Was she like that away from her family too?
“Not bad,” she said quietly. “I have a hard time sleeping in… new places.”
There was something about the hesitation that told Hallie it was specifically when she was in new places around her family, and that had her suspecting Audrey wasn’t quite so controlled away from them.
The waitstaff taking orders interrupted the two of them, but Hallie couldn’t help watch Audrey as they did. She noticed she wasn’t the only one doing so. Several other members of the family eyed her suspiciously, as though they thought she might burst into flames at any moment. The Sinclairs were not Hallie’s favorite people.
“So,” Audrey started once the staff had left and everyone had dropped back into their own conversations, “do you want to finish that question from last night now?”
The fact that Audrey remembered, had been thinking about it too, should not have set her insides on fire the way it did. She absolutelycould nothave a crush on her fake girlfriend’s cousin.
She cleared her throat. “Sure. If you don’t mind strangers quizzing you on your job?” Because that was what they were. Strangers. People who didn’t know each other and would never see each other again after this week.
Something flashed across Audrey’s face—something real and honest. Something Hallie realized she’d only seen on that balcony last night. She wanted more of it.
Audrey hummed. “There are worse things a stranger could be quizzing me on at one of these gatherings.”
Hallie couldn’t hold her wince in that time. Of course Audrey had gone through this whole thing before. Of course everyone who later joined the family had been a participant in tormenting her single status. Hallie found herself wondering where she could buy a sack of coal for Christmas this year. It seemed time the Sinclairs were given some of that.
Audrey smiled ruefully. “It’s really okay. What do you want to know?”
Hallie didn’t really want to play the game Audrey was doing, the one where she pretended everything was okay and normal, but it wasn’t her decision to make. Audrey had complicated bonds here, ways of surviving wanting her family to love her. It wasn’t difficult to understand, even if it did break Hallie’s heart. She could only imagine what it was doing to Audrey. But Audrey played the game. She survived. So Hallie would too.
She smiled, a gesture that came easier if she imagined the rest of the family weren’t there. “Everything.”
Audrey’s little laugh was much more genuine than when she was talking to her family. “Well, I can tell you everything about my job, but I think it might take a bit longer than one breakfast where I’m sure you’ve got other people wanting to talk to you.”
“I’ve got time.” Hallie absolutely heard the intensity in her own hushed voice. It shouldn’t have been there. Audrey shouldn’t have been able to pick up on it—but she could. Hallie saw it on her face. Saw the way her brow furrowed and she glanced at River’s back, trying to figure out what was going on.
Hallie didn’t blame her. She was doing a genuinely terrible job of pretending to be someone else’s girlfriend when she was talking to Audrey.
“Actually,” Audrey said after pursing her lips consideringly, “you’ve got about two hours. Then, I think we’re off to the next activity. This whole week is a… well-oiled machine.”
“I’ve got time tonight,” Hallie said, reining in the urgent, private energy thrumming in her veins, and forcing her voice to be light and friendly instead. “Nobody is putting a schedule on my nights.”
Audrey chuckled. “I guess that’s true. And, if you and River want to spend your evenings quizzing me on my job, I’m not opposed.”
“Great.”
The staff reappeared with their drinks and some bowls of yogurt that seemed to mostly have been ordered for the kids. Hallie was grateful for their appearance. Perhaps, once she’d had her morning coffee, she’d stop being such a disaster around Audrey.
And that hope lasted all of two minutes.
Her coffee was placed before her and she was impressed with the scent of it. Something better than standard diner coffee—of course, this place wasn’t a diner. Hallie sipped it gratefully, without even thinking about it. But, as she lowered the cup back to the table, she spotted Audrey twisting her own mug. It was subtle, careful, designed to be hidden and missed, but Hallie did not miss it. She was checking the cleanliness of the mug. And, once it passed muster, she partly unwrapped her knife and forkfrom their napkin, slipping them into her lap and investigating them.
They did not pass.
Hallie was certain of it the second she saw Audrey tense up, her eyes darting around the room like she was desperate for escape. There would be no way for her to go clean them. There was nowhere to swap them. Asking for different cutlery would invite comments from her family.
And Hallie had known all of that when she’d purposely slid her travel cutlery into her pocket before they’d left.
She reached into the jacket hanging over her chair, fishing the zipped pouch out. “Here,” she said, handing it to Audrey under the table.
Audrey took it automatically, only pausing when she registered what was happening. “I can’t…”
Hallie smiled gently. “I promise you can. They’ve been through the dishwasher and then I washed them by hand this morning too.”
“Why?”
