A heaviness settled over the moment as Hallie struggled to find anything that could convey the depth of her sympathy for Brynn. Everything felt like too much or not enough. Finally, she settled on, “If you ever want to talk, I’m here. I care about you, Brynn. I hope you know that.”
It was the closest she’d come to articulating her messy tangle of feelings, even though her words didn’t do them justice.
But if she wasn’t going to push things between them, to voice the confusing thoughts out loud, then she at least owed it to Brynn not to act like a weirdo. To give her the comfort that she’d give any friend during a difficult situation.
Hallie managed to lean her hip casually against the counter and take Brynn’s hand in her own, interlacing their fingers. It’s what a friend would do.
And Hallie was going to be an amazing friend to Brynn, dammit.
Brynn smiled as she looked down at their hands, like it was exactly what she’d needed at this moment. That made it slightly easier for Hallie to push her feelings to one side.
“I know that you’re probably going to leave no stone unturned with Sydney, but I really do want to know about your date,” Brynn said, changing the subject and giving Hallie’s hand a gentle squeeze.
Which, unfortunately, didn’t have the same comforting reaction for Hallie that it seemed to have for Brynn. To Hallie, it was a very clear checkmark in the “you’re making things up in your mind” column.
But that’s what she wanted, right? For things to not get complicated. To not lose this new friendship that had already grown incredibly important to her.
She nodded, steeling her resolve. “Sure, we can do that.”
“Gotta figure out if Ruby is going to be a precious gem or not.” Brynn, clearly pleased with her own joke, tapped her free fingers against the rim of her coffee mug like drumsticks, saying, “Ba-dum-tiss!” under her breath.
Hallie side-eyed her, finally starting to feel like they were back on solid footing. “Did you really just do a rim shot?”
Still, she breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t going to get into her date last night. She hoped that they never would.
Brynn let out the sweetest, most petulant little sound. Hallie wanted not to find it so endearing, but she did.
“It was a good joke,” Brynn argued. “Topical, at least. I’ll work on it.”
Hallie knew, without a doubt, that Brynn was serious, even as a smile played at her lips.
Hallie could do this. The reality was, she cared about Brynn too muchnotto do this. Which meant that it was healthy for her to keep meeting people, especially as she tried to work through her crush—or whatever it was—where Brynn was concerned.
Still, even as she’d made up her mind, she couldn’t find the willpower to immediately let Brynn’s hand go.
“Now you’re just showing off,” Hallie wheezed as Sydney shot another perfectly executed backhand down the line.
Sydney laughed and spun her racket on her finger, not even slightly out of breath.
Hallie couldn’t say the same about herself. Her muscles ached—her butt, her thighs, her arms, her shoulders, some muscle in her back that she hadn’t even been aware existed until this moment—and what had originally only been her gulping for air after long rallies had become a steady stream of deep breathing, with a wildly elevated heart rate to match.
They’d been playing tennis for the last hour, to varying degrees of success on Hallie’s side. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that her actually winning any points was directly related to the level of effort that Sydney was putting in at any given time.
Still, it was great to see Sydney so happy and in her element. They’d grown up playing tennis together. When Sydney had gotten serious about trying to go pro, before the full-time training, Hallie had, on many days, acted as Sydney’s practice partner.
Which generally meant feeding her best friend balls and then trying not to get hit by them.
She’d picked up at least a few things over the years, even if they didn’t hold a candle to Sydney’s talent. And she had a great tennis wardrobe that made her look far more ready to take on opponents than was actually the case.
Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. That was Hallie’s motto when it came to getting on the court with Sydney.
“Am I going to stop getting free gear at some point?” Hallie asked as she returned an especially slow serve from Sydney, silently thanking her as she did.
So far, Hallie had done a good job of keeping her mind off anything except tennis and tennis-adjacent thoughts. She was only asking because the outfits were great, and she’d miss having access to them. Not because she still got a small thrill when she remembered how Brynn had looked at her earlier.
Sydney crossed the court with ease. The only sign that she’d ever had a serious injury was the thin knee brace that she wore each day, especially if she was playing and not just coaching. “There’s always Christmas and your birthday, if the endorsement well runs dry,” Sydney said, returning the hit with a lob that gave Hallie more than enough time to get in position to continue the rally.
Hallie slammed the ball back from the center of the court, forcing Sydney to actually put in some effort. “It doesn’t feel as good if it’s not free.”
