When they made it to the location, Tracy jumped out of the car remarkably quickly, muttering something about grabbing a hat from the trunk. She’d been wearing a hat all day. It was in her coat pocket. Audrey knew what she was doing but she wasn’t going to call the woman out.
Hallie unbuckled and leaned closer to Audrey, wrapping around the back of her seat and her. “How are you doing, really?”
“I’m good.” Audrey’s hand found one of Hallie’s arms and it felt so natural to just lean into the embrace, even with a car seat between them.
“You can be bad, you know?”
Audrey’s head whipped towards her, eyes wide as she attempted not to laugh. “Thank you?”
Hallie laughed, shaking her head. “Okay, that was an odd way to say that.”
“Not at all.”
“Yeah, right.”
Audrey sighed. “I promise I’m doing a lot better than I was before. Thank you.”
“I’m so glad.”
Audrey was too. However, she was also very aware of Tracy waiting for them. She tapped Hallie’s arm. “Your mom is going to think… well, that I’mbeingbadif we stay here too long.”
Hallie barked a surprised laugh, finally pulling back from Audrey, a little too slowly. “Thank you so much for that thought.”
“You’re so welcome.” Audrey laughed and finally moved to get out of the car. She didn’t fully understand what was going on between her and Hallie, but she liked it, and, for one moment, she was just going to let herself have that.
“Ready?” Tracy asked Hallie with a pointed grin.
Hallie nodded as she shot her mom a look. Audrey loved their dynamic. She loved the way Tracy knew each of her children, the clear openness that existed between them.
They joined the crowds heading towards the market and any thoughts Audrey was having about how Tracy was viewing her relationship with Hallie—any questions she had about what the whole thing was and how they were going to handle it—slipped from her mind.
The snow came down in gentle, sparkling flakes, and dark green stalls with white trims lined the paths around them. Audrey looked up at the twinkling lights and around at the people laughing, chatting, and generally having a wonderful time. She did festive things with Zora. She’d done them with other friends over the years. But she’d never been here, in Michigan, in the snow, just taking it all in without concern.Her family still prickled at the back of her mind but it was manageable. Especially since all she could really feel was this overwhelming sense of gratitude, of peace and belonging. There was nowhere else in the world she was supposed to be than standing beside Hallie in the snow as the world glowed joyously around them.
“Oh, there’s Dirk,” Tracy said, gesturing to a guy who was manning one of the stalls.
He looked over and shot Tracy a huge grin, one Audrey wasn’t fully convinced didn’t match the smiles she’d been giving Hallie all day.
As he waved them over, Hallie looped her arm through Audrey’s. “I feel like you’re going to love this.”
“Your mom and Dirk?”
She snorted. “No, although, you clearly are super smart, Dr. Bee. It took you all of one smile and a wave to pick up on that, huh?”
Audrey hung her head in amusement at the nickname and the compliment. “It felt a little obvious, don’t you think?”
“Ah, no more obvious than I’ve been with you.”
Audrey’s stomach dropped and fizzed. Sure, last night, Hallie had been forthcoming with her compliments, but part of Audrey had wondered whether it was all just a ploy to help her feel better. Now, she did feel better, Hallie knew that, and she was still flirting? “Uh… right.”
Hallie laughed and pulled her forward, clearly more than a little delighted at her reaction. “I actually meant Dirk’s stall. He makes the most incredible snow globes.”
“Oh,” Audrey breathed, looking up at the stall again. “It feels like we’re living in a snow globe right now.”
“This would be a perfect snow globe moment.”
Audrey found agreeing easy. The scene was perfect, the two of them linked together and smiling at each other. If it were in asnow globe, it would last forever. She found, of all the moments in her life, this would definitely make the list of ones she wanted to keep for eternity.
And Hallie was right, of course. Dirk was preoccupied with Tracy, but his stall was lined with stunning, unique snow globes. Small ones, large ones, ones with glitter, modern ones, traditional ones. He was clearly a great craftsman.
