Everything inside of Audrey still felt bruised and wrong, but this was nice, and she’d take all the nice she could get. “Well, okay, but it’s terrible science, just so you know.”
“The best kind.”
“Oof. Don’t tell my bosses that.”
Hallie bit her lip as she laughed and leaned into Audrey’s side like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Deal. Now, pick your poison.”
Chapter Thirteen
“How’s she doing?” Tracy asked as Hallie stepped back into the kitchen, leaving Audrey alone on the deck overlooking the snowy lake.
“Better, I think,” Hallie replied, still more than a little worried.
Audrey was less acutely panicked but she just seemed deeply exhausted and drained now. She covered it well, but it was there, underneath everything. As far as Hallie could tell, that was how these things went and the emotional hangover of experiences like Audrey’s were bad enough without the threat of having to go back there.
Tracy wrinkled her nose. “Her family really sucks, huh?”
“I don’t even know how to describe it. They put on a good show of being welcoming and the perfect family, but there’s this undercurrent that just sets your teeth on edge, and, no matter what she does, she’s always the bad guy in their eyes.”
“Psychological games.”
“Yeah, and that stuff is bound to mess you up. She’s doing remarkably well considering that.”
“She’s lucky to have you.” Tracy’s tone was a little too smug and knowing for Hallie’s liking.
“We’re just friends.”
“Sure you are,” she shot back, pulling out a bag of potatoes.
“We are!” Hallie gave her a desperate look before checking Audrey couldn’t hear their conversation.
“She’s pretty.”
“I’m aware.”
“A great start.”
“Mom…”
Tracy shrugged exaggeratedly. “I’m just saying, you drove all this way together and there’s this… energy between you.”
Hallie sighed. She probably should have known it would look that way. Her mom’s place wasn’t exactly down the street. Close enough to be a reasonable escape from the Sinclair nightmare, but it wasn’t exactly a casual choice to drive almost three hours to introduce Audrey to her family.
And, even if they’d been in a different state, she knew she’d have done the same thing.
She looked seriously at her mom. “She’s got a girlfriend.”
“No, she hasn’t,” Tracy practically snorted as she moved around the kitchen, making a stock.
“Yes, she has. Her name is Zora.”
Tracy rolled her eyes. “If she had a girlfriend, she’d have been on the phone to her at some point this afternoon, or this Zora would have been here with her.”
“She doesn’t bring her around the Sinclairs for obvious reasons, I’d imagine.”
“Still. You think her girlfriend would have just left her stranded all alone out here? You think they wouldn’t have talked today?”
It was an annoyingly good question, much as Hallie was loath to admit it. Audrey clearly cared about Zora, but they didn’t talk as much as she’d expect a couple to, especially when one of them was in crisis.
