Hallie nodded, heading off towards the others. “Mom had a copy, I had a copy, and Wes had a copy. It’s a popular choice around here.”
“Glad to know I fit in,” Audrey said, only realizing what she was saying as the words left her mouth and she choked on a lump that took root in her throat.
She fit in. Here. With Hallie and her family. In Michigan. She’d finally found a place shecouldfit in here. And she wasn’t sure what the hell she was going to do with the fact that coming back here to see her family was never going to feel like this.
Every part of her never wanted to go near them again. Definitely not near that cabin. It wasn’t… clean.
She was going to have to figure that out. But not now. She pushed hard at the panic trying to join the emotional knot in her chest.
As Hallie turned back to smile at her like having her here was the best thing ever, all Audrey needed to concentrate on was that, here, she fit. And, for tonight, that was enough.
Chapter Fifteen
“Tell me you’ve kissed her already,” Wes said, voice hushed as he caught Hallie on her way out of the bathroom.
Hallie shot him a look. “You want to talk about who I’ve been kissing? That’s weird.”
He rolled his eyes. “I want to talk about the fact that she’s awesome, you two are definitely into each other, and you’re on a limited timeline so you need to do something about it.”
Hallie’s stomach churned unpleasantly. She was so incredibly aware of the timeline, so aware that they lived thousands of miles apart. She’d looked it up quickly, while she’d been waiting for the bathroom, and it was a thirty-four hour drive. Sure, planes were faster, and it wasn’t like they’d be the only sapphic couple in the world doing long-distance, but that was one hell of a distance when you’d only known each other for a week. How on earth did you make that work?
Wes groaned. “This is you worrying she’s got a girlfriend? Mom asked if we thought she did…”
“So glad she brought that up,” Hallie deadpanned.
“She asked because—what? You think she does so you’re holding back even though she clearly doesn’t?”
“I heard her tell the woman in question that she loves her.”
“I love you,” he said flatly. “That proves jack shit and you know it.”
“We’re related, weirdo. That’s not even close to the same thing.”
“It could have been a friend or… whatever. That doesn’t prove she has a girlfriend.”
“Well, um…” Hallie felt herself blushing. “If she does, I think it’s poly or an open relationship of some kind.”
“Why?” Wes asked urgently, right as Isaac appeared in the hallway, clearly planning to tell the two of them to hurry up.
However, upon seeing the hushed conversation, he wiggled his eyebrows and moved closer. “Why what?”
“Nothing,” Hallie replied quickly.
“Not nothing,” Wes shot back. “Why does Hallie here think that, if Audrey’s in a relationship, it’s an open one?”
Isaac shook his head at her. “Definitely not nothing. Tell us.”
“She, uh, well, she…” Hallie wished she hadn’t brought it up, but she really needed to talk about it. Audrey’s comment had been bouncing around her head all through dinner. “She made a comment that the woman in question would either be at work or an orgy. And she didn’t seem concerned about that.”
“As an expert in the field,” Isaac said proudly, “she wasn’t pinging my polydar. It’s probably just a friend and she loves them getting theirs at an orgy.”
“That’s not a real thing.”
“Mine has a perfect success rate.”
Hallie shook her head. She wasn’t sure exactly how Isaac kept happening upon poly people and guessing correctly but it was obviously working for him and she loved that for him andthem. She did not, however, believe he could justtellwhether Audrey was poly.
Wes put a hand up. “It’s probably not even a relevant conversation because there’s no way that woman in there, who has been looking at you like you hung the moon all night, is in a relationship.”
