another with two bags over his shoulder.
Jesse looks at me with a glare, and I just laugh before we all get to work.
“Can you believe Kim messaged me?” Wren asks hours later, her fork moving through the frosting on a piece of leftover cake.
The party is well underway, with every inch of the basement decorated and individual sleep stations with blow-up mattresses and canopies for each girl.
With the help of Nat, who came around five, we created a spa night for the girls with facials, mani-pedis, and clip-in colored extensions.
When I headed upstairs an hour ago, the girls were settling in for a movie on the projector screen Mr. King set up.
My entire body stills as I turn to her.
“Kim, as in Emma’s bitch of a mom?” Nat asks, and Wren nods, her brown curls bouncing with each movement.
“No fucking way,” I whisper in utter disbelief.
“Yes! I posted a story last night about the banner I made, and she replied, telling me to give Emma a big hug and a kiss and saying she’s so bummed she can’t make it. As if she isn’t the entire reason we’re scrambling to do this as it is.”
My eyes travel across the room to the living room, where Madden, Jesse, and Adam are chatting, but I don’t miss the fact that when I catch him, his eyes are already on me. He winks at me, tipping his beer in my direction, and I roll my eyes.
“I didn’t even know she followed you,” Nat says.
“I didn’t either, but I think sometime last month she must have. I don’t really pay attention, so I’m not sure.”
“I hate her,” I say under my breath.
“You and me both,” Wren says. Then she gets a text and stands, waving her phone. “Oh my god, it’s time!”
I stand and squeal, the excitement building in my chest and washing out the irritation.
The guys laugh but stand, and we all move downstairs.
When there, Wren and Adam move to the computer attached to the projector while I stand in front of the screen, facing the girls.
Jesse stands near the stairs with his phone out, fixed on Emma.
“Okay, so we have one last surprise for the night, a gift from your Aunt Wren,” I say with a broad smile, knowing this is going to lock in this being the most epic birthday party ever.
We are never going to beat this party, that’s for sure, though I’ll have fun trying.
“So Adam managed to pull some strings and called up a friend,” Wren starts, moving to stand beside me. A grin takes over her face as Emma gasps, her eyes going as wide as plates. The girls around her look at each other, confused, but Wren continues. “And when he told her—”
“NO WAY,” Emma calls out before she can continue, and Wren laughs.
“When he told her that we had a birthday girl in the house, she wanted to call up and say hi.”
“No way! No way, no way, no way!” Emma says, standing now. Her friends continue to look lost, though they’re smiling now. But when the projector screen flashes to a video of Willa Stone backstage at her concert, they all start screaming.
“Hey, Emma! Happy birthday!” the pop star says with a wave as the chaos continues.
Willa laughs, and after a moment, they quiet down so Emma can chat for a few minutes with her idol.
A lump forms in my throat as I watch from the back of the room, and when I shift my gaze to Jesse, he’s suspiciously glassy-eyed as well as he takes in his daughter’s genuine and utter delight.
It was a Hail Mary, Wren asking Adam to see if there was any chance we could get a single signed album for Emma’s birthday.
But as soon as he called and asked for a favor, something we later learned he had never done before, since he loathes feeling used or making othersthinkl used, Willa jumped at the opportunity to help.
Not only did she line up a quick video call with the girls, but she also set up a front-row livestream of her concert, including a shout-out to Emma halfway through, which will be projected for the girls.
In the goody bags are relatively useless, but still very fun, VIP lanyards, signed albums, and tour sweatshirts that Willa’s team overnighted.
Once again, we are never going to beat this one.
Once the call ends, the girls are all squealing and giggling as Wren hands out the goody bags and Adam makes sure the live stream works, since the concert starts in five minutes. Emma moves through the room, coming straight to me with a dazed look on her face.
“I can’t believe this,” she says.
“Are you happy?” I ask. She nods, then surprises me by coming closer and wrapping me up in a big, tight hug.
“Thanks, Hallie,” she says, whispering the words into my chest. I return it, my hand brushing over her hair, and when she looks up at me, tears glisten in her eyes, tears I know are mirrored in my own. “Thank you. This is the best birthday ever.”
“Anytime, girlfriend. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I take in a shaky breath and then pull her in tight again, and when I look over her shoulder at her dad, he has his phone up, capturing the whole moment.
That night, I sleep in the guest room at the King’s house so I can get up early to set up breakfast. Usually, Wren and I would stay in her bedroom, the only kids’ bedroom that the Kings haven’t touched since she moved out, but she conned Adam into staying there with her, so I’m in the guest room alone.
The guest room that used to be Jesse’s room, and the irony is not lost on me.
I’m texting the man in question while lying in bed, too amped up from the successful night of surprises and, admittedly, way too much sugar, when there’s a near-silent knock at the door before it creaks open and Jesse’s head pokes in, a broad grin on his lips.
“Hey,” I say as he closes the door behind him and presses the lock. He’s in a T-shirt and sweats and tosses his sweatshirt to the floor before padding across the room. “What are you doing here?”
“Going to bed.”
“No, you are not,” I say, but he ignores me and climbs into bed behind me. “Jesse!” His arm warms around me, pulling my back to his chest and pulling the blankets up around us.
“Shh. It’s bedtime.”
I bite back a smile, trying to sound firm. “Jesse, this is so stupid. Someone will find us!”
“The door is locked, and I have an alarm set. It’ll be fine.” He tightens his hold on me and presses a kiss to my neck. My fight starts to melt; his proximity is too nice, his warmth too calming.
“Jesse—”
When he cuts me off, the teasing is gone from his words, his voice a bit gravelly.
“I just need to hold you, Hal. You saved the day and loved on my girl, and I don’t know what to do with this feeling.”
A beat passes before I speak, and I snuggle in a bit deeper into his hold. “I’m not helping you with your horniness under your parents’ roof. Not even if you’re going to finally fuck me.”
He huffs out a laugh, his mustache scraping against my neck, and shakes his head.
“Jesus, Hallie. Can’t you let me be serious for one minute? I meant gratitude. I’m so fucking grateful for you, and it’s overwhelming me.”
His words and their sincerity stop any further jokes or protests in their tracks.
“We’re lucky, Emma and I. We have a lot of people in our corner, and we always have.
My parents, my sister, and my brother…they’ve always been there from the moment Kim told me she wasn’t in this for the long haul, and long before that.
I’ve spent years struggling with guilt and stress and the repercussions of Kim’s flightiness.
I’ve had to comfort my girl, hold her while she cried, or listen as she raged.
But I’ve never had anyone to do it with me until lately. ”
My breathing stops, my ears ringing as he continues to set my world on its axis.
“Lately all I can think is that we’re lucky to have you, Hal,” he whispers. And for the first time, I know he doesn’t mean his family, his sister, or the Kings as a whole.
He means him and Emma. Their little unit. The one he’s slowly trying to invite me into without scaring me off. I let my head fall onto his shoulder, take a deep breath, and nod, giving him what I can in the moment.
“Me too, Jesse.” And when his hands tightened on my wrist, when his shoulders released some of the tension he’s been holding, I know he knows all of the things I left unsaid.
“You know, I never had a girl in this bedroom,” he says after a while, and I laugh a bit.
“Really?” I ask because that does genuinely shock me. He shakes his head, his lips grazing over my pulse, and despite myself, it starts to speed.
“Are you kidding me? And face the potential wrath of my mom finding her in here with me?”
“Oh, but now you’re fine with it?” I ask with faux irritation.
“For one, I’m thirty-two, so the worst she can do is tell me she’s disappointed in me.”
“Still a killing blow,” I say with a laugh, because everyone knows that Mrs. King’s disappointment is worse than her wrath, and his own reverberates through me.
“And two, if she found me in here, she would absolutely blame me, not you. She’d think I corrupted you.”
“If only,” I murmur. He laughs again and presses his lips to my neck.
“Another time,” he murmurs. “When things are more settled, if you really want, I’ll fuck you in my childhood bedroom.”
“Promises, promises,” I say with a sigh that morphs into a yawn. He laughs one last time, presses his lips to the back of my head, and settles us further into the blankets.
“Go to sleep, Hallie.”
And even though I should argue, even though I should kick him out, I don’t. Instead, I fall asleep in Jesse’s arms, waking up only when the alarm he set for far too early goes off so he can sneak out.