“Because she’s not into me.”
“No, ridiculous. Because sheisinto you and she thought you were dating her cousin.”
“Oh. Right.” Logically, that made sense. But Audrey being into her made very little sense at all.
Zora sighed. “Look, she’s going to feel like a burden, and I’d guess she’s in no place to go back to the Sinclair cabin, so she’s going to try booking a flight home today. But… if she’s feeling well enough, and I’m guessing she is because she’s sleeping and she definitely wouldn’t be sleeping this late around her family, you should ask her to stay. At least until Sunday.”
“I’m not going to make her do something she doesn’t want to.”
“I know that. I wouldn’t even be telling you this stuff if I thought you would. I’m just saying, you have a place where she can be safe, and I think she likes you. Might as well use the time you have to test out what it could be.”
“Like it’s that easy?”
“Yep. People are always overcomplicating these things, but you don’t need to. You like her, she likes you. Might as well enjoy it while you can.”
Hallie couldn’t help but laugh as she tried to see things as simply as Zora did. “I guess I’m no longer surprised she thought you might be at an orgy.”
“Audrey said that?” she asked, sounding impressed with herself.
“Yeah, just as, like, a throwaway comment.”
“Nice. Yeah, no, this week, I’ve been to a threesome but no orgies. So far. The weekend’s still young.”
“It’s Thursday.”
“Exactly. Beginning of the weekend debauchery in my opinion.”
Hallie laughed. “Well, okay, then. Love that for you. Not what I was expecting from Audrey’s… uh…”
“Girlfriend,” Zora snorted. “But, maybe it’s not what you’d expect from her best friend, either. We have different needs and that’s okay. She knows I’d still drop all of that if she needed me. Just as I know she’d drop what she was doing to help me.”
“Yeah,” she replied softly.
“And,” Zora said knowingly, “you’re not asking me nearly enough questions to be interested in orgies, so, I’m guessing they’re not your scene either, but Audrey is.”
“Oh, I—”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“Of course it wasn’t.”
“Don’t waste the next few days, Hallie. She likes you and it’s been a long time coming. But look after her, because if you hurt her, you’ll have me to deal with.”
“I wouldn’t do that, but I appreciate the threat.” She did. She felt the same way about the people hurting Audrey, and she hadn’t known the woman nearly as long or as well as Zora had. She just wanted good things for her. “So… do you want me to wake her?”
“Absolutely not. Being around her family is exhausting. Let her sleep, but, when she wakes up and you tell her about this conversation, tell her I’m happy for her and I said I love her bigger than the whole sky.”
Hallie almost laughed. There was that phrase again. Now that she wasn’t jealous of the woman who got Audrey saying that to her, she found herself immensely glad Audrey had someone who loved her like that. She deserved all the love in the world. “Wait. How’d you know I’d tell her about this conversation?”
Zora scoffed. “Because you care about her and, as far as I can tell, you’re already perfectly aware that all the veiled conversations and secrets in her family fuck her up. You wouldn’t put her through more of that.”
“Correct.”
“I wouldn’t be shipping the two of you if I didn’t think you were a good one.”
“Shipping… Okay. Cool.”
Zora chuckled. “She deserves good things. You’re good things. It’s really that simple. Now, you should get back to her because I don’t think she’s going to want to wake up alone in a bed she got into with you…”
