A light blush ghosted across Brynn’s cheeks, making her look even more innocent, which Hallie hadn’t thought possible. “I handled all the checkouts by eleven, and I figured that it was a productive use of my time.” She looked at Hallie then, adding, “And I have discovered, via research, that people can be lonelier around the holidays. As such, I anticipated that I may need to cast a wider net to account for anyone whose moment of wanting to meet someone passes and then they don’t follow up.”
Like Hallie.
She thought about someone like Brynn on the other side of a message that she’d never respond to, and suddenly, she felt like she was as much of a problem as the rest of the crazies on the apps.
She held Brynn’s hand, looking more closely at her phone. “Let’s go to your messages and see who’s already reached out. Unless there’s anyone you matched with who hasn’t and you’re desperate to talk to them.”
“Looking at the messages sounds good.” Brynn navigated them over to the tab where about ten profiles were lined up, like finding true love was as easy as picking it off a menu.
Hallie thought back to last night, filtering through her brain to try and glom onto remembering, specifically, what they’d talked about in relation to dating. She squinted, an image of Brynn floating into her mind. Brynn was sitting with her legs crossed on the sofa, her face scrunched in concentration as she’d come up with a list of important traits in a possible date. Honest. Sincere. Someone who tried to leave the world a better place than they’d found it.
She’d remembered thinking that it was sweet at the time, that there wasn’t a superficial attribute to be found on Brynn’s list.
Hallie clicked into the first message. “Can I look at their profile first? I want to see who gets Brynn Fitzpatrick’s motor revving,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.
She felt a shoulder push into her as Brynn snuggled in more deeply. “Why am I suddenly feeling like, for the first time, I’m going to regret this?”
To some degree, Hallie was sure that Brynn would rue the day she’d opened herself up to the world of online dating, but at this point, she couldn’t let Brynn go through this alone. Still… “Standing by your love isn’t always easy, Brynn. And, sometimes, it’s helpful to get an outsider’s perspective.”
Brynn made a sound, and from how it felt like she was trying to hide behind Hallie, it seemed like she could probably only see through one eye. Hallie grabbed the phone so that she could scroll more freely.
It was hard to discern anything from the thumbnail image attached to the message that said,hey, u look hot. But from the opening salvo, they weren’t off to a good start, at least not in Hallie’s humble opinion. She opened the profile.
Navigating through the basic information Jay—if that was his real name—had shared, Hallie wasn’t impressed. “Thanks for the fruit, by the way. I’m glad the guests didn’t have to see me in my current state.”
Like it took more than a little effort, Brynn pulled back from where she was glued to Hallie’s side and looked at her, soft brown eyes scanning up Hallie’s outfit—if you could call it that—before their stares met. “You’re, like, objectively gorgeous, Hallie. Sweatpants or not.”
It was the way that Brynn said it, so matter-of-factly, that caused a pleased warmth to soak into her chest. She wasn’t usedto being complimented, unless you counted the middle-aged men who were here with their wives and shouldn’t have been hitting on her behind their backs. But she assumed that married men who still hit on service workers while on vacation with their families were also the type of men to cast a net no matter what, just to see what it would drag in.
Which was all to say, she usually didn’t take any attention that she got very seriously, given who it was coming from.
Instead of responding to Brynn, who wasactuallyobjectively gorgeous, she focused her attention back on the profile, even though she’d already deemed Jay to be a dud.
Hallie wasn’t self-conscious about her looks, normally. There was no reason to be because, most days, she was dressed in her Stone’s Throw uniform. Which, personally, she didn’t think was a real head-turner. Anyone who hit on her while she was working had already lost before they’d started playing the game.
On top of it all, she was best friends with Sydney freaking King, who, along with being a former professional tennis player, had done a ton of modeling spotsandgraced the cover ofSports Illustrated. Next to her, it was hard for Hallie not to feel a little plain sometimes. When Sydney walked into a room, people noticed. Topping off the perfect-looks package, Sydney had this charisma that drew people to her. People used words likeflockedanddazzledandenchantedto describe her best friend, and still, Sydney was humble and funny and self-deprecatingeven asshe had people eating out of the palm of her hand.
Thank god her best friend only used her powers for good.
Conversely, Hallie had spent so much of her life working hard to blend in as a uniformed member of the staff that trying to take up space these days felt antithetical to her existence.
Which was probably another reason that sheshouldget out there and date. Even if it went horribly wrong. If she let this rideany longer, she really was going to become fixed in her rut, truly unable to dig herself out.
Even as she tried to hype herself up, she could feel Brynn continuing to stare at her.
“I take it you don’t like him?” Brynn finally asked.
Hallie looked up to meet her stare, confronted by soft, searching eyes. Obviously a woman who had fluttery, unfairly long lashes and still slightly sun-kissed skin in January would think this was a good idea.
Chastising herself for only thinking about Brynn’s level of attractiveness, she cleared her throat and handed the phone back. “I don’t like his first message. It’s lazy, which is the nicest thing I can say about Jay.”
She suddenly hated the idea of Brynn even considering going on a date with this guy. Even though Brynn and Sydney were cut from the same cloth in the looks department, they were so, so different in just about every other way.
Brynn scrunched her face in thought—as Hallie was realizing she liked to do—while cradling her phone. “Lazy how? He messaged me first. Doesn’t that show positive intent?”
Whew. This was going to be an uphill battle. Hallie scratched her chin, trying to figure out how to say this as delicately as possible. “Commenting on your looks right off the bat usually indicates two things. First, they’re only looking to hook up. Second, they didn’t even bother reading your profile. I assume that you want someone who can keep up with you intellectually? Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m not getting that vibe from Jay.”
Brynn took a few seconds to absorb the information before she pulled her phone away from her chest and deleted the conversation. “Okay. One done.”
