She had no interest in being Hallie’s professor, though. “I mean, you can just ask whatever you want to know while I’m here,” she said, looking around the table at the others.
Tracy smiled, standing up from the table. “Are you busy for Christmas, Audrey? Because I don’t think this lot will have finished asking questions by then.”
Audrey laughed politely, not really considering that a proper offer. Though, she couldn’t deny that Christmas with the Fullers sounded nice.
But she wouldn’t even be in Michigan by that point…
“Ma, what are you doing?” Wes asked, standing quickly. “You made dinner, we’ve got this.”
Tracy winked at Audrey. “See how well I’ve got them trained?”
Audrey smiled but stood up too. She could handle dishes. They weren’tforcingher to do them, it would be fine. “I can help.”
“Sit your ass down,” Luca laughed. “You’re a guest. We’ve got this.”
“Oh… I…”
“Nope.” He shot her a wide grin that looked nothing like Hallie’s but felt equally real and safe. “We’ve got this. You can think about whether there are any good bug-based Christmas movies we can watch tonight.”
Tracy followed the guys into the kitchen even though they weren’t letting her clean up, and Audrey couldn’t help but think she was trying to give her and Hallie a moment together.
“How are you doing?” Hallie asked, voice hushed when they were alone at the table.
“Good.”
“You sure? It’s okay not to be. Today has been a lot.”
Audrey nodded. “It really has, but this is… nice. Thank you for bringing me. I didn’t realize how much I needed…” She trailed off, unsure how to explain all of the things she needed, but Hallie nodded seriously, like she understood all of them.
“You’re always welcome here,” she said softly. Her eyes were brimming with emotions Audrey didn’t even know how to begin to parse. “And you don’t have to give us lectures about bugs in exchange.”
She laughed. “It’s actually nice, you know? My family’s never once been even close to that interested in my job. And you’re not at all required to be interested in it, but it’s… good.”
“Everyone here likes you and is interested in who you are, Audrey.”
Her chest felt tight, and, while that generally triggered her brain panicking and locking down in fear, the part of it that felt pleasant just about managed to push back and feel okay.
She clasped her hands together, trying not to start another cycle of tapping, and realized just how cold they were. That tracked. She didn’t make it through days like today without that happening.
Hallie reached under the table towards Audrey, her hand hovering momentarily. “Can I touch you?”
Audrey nodded, swallowing hard as a warm, soft hand was placed over both of her own.
She saw the moment Hallie registered how cold she was from the tiny furrow in her brow.
“Thank you,” Audrey said, sounding more breathless than she’d have liked.
“Any time, Dr. Bee.”
Audrey laughed, loving the way Hallie’s expression cracked with amusement when she did. “Your brothers might not like me when I tell you I can’t think of any bug-based Christmas movies, though.”
Hallie squeezed Audrey’s hands a little tighter. “Don’t worry, we can watch a regular Christmas movie. Which one’s your favorite?”
“Uh,The Holiday, probably.”
“Nice choice!” She stood and held out a hand to help Audrey up. “That’s mine too. I think we’ve got about three different copies of it here.”
“You do?” Audrey didn’t really need help standing, but she’d needed help getting through the day and she couldn’t begin to thank Hallie enough. And, maybe there was a little part of her that justwantedto hold Hallie’s hand for a second. So she did.
