Chapter Thirteen
Tessa arrived early for book club the next week.
She no longer had to worry about showing up late because of work.
The weather had cooled a bit more, so she wore a comfy black cotton top with capped sleeves that fluttered and made her feel pretty.
Her tan pants and matching wedges made her feel bold.
A little over a week had passed since they’d vowed to actively seek happiness, and though the process wasn’t seamless, Tessa felt they were headed in the right direction.
If not for the upcoming dinner with her dad and brother, she would’ve considered herself carefree.
Hallie waved her to a tall table with three high seats and gorgeous river views. “You’re early. Should we worry?”
“Nope.” Tessa placed her clutch on the table and took the chair between her friends. “I stopped working overtime, remember? Taking back control of my life and all that.”
The restaurant bustled around them, filled with locals grabbing a meal or drinks after work.
“Still?” Hallie asked. She swept a hand along the back of her neck.
Her hair was mostly tucked beneath a ball cap.
She wore a chic black-on-black ensemble.
A fitted long-sleeve top with high-waisted, wide-legged black pants and platform shoes.
Simple silver jewelry completed the look with one lovely cross on a dainty chain around her neck and an army of skulls, bats, diamonds, and hoops in the row of piercings up both ears.
Tessa refocused on Hallie’s question. “I’m still trying to make better decisions in general. Aren’t you?”
Kate shifted, crossing her legs beneath a long cream skirt, revealing suede ankle boots. She’d paired the skirt with an off-the-shoulder cashmere sweater in deep plum and added a wide tan belt to match the boots. “We’re trying. We just thought you might—”
“Quit?” Tessa asked. “I’m the one who begged you to join me.”
Kate wrinkled her nose. “Not quit, but I don’t know— Pause? Ease up? Maybe make concessions so you don’t completely blow up your career just to prove a point.”
“I’m not trying to prove a point,” Tessa said, sounding far calmer than she felt. “I’m trying to make a big, long-overdue change in my life. I want joy and peace again. For all of us.”
“I feel exactly the same,” Hallie said. “I didn’t want you two thinking I wasn’t holding up my end of this pact, so I did this!” She pulled off her hat and shook her hair out.
Gone was the dramatic, sharp-edged bob, and back was the purple-and-jet-black pixie cut she’d rocked for several years postcollege.
“Oh. My. God.” Kate covered an open-mouthed smile. “You look amazing!”
Tessa agreed. “This is incredible. Do you miss the bob?”
“Hell, no,” Hallie said. “I only grew my hair that long and ditched the color to fit in better with Bryce and his family. He suggested I was too old to have unnaturally colored hair on my thirtieth birthday, and for a while I thought he might be right.”
Tessa frowned. She’d long suspected that Bryce was behind some of Hallie’s aesthetic changes. After all, he’d given up the edgier look he’d sported in college the minute it was time for graduation. “I’m sorry he made you feel like you couldn’t be completely you.”
Hallie waved a hand. “It was just hair.”
Tessa shook her head but didn’t push. “Anyway, you look hot.”
Hallie beamed. “I feel hot.”
Kate laughed. “To be clear, you did not have to do this for us. We aren’t judging how much or little any of us change in a month. We’re just supposed to pick some things and try.”
“This was long overdue,” Hallie said. “Bryce’s mom will stroke out and die when she sees me at the cake tasting tomorrow morning, but it’ll be too late to change it then.”
Kate lifted a hand overhead, drawing a young server’s attention. “Can we get a bottle of something sweet for the table. Red wine?” She looked to her friends, then back to the server. “Do you have a muscadine?”
“Yeah. I’ve got something new and local.”
“Perfect,” Kate said. She turned to Hallie.
“Can I get a Sprite with pineapple and coconut syrup?” Hallie asked.
“Sure, anything else?”
Hallie rolled her shoulders back. “I heard you’re hiring here.”
“Yeah. Applications are on the website. You can use the QR code on the menu to get there.”
“Thanks.”
The server walked away, and Kate leaned forward.
“Are you thinking about leaving the café?” Kate asked. Her brows rose and her eyes flared with interest. “Are you applying here? Is that why you chose this place tonight?”
Hallie frowned. “No. I just wanted to eat here, and I heard they were hiring. I was curious.”
The server returned a moment later with the drinks, then took her leave once more.
Tessa turned to Hallie. “Just curious?”
She sipped her drink, paddled the ice with her straw, and looked around the room. “Mm-hmm.”
Kate pulled on the place mat beneath Hallie’s glass when she set her drink down, causing the contents to gently slosh.
“Hey!”
“Stop making small talk. What’s going on?” Kate asked.
Hallie picked at the corner of her napkin.
“You’re a culinary genius,” Kate pressed. “Why not apply and see what happens? It can’t hurt, and if nothing comes of it, no one will know.”
Hallie looked up, cheeks slightly rosy with color. “Work isn’t the biggest problem I have at the moment.”
“Is it Bryce?” Kate asked. “Have you talked to him about how you’re feeling?”
“No, but I think I’m going to leave him.”
Kate’s blue eyes widened, and she whisper-screamed. “What?”
Tessa finished her wine and poured another glass, thankful she could sleep in tomorrow morning.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Hallie said.
Tension lines formed around her eyes and across her forehead as she spoke.
“The heroine in my story wouldn’t be so afraid of upsetting her family or the status quo.
Even if she was, she wouldn’t let that stop her.
She’d do something big, make a statement about autonomy and individuality, then put her chin up and walk away.
She might even dare folks to push back, because she’s been quiet and agreeable for too long, and this is her life, dammit. ”
“That’s a lot to have on your mind,” Tessa said. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
Kate whistled the long thin sound of a falling missile, then finished her wine as well.
The server delivered warm bread, butter, and plates to the table, took one look at the vibe, and fled.
Kate sliced the small loaf while Tessa passed out the plates.
Hallie talked. “You know my mama had a huge influence on my thoughts about men. She taught me they were our only hope of escaping poverty. They were money. They were safety. And I always felt that my main goal in life was to catch someone’s eye, gain his trust, and hitch my horse to his wagon before he got away.
I did most of that, but now that it’s time to do the hitching, I feel like the one who wants to get away. ”
Kate released a resigned sigh. “I hate that you weren’t taught to look for your ideal partner and personal hero. Everyone deserves a Prince Charming.”
“Prince Charming is a myth,” Hallie said. “Mama taught me that too. As our little town’s only fake psychic, she would know. She can read folks, and she says most men can’t be trusted with your heart or anything else.”
Tessa frowned. Hallie had told the story before, but never in this tone or so close to her wedding day. “But you love Bryce, right?”
She nodded. “I do, but I’m not sure love is enough.”
Kate pressed her full tinted lips into a thin line, clearly holding her tongue.
“Think about it,” Hallie said. “There are lots of smart, amazing, kind people in the world. You can’t date or marry every one of those that you meet. There has to be a bigger connection. Something deep that makes one person different from the rest for you.”
Kate looked to Tessa, who replayed Hallie’s words, searching for the message between the lines.
“You love him, but you aren’t in love with him?” Tessa guessed, cringing a little at the worn-out phrase.
Hallie lifted, then dropped one palm onto the table. “I don’t know. Maybe. I just don’t think I should marry him. Mama’s going to be so pissed. There has never been a woman of means in my bloodline. I could change that. My daughters could do anything they wanted in life.”
“They still can,” Tessa said. “You don’t need Bryce for that.”
Suddenly the major hair change made sense. She was mentally leaving him and his family. Or self-sabotaging. Either way, it ended with a broken engagement.
“Did your wedding invitations ever go out?” Kate asked.
Hallie lifted her drink and took a long gulping pull on the straw. “Yep.”
Tessa added a little butter to the bread on Hallie’s plate, desperate for something to do instead of freak out. Then she nudged the plate closer to Hallie. “Well, we’re behind you, whatever you decide. And there’s no rush. This is a big deal. Take your time.”
“But four hundred people are coming to watch you get married in less than a month,” Kate said. “Maybe hurry a little.”
Hallie bit into the buttered bread. She chewed thoughtfully, then wiped the corners of her mouth with her tattered napkin.
“I’ll try. This bread is amazing.” She helped herself to another slice.
“You’re right. Maybe I’m overthinking,” she said between bites.
“Bryce is my best friend. He’s been there for my every disappointment and victory since I was a kid.
He doesn’t completely fit into his family either.
Maybe we could break the stuffy image-obsessed patterns together?
Be the black sheep in the family. The fun aunt and uncle. ”
“Maybe,” Tessa allowed. “I believe you can make whatever future you want. But it has to be what you truly want.”
“What if I don’t know what I want?” she said miserably.
“Then four hundred guests can wait,” Kate said. “You have to do what’s right for your heart, or everything afterward will be wrong.”