“Hummel,” Hallie repeated, nodding. “Dr. Audrey Hummel. I love it.”
“Thank you,” Audrey said, amused.
“How did you pick it?”
She groaned. “It’sreallynerdy. Are you sure you want to know?”
Hallie laughed, excitement shooting through her. “Oh, I’m sure. I already wanted to, but now that I know it’s nerdy? I want to even more.”
Audrey scrunched her face up adorably for one moment before she said, “Okay. Well, it comes from Middle High German and Middle Dutch.”
“A fantastic start.”
“Yeah…” She swallowed. “It means bee.”
Hallie stared at her with wide eyes, an ecstatic grin taking over her face. “You named yourself after an insect!”
“I did. And I did warn you it was nerdy.”
“Oh, my god! You’re Dr. Bee in forensic entomology.”
“I am,” she laughed. “Though, I figured, this way, people weren’t likely to realize that.”
“That’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever heard.”
“Yeah?” Audrey looked doubtful, but Hallie couldn’t think of a single reason she should be.
“Yes. Are you kidding? That’s amazing. I mean, it was already amazing that you picked a new name for yourself—became a doctor for you, not a family that doesn’t deserve you—but to be Dr. Bee undercover? Best thing ever.”
“I’m glad you think so.” She looked down at her mug before clutching it close to her chest.
"Doesn't everyone think it’s amazing?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never actually explained it to anyone. Most people don’t know much Middle High German or Middle Dutch these days so it doesn’t often come up.”
Hallie almost choked on her drink. This wasn’t a fun fact Audrey told people. This was the first time she’deverexplained her name.
It made sense. Hallie had no idea where her own last name derived from. It wasn’t something people regularly talked about. But she hadn’t expected to be the one and only person Audrey had ever discussed it with, for her name to be this sweet, private joke between them.
“Zora doesn’t know?” she asked, the memory of Audrey’s girlfriend slamming into her like a block of ice.
Audrey looked surprised for a moment that she even knew the name before she seemed to place having said it on thebalcony. “No. We met after I’d changed my name, and she knows I changed it, but she’s far more interested in being glad I’m not a Sinclair than in wondering why I picked Hummel.”
Hallie was really glad she wasn’t a Sinclair too. “Right. Your, uh, phone’s been lighting up inside, actually. Do you need to check if it’s her?”
Audrey laughed and gulped her hot chocolate before it got too cold in the frigid air. “It won’t be anything urgent if it is Zora.” Her expression darkened. “It’s more likely to be my family, and I guess I should figure out how to face that whole thing, how to explain where I’ve disappeared off to.”
“Just tell them it’s my fault,” Hallie said quickly, unwilling to let Audrey put herself in the firing line for a decision Hallie had made.
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m used to them being… disappointed in me.”
“And we’re not letting them do that whenI’mthe reason you’re all the way up here.”
“You did that to help me. It’s really okay, I’m used to—”
“No. Honestly, let’s just tell them something came up with my mom and I needed your help driving up here.” She smirked. “It’ll hardly be the biggest lie I’ve told your family lately.”
“Well, yeah, I’ll give you that, but that’s probably the point. We also need an explanation for why you didn’t just ask River…”
