“About which part?” Hallie asked sincerely.
“All of it?” Sydney pressed, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows looking like they were ready to disappear into her hairline.
Hallie tapped her finger against her lips, loving the bewilderment in Sydney’s tone. “The drinks and the hexing did actually happen. You know I’d never willingly go outside in below-freezing weather.”
“You and Brynn—like Brynn Fitzpatrick, my ex-boyfriend’s ex-fiancée—tried to put a curse on someone last night?”
Hallie made apffftsound and then corrected her. “A hex. Common misconception. A curse is much more serious than a hex in terms of severity. Brynn, thankfully, was the voice of reason on that one.”
Even though the hex had been Hallie’s idea, of course Brynn had known the difference between the two spells. And while they had both agreed between peals of laughter that neither option was likely to come to fruition, they were women with an axe to grind, not a body to bury.
Sydney was still looking at her, mouth agape. Good. Hallie liked still being able to surprise people. It didn’t happen very often these days. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a fun story to regale Sydney with that wasn’t about a hotel guest.
“So you and Brynn put a hex on…”
Hallie beamed proudly when she answered, “Grant Devereux IV. And trust me, we were very specific on his suffix, even though Tripp Devereux was a close second contender.”
Sydney was rubbing her temple with the hand that wasn’t holding her phone up. “I’m processing. So you and Brynn are, like… friends now?”
“I mean, if we weren’t before, we definitely are now,” Hallie said, realizing that she was serious. Brynn had been exactly the breath of fresh air she’d needed. “Casting magic really bonds people.”
And even if their preposterous idea to hit the Stoneport dating circuit was going to be left exactly where it should be, which was as a drunken joke betweenfriends, she didn’t regret the hours they’d spent painfully reviewing one another’s profiles, laughing until they’d cried.
Actually, Hallie’s stomach still hurt a little, and it made her wonder how Brynn was fairing. She’d probably had to be up by seven, and even still, she’d left Hallie coffee and meds to help ease her own wake-up call.
Hallie smiled, appreciating the care Brynn had shown her last night. This morning, too.
After a promise to Sydney that she would communicate more directly about what was going on in her life, including but not limited to her parents, hexes, The Stone’s Throw, and her general well-being, Hallie hung up the call and wandered over to the kitchen to find something to eat.
Brynn had, at some point, brought in a fruit cup, pilfered from the offerings they kept out in the breakfast area for guests who wanted a quicker meal in the mornings.
There was also a little note that said,I wasn’t sure about your dairy allergy, but I figured that this would be safe :)in neat, precise script.
Hallie plucked a strawberry, her favorite, from the cup and popped it into her mouth.
Maybe things were looking up for her after all, and a new friend was just what she needed.
Hallie learned later that afternoon that Brynn, in fact, had not been joking about their foray into the world of online dating.
It became apparent when Brynn breezed back into the apartment like a woman on a mission—very different from her own state. Sure, Hallie had brushed her teeth, taken a shower, and put on a pair of joggers and a T-shirt, but then she’d planted herself right back on the sofa, enjoying having nothing to do at the inn today.
Brynn as a friendandas a co-worker was already paying dividends.
“I’ve got a match,” Brynn said as she sat down next to Hallie, so close that they were almost touching.
Brynn was wearing their standard Stone’s Throw uniform, black pants and a black shirt, with her hair freshly washed and tousled, like she’d just stepped off a breezy ride on a sailboat. And so close, Hallie could pick up the soft, clean scent of whatever body wash or perfume Brynn used. No one would have been able to tell today that she’d stayed up until who knew howlate—no, really, Hallie had no idea—drinking until they’d fallen asleep on the sofa.
Hallie groaned and sank deeper into the cushions. “Did we swipe on people’s profiles, too?”
Brynn shook her head, an inscrutable look on her face that made Hallie feel briefly guilty that she couldn’t remember last night. She wished that she could, just to know all the hilarious things Brynn must have said. “No. We decided, in the spirit of taking this seriously, that we’d only look at profiles while we were sober.”
Hallie squinted at the idea that she could have been serious about anything last night, but thank god for that, at least. She didn’t relish having to leave any messages unread from unsuspecting suitors. It wasn’t their fault that she’d gotten drunk with Brynn and decided to look for love in all the wrong places.
This was a message she needed to break to Brynn, softly. “I don’t think—” But then Brynn hit her with an infuriatingly endearing pout. “Did—did you just bat your lashes at me?”
Brynn fluttered her long lashes again. “I’m not sure. Is it working?”
The craziest part was that Hallie knew, without a doubt, that Brynn was asking an honest question instead of fishing for a compliment. Which at least earned her an equally honest response in return. “It depends. What are you trying to get out of me?”
