Pierre leaned in, a mocking smile on his face. “Can’t wait to hear how you two making out goes.”
“That won’t be happening,” Hallie said seriously. River had promised.
“Right,” she agreed, suddenly sounding less certain than she had when making that promise.
Hallie narrowed her eyes. “Right?”
“Of course! No kissing. We agreed. And it’s not like my family usually wants to see that stuff. It’s not that kind of family.”
Who knew what kind of family it was. Hallie would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little curious at this point. “Great. Because, no offense, River, but you’re really not my type, and I agreed to come with you, but I did not agree to that.”
River looked mildly sick at the idea of them having to kiss too. “Yeah. No, thank you. Like, I’m grateful to you, but not that grateful.”
“And we can all be glad of that.”
Pierre laughed. “I’m not. I kind of want to see what it’s like when you two pretend to date. Like a car crash you just can’t look away from, you know?”
“Your support at this difficult time is deeply appreciated,” Hallie said, her tone flatter than usual.
He smirked. “Hey, you know how these things go. Spend a week pretending to be into each other, you end up falling for real.”
Hallie laughed. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Definitely not,” River agreed.
“Nobody is falling for any Sinclairs while we’re away.”
Pierre hummed speculatively before focusing on River. “So, your cousin—”
“Audrey?” she asked, brow furrowed.
“Yes. What’s her whole deal?”
“How’d you mean?”
Hallie fought not to look too interested or too much like River was being obtuse. She’d been wondering the same thing since she’d first heard about Audrey and the Sinclairs. If your whole family aggressively commented on your single status year in, year out, why would you continue going back to see them? And why did nobody seem to tell them to mind their own business and leave Audrey alone?
River hadn’t said much about her, but she was already the member of the family Hallie was most interested in meeting—or, rather, the only member of the family she was interested in meeting. The rest of them, shewouldmeet, and be polite with, but she wasn’t looking forward to it.
Pierre shared a look with Hallie before staring pointedly at River. “You’re having stress dreams about Hallie here breaking her leg and leaving you stranded. If bringing someone is this serious, you can’t not tell us about the only member of the family not playing along with that ridiculous theater production.”
River shrugged like she’d never given it much thought. It just was the way it was.
Hallie hated that.
“I don’t know,” River said. “She just… doesn’t seem to care. And like, there are kids and teenagers who show up single—”
“Oh, so glad your family isn’t into child brides,” Pierre said, flabbergasted. Hallie saw his point.
River huffed. “Okay. Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean that like it wouldn’t be horrifying. I’m just saying, once you hit yourtwenties, you’re expected to show up with someone. It’s just the way it is.”
“Does divorce exist in your family?” Pierre asked, a slightly more critical version of the question Hallie had asked when River came to her, begging.
“It does, yeah, but, like, then you find someone else and bring them along.”
“God forbid you take time to be by yourself,” Hallie muttered, glancing at the computer before her.
River groaned again. “I know it’s fucked up. The whole thing. But this is how they are and I… just need to go along with it.”
