Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jason
After dinner, I take Hailey back to her place. “I leave tomorrow,” I remind her before she gets out of the car.
“I know,” she says, looking at me with her big brown eyes. She looks almost worried, and I don’t want her to worry.
“I can book you a last-minute ticket.” That makes her eyes widen more, and the almost worry turns into full-blown panic. “Or not,” I rush to add. “I can change my ticket. Stay a few more days.”
Looking away, she considers that. “Do I have to decide before you leave?”
“No. Like I said, take as much time as you need. Just don’t, y’know, ignore me until you’re about to be homeless or something, okay?”
She smiles, though it looks forced. “Okay.”
When she reaches for a handle, I put my hand on her arm, making her pause, the zing at touching her not as distracting now that I’m getting used to it.
“Promise me, Hailey. Promise me that you won’t let things get that desperate before letting me help you.
Having an eviction on your record will make life unnecessarily difficult. ”
Her shoulders seem to slump, and she looks at me, her eyes still wide, though less panicky. “I promise I won’t get evicted before letting you help me.”
“Okay. Good.” I release her. “Do you want me to stay longer?”
Her mouth opens, and she looks at some point over my shoulder.
“Kinda? But I also don’t want to make you feel obligated to stay.
I’m sure changing your ticket last minute would be expensive, and I feel like I’ve already spent enough of your money.
If you stick around, you’ll just want to monopolize my days, and if I’m going to actually figure out what I’m going to do, I think I need the time to myself. ”
When she meets my eyes again, I nod, trying not to feel stung or hurt that she didn’t immediately say yes.
Of course she didn’t. She’s fiercely independent.
The fact that she didn’t reject me outright is actually a win, even if it doesn’t feel like one.
“Okay. Got it.” But I kinda wanted to spend more time with her.
I just found her again. Just got to know her again.
If she doesn’t move to Seattle with me, who knows how long it’ll be before I get to see her again?
For all I know, she’ll block me as soon as she gets inside.
And unless I show up and physically track her down like a crazed stalker, I could never see her again.
That thought makes panic grip my lungs in a tight fist. “You’re not going to block me as soon as you get inside, are you?”
She laughs, giving me a look like I’m crazy. “No? I mean, I wasn’t planning on it. Are you going to blow up my phone with nudes or something?”
“What? No. Why would I do that?”
Shrugging, she tilts her head to the side.
“That’s the reason I blocked the last guy.
So unless you do that or something in that realm, I won’t block you.
” Her gaze softens. “It’s nice to be able to talk about Hunter with someone.
I haven’t had that in …” She shakes her head, clearing her throat.
“Well, ever, really. Even if that’s all you do for me after this, that’s plenty.
” She reaches over, resting her hand on my arm.
“I’m glad you recognized me the other night.
At first, I was freaked out by it, but the last few days have been the nicest in a long time. Thank you again. For everything.”
“You’re welcome,” I say, wanting to add that I’ll do all that again and more, but I don’t want to be pushy. And we both know she already knows that.
She opens the door and climbs out, and I do the same, going to the back seat to open the door so she can get her things. Once she has them, I spread my arms for a hug. With a small smile on her face, she sets down her violin and steps into my arms.
Holding her feels good, and I almost don’t want to let her go when she starts to pull back. But I do, of course. I’m not trying to be a creepy weirdo.
“Thanks again, Jason,” she says quietly as she steps back and picks up her case.
“Call me,” I say. “Or text me. I’ll let you know when I’m back in Seattle.”
She smiles. “That sounds good. I hope you have a good flight.”
“Thanks.”
Backing up slowly, she gives me a funny look, but I stay rooted to the spot, watching until she climbs the front steps and disappears inside the house.
Once the door closes behind her, I suck in a breath like I’ve barely been breathing for the last several minutes.
Climbing back into my car feels like something is ending. Like … I don’t know. Like this brief couple of days is all we’ll ever have, and I don’t like that at all.
Flight was uneventful. Made it home. It feels weird being alone in my condo
Hailey
Why??? I love when my roommate is gone and I have the whole place to myself
I got used to having people around. I’ll survive
What do you like to do when you have the place all to yourself?
Throw wild parties, obviously
You’re only young once, YOLO, and all that
Riiiiight
*Gasp* You don’t believe me? Are you calling me a liar???
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I said Right. Like, yes, sure, okay. Generally that’s considered agreement
Yeah, but it’s the WAY you said it. You said it like you don’t believe me
Should I believe you?
Of course!
Who do you invite to these wild parties?
Uhhhh … the TV usually. And my violin.
Wow. That sounds like a real rager. Do the neighbors ever call the cops on you? Do you yell, “SCATTER!” like in the movies?
Obviously. How else would everyone know to scatter?
How good are the TV and violin at running away?
They’re faster than you’d expect, actually. And they hide really well
Wow. That’s amazing. I’d never expect an appliance and a musical instrument to be masters of disguise
They’re really good at that hiding in plain sight thing
Ah, okay. I can see that. What kinds of parties do you have with the TV and violin?
Well, I don’t usually party with them at the same time.
With the TV, it usually involves lots of snacks, preferably of the junk food type.
And I get to watch whatever I want on the TV.
With the violin, it’s playing for as long and as loud as I want.
Whitney gets annoyed if I play for too long, and she prefers when I use the practice mute.
But it’s heavy and dampens the sound so much that it’s difficult to really play well, especially for orchestral auditions.
For working up pop tunes and things like that, it’s tolerable, but I prefer being able to use the full range of the instrument
Understandable. And yeah, I can totally see how you’d get the cops called on the regular doing things like that
Ha. You know it
I’m grinning at my phone, but I’m suddenly stumped on what else to say. This banter and back and forth is fun. I want to ask if she’s thought more about my offer, but I really don’t want to push. Not yet, at least. I feel like I’ll have to soon, but I’m going to wait. Until next week, at least.
My phone vibrates in my hand again.
I’m glad you made it home safely
Having her call my place home feels … right. I know it’s ridiculous. I know I said that my proposal is just a business arrangement. And I meant it. I did. But also … I want her here. I want her with me. I want to have this kind of banter in person.
Spending the last few days with her was more fun than I would’ve believed if someone had told me I’d be spending three days with Hailey MacKay.
My memories of her are all over a decade old, so of course she’s nothing like that goofy kid I used to know.
Probably I’ve changed a lot from her perspective, too, even though I still feel pretty much like the same guy from a tiny Wisconsin town that I was as a teenager.
I just … I really want her to say yes.