“I always liked that River has kept her innocence so late into adulthood. I don’t want to ruin that for her.”
“The woman’s about to turn thirty. She can handle it. Just like she can finally see that your family is in the wrong.”
Audrey winced. “So, they’re being terrible then?”
Hallie sighed and held out a hand, waiting for Audrey to place one of hers in it. When she did, Hallie pulled a tube of something from behind her. “I got this from my mom. It’s antiseptic but she gave me the new tube so you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.”
“She doesn’t have to—”
“She wants to. Everyone here cares about you, Audrey. We all want to make your life easier, better. This is a really small thing that makes existing easier for you right now. And that’s okay.”
Audrey chewed her lip as she nodded. The logical part of her understood it. The fragile, emotional part of her didn’t understand it at all.
Hallie uncapped and unsealed the cream, squeezing a tiny bit out onto the tips of each of Audrey’s fingers in turn. She rubbed it in so gently, so carefully. The cool cream was soothing to Audrey’s screaming skin.
Of course Hallie had noticed how battered and bruised they’d become. And, of course, Audrey had no idea what to do with that. She wasn’t used to people paying so much attention.
When she moved to Audrey’s other hand, Hallie sighed again. “River says they’re… having a lot of feelings, your mom especially.”
Just like in her messages.“Right.”
“River, however, thinks you made the right choice coming here. She’s happy to pass along a message to them all, gather up our things for us, and she’s even threatening to leave herself if they don’t control themselves.”
Audrey stared at her, confused. “River would do that? She loves this week.”
“Did she tell you that, or did everyone else tell both of you that?”
“Oh.”
Hallie shrugged, massaging Audrey’s palms carefully. “She loves parts of it, sure, but it comes from the same place as you hoping they’ll get better. You both want a family that gets together, that loves each other, but she’s realizing the cost of what your family is offering too. She even said how bullshit it isthat she felt the need to fake a girlfriend for people who’d… Well. Yeah.”
“You’re really great, you know?” Audrey asked quietly. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you.”
It was a really good thing River had only been faking her attraction to Hallie, otherwise Audrey would have been worse than the rest of her family combined, having feelings for her cousin’s girlfriend.
Hallie laughed. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did. You showed up and cared. You helped me when I couldn’t help myself. You aren’t required to do that. You don’t have to save me.”
“I’m not sweeping in and trying to keep you from your life. I’m just here when it gets too hard to bear alone.”
Audrey nodded. She understood that. She just wasn’t sure she’d had that kind of thing before. There was Zora, but that whole dynamic was so different. They were friends, but she wasn’t sure, with Hallie, that friendship was all she could see.
Of course, it was going to be all they’d get because the distance was substantial, but she still wanted to stay in touch with Hallie.
“Now,” Hallie said, sitting up a little straighter and smiling at Audrey. “I think you could do with a little distraction, so, do you want to tell me your favorite insect fact?”
Audrey laughed in surprise. “I promise I’m more than just insects.”
“I know that. Maybe I’m just trying to learn everything I can from you.” There was something loaded in her tone that made Audrey feel tingly, even with everything else going on.
She cleared her throat. “Okay, well, I don’t know if it’s myveryfavorite one, but it’s the one that’s coming to me, and that’s how funny and interesting it is that dragonflies are some of the best predators on the planet. They’re one of the most popularinsects because people think they’re beautiful rather than just disgusting or annoying like they think most bugs are, but then they’re just out here being these little killing machines.”
“Oh, I have heard that before, actually,” Hallie said with amusement, holding one of Audrey’s hands in each of her own, stroking reassuringly. “And, if the entomologist is saying it, that must make it true.”
Audrey nodded. “Yeah, their success rate is way up in the nineties.”
“Well, I’ll never look at them the same again! Mom actually gets a lot of them here in the summer. A lot of bugs in general, you know, around the lake. You’d love it.”
