“Get out there anddo what?” Sydney asked as they finally started moving faster than ten miles per hour. Thank god. Because then she added, “It doesn’t seem like you’ve actually wanted to free up more of your time. In the spirit of being brutally honest.”
Hallie held her hand up to her chest. “You wound me!”
Sydney grinned. “Don’t try to guilt me into keeping quiet. It’s for your own good.”
“I don’t know that Reese should be talking about confidential company business like that.” Hallie knew her argument was moot, but she still managed an indignant snort.
Sydney did, too, and Hallie earned herself an eye roll. “All we care about is your happiness, Hal. Truly.”
Hallie tried to breathe away the uncomfortable feeling that settled in her chest again, too potent to ignore. Sydney and Reese had happened so quickly this past summer that Hallie was still adjusting. Tack on Reese now owning The Stone’s Throw, and she didn’t exactly know how to navigate the big changes in her and Sydney’s friendship. She’d gone from Sydney’s confidante—the place, theperson, to which Sydney came running after she retired from professional tennis—to a world where her best friend and her boss spent weeknights cuddled up on the sofa together, probably lamenting her own arrested development.
It was embarrassing.
Except that even while wrapped up in their cocoon of love, Reese and Sydney had thrown her every lifeline that they could over the past few months. It was Hallie who’d self-sabotaged, never putting herself in a position to actually make any changes that could improve her situation.
In her defense, though, who wanted to hang out with people who were grossly in love all the time? She was happy for her best friend, truly, but spending time with Reese and Sydney only served to shine a light on her own idiotic resistance to moving forward.
Finally, the exit to the airport came into view, and Hallie was shocked at the breath of relief she let out. Getting on that plane was really becoming the lesser of two evils.
Sydney, however, didn’t seem ready to leave their conversation where it was. “If you don’t want to share about yourself, I have some news of my own.”
Hallie looked over and saw Sydney’s whole face overtaken by a vibrant smile. “What’s that now?”
When Sydney said, “Now, I know it’s fast,” Hallie already knew what was coming, even as Sydney followed with, “but I’m going to ask Reese to marry me. Over the holidays, on New Year’s Eve.”
Blinking slowly, Hallie absorbed the words as the airport came into view. God, she felt like such a shitty friend. Sydney deserved all the happiness a person could suck from this insane world, especially with what she’d gone through over the last year—finding out that her serious partner of six years had been cheating and then being forced to retire from professional tennis due to injury, when her star had only been on the rise.
It wasn’t fair. And sure, Sydney had done what any normal, reasonable person would do and had spiraled about it for a week, back in Stoneport, where she’d stayed with Hallie at the inn.
But then, Sydney had found her drive. Even if it was by fake-dating Reese to annoy Grant, who was in Stoneport for the summer to get married. And now, Sydney was going to ask Reese to get married. Talk about having a best friend who never did anything half-assed.
Hallie smiled, a joke about taking the fake dating thing way too seriously on the tip of her tongue. In spite of her own tumult—if she could even call it that, since it implied that she was in the midst of some sort of upheaval instead of being so static that moss may grow on her—she wasn’t going to be even a small part of something that diminished Sydney’s happiness.
And Hallie could tell, from the way that Sydney was knuckling the steering wheel, that she cared deeply about Hallie’s response. She wasn’t going to disappoint. “It is fast, but I don’t know that beautiful millionaires live in the same world as we mere mortals. And, really, you’ve already retired from tennis. Doesn’t that make you practically geriatric? Sort of behind the curve, if you ask me,” Hallie said, flashing Sydney a winsomesmile before she added, “So, Sydney King, I am thrilled for you. I couldn’t imagine this happening to a better person.”
Sydney’s whole face softened. “You don’t think it’s crazy?”
“Oh, it’s absolutely insane.” Hallie laughed boisterously before quieting, turning thoughtful. She was good at this, focusing on other people’s needs and problems. It helped the dull ache inside her practically disappear, and she leaned into it. “But when you know, you know. And the two of you have been through more in the last six months than a lot of couples face in years together.”
Sydney let out an affirming sound, and Hallie decided to keep going. She knew that Sydney would make whatever decision was right for her no matter what, but most well-adjusted people liked to feel supported.
And Hallie could support her best friend better than anyone, dammit. She held up her fingers and started counting off. “Reese’s mom’s health issues. Both of you coming home to Stoneport. Entering new careers. Having tough conversations. Unrelenting family drama. High jinks abounded when you fake-dated.” She gave Sydney a look. “Though I’m not sure how long that actually lasted beforefeelingstook root.”
She didn’t miss the look in Sydney’s face, like she was basking in Hallie’s confirmation. It seemed she was taking a walk down memory lane, marveling at how much she and Reese had experienced in these last six months together.
“Probably a lot sooner than I wanted to believe at the beginning,” Sydney admitted with a smile.
Hallie wanted this type of love for her best friend: steadying but exhilarating. The sense of having found a person that made Sydney feel brave while also keeping her tethered to safety, just by virtue of the fact that Reese was by her side through it all.
Hallie had never considered herself an especially romantic person, but sitting here now, as she thought about Sydney andReese’s unfailing support for one another, she couldn’t imagine anything better. Especially not when it was responsible for the look of utter contentment on Sydney’s face after her best friend’s turbulent year.
It was amazing for Sydney, sure, but Hallie also liked it as an idea to cling to in a world where it was easy to feel adrift.
They pulled up to the departures drop-off area; there were only a few seconds until Hallie would hop out and make her way to Colorado. A few minutes ago, she hadn’t expected to find this conversation so invigorating. But now, she felt like it would be possible to survive her family for ten days, even without the inn to act as a buffer between her and the rest of the Thatchers.
When Sydney eased into a spot along the sidewalk, Hallie put her hand on the door handle but didn’t open it. “I love you, Syd. And I’m so happy that you and Reese found one another.”
Sydney looked at her then, her voice full with emotion. “You’ll always be my best friend, Hallie. That’s never going to change. I want you to know that. And I couldn’t imagine taking this next step without you.”
