“They aren’t my favorite people right now either,” Hallie lamented. Even if she was mad at her parents, it still hurt to realize that as soon as she couldn’t fit into exactly what they wanted or needed from her, she was practically invisible to them.
Hell, even when she did exactly what she thought would make them happy, she was still invisible to them.
Hallie’s smoothie had started to melt by the time that she remembered to take another sip. She almost spat out when Sydney spoke again. “Hallie, you are truly one of my favorite people in this world. I was going to do a whole thing next weekend, but—” Sydney grabbed Hallie’s hand. “Will you be mymaid of honor? It would mean so much to me, and I genuinely cannot imagine having anyone else at my side.”
The tears that had pricked behind Hallie’s eyelids were back, for an entirely different reason. She swiped her hand across her cheek. “I hope you’re not saying this because you feel badly for me or something because I’m already envisioning a whole scripted dance number that we can do,” she threatened, trying to keep the swell of emotions ballooning inside of her in check.
Sydney wiped at her own eye and laughed hoarsely. Hallie loved when her best friend ugly-laughed. Regardless of what other people thought, she firmly believed that it was one of Sydney’s most endearing qualities.
“You know that I have two left feet,” Sydney said, and Hallie loved that she wasn’t even being dramatic. If you saw her dance, it would be inconceivable to learn that she was such an incredible tennis player. Unless a racket was in her hands, though, it was like she didn’t know her left from her right.
“That’s not a no,” Hallie coaxed, even though she was pretty sure the two of them in a synchronized dance would do, at minimum, a few thousand dollars in damage. She smiled at the idea of it before realizing— “Wait… What’s happening next weekend?”
“I was going to talk to you about it today. You, me, Reese, and Brynn next Saturday night, if you’re both free. Reese was going to ask Brynn to be her maid of honor, too. We were going to take you both out and pop the question, so to speak,” Sydney said with a winsome smile.
A confusing mix of emotions kicked up inside of Hallie. Anything regarding Brynn had been doing that lately, but this was different. Hallie squinted across the table, trying to figure out what, exactly, she was struggling with. “Do you think that’s a great idea? Given everything that just happened with Grant?”
Pursing her lips, Sydney tapped her fingers against the table, considering Hallie’s question. “Has Brynn said something? Reese seemed to think that Brynn would really appreciate being included, and they stayed close, even after Brynn and Grant broke up. But if you think differently…”
The reality was that Hallie didn’t know for sure where Brynn would land on the whole situation. Grant seemed like he was so far in Brynn’s rearview mirror that he was nothing more than a speck in the distance. Brynn’s life, these days, was filled with dating and working at the inn and driving Hallie insane and, well, maybe Brynn didn’t actually realize that she was doing that last one, but it didn’t change the fact that, from Hallie’s perspective, Brynn was treating it like a full-time job.
Hallie let out a deep sigh and shook her head. She wasn’t going to make choices for Brynn about what she could or couldn’t handle. Out of everything in her confusion-soaked brain, she knew without a shadow of a doubt thatthatwouldn’t be what Brynn wanted. “No. Brynn hasn’t mentioned anything. She doesn’t talk about Grant. And I’m sure that Reese has thought it through. I mean, she thinks everything through.” Hallie waved her hand, guilt settling in her stomach. Brynn didn’t need a protector. Hallie was pretty sure that people didn’t give Brynn nearly enough credit for how strong she was. She wasn’t going to be another one of those people. “Really, it should be Brynn’s decision at the end of the day.”
When their stares met again, Sydney was looking at her strangely.
So maybe Hallie’s tone had been a little more wistful than she’d intended. But Brynn was just… incredible.
She felt a little crack in her resolve. “What?” She squirmed in her chair, unable to hide from Sydney’s probing focus.
Sydney lifted a curious eyebrow. “What exactly are you and Brynn doing when you spend all that time together?”
Uneasiness churned in Hallie’s gut, like she was being led into a trap. But Sydney couldn’t know anything. Hell, Hallie barely knew what was going on. “We hang out,” Hallie deflected. “Very similar to what you and I are doing right at this very moment.”
Except for the fact that Hallie’s whole body felt on fire when she was close to Brynn. And recently, she’d been wondering what every single look and touch could mean between them. Not to mention that she could spend hours listening to Brynn rattling off facts or taking meandering tangents on whatever subject had struck her fancy that day.
From the look on Sydney’s face, she could see that her friend wasn’t sold on her explanation.
Which, to be fair, made two of them.
But Hallie was desperately trying to take a page out of Sydney’s book and hold the line, not giving too much away. She could wait her out, too—albeit to a far more limited degree.
Finally, Sydney responded. “But… if there were something going on between you two, you’d tell me, right?”
An unfairly direct question from Sydney. Hallie dimmed. “Given the Grant and the Reese and the you of it all, that would seem like a pretty stupid idea, wouldn’t it?”
On some level, it was easier to pretend that the situation was too difficult to navigate than to stave off the possibility of rejection. Especially when it could come at the hand of someone whose opinion Hallie actually cared about. Her date with Ruby hadn’t made her feel good, but the reality was that it had mostly cropped up her feelings of inadequacy where Brynn was concerned.
Why were all roads leading back to Brynn lately? Deep down, Hallie knew why, but she was glad when Sydney pulled her attention back after a few thoughtful seconds.
Sydney finally shrugged, twirling her straw around in her now-empty smoothie cup. “I am getting married to my ex-boyfriend’s sister. And my fiancée is planning to ask her brother’s ex-fiancée to be her maid of honor. Coincidentally, the woman who was accidentally his affair partner. I don’t know if I’m the best one to give advice on complicated dynamics.” She leaned forward in her chair, giving Hallie another intense look. “Life goes in crazy directions. The connection between two people should be the easy part, even if some of the other mechanics aren’t.”
Hallie sighed, Sydney’s words hitting her right in the chest. Because her connection with Brynnwaseasy. So easy, in fact, that it made wanting to do anything else or meet anyone else feel wrong somehow.
“I really care about her,” Hallie managed to say.
It was clear that Sydney had made up her mind about something. She righted her shoulders. “Reese and I are free all day next Saturday. Why don’t we handle the front desk?” Sydney kept looking at her like she was imploring Hallie to really understand her next words. “There’s an arts market happening at Stoneport Brewery. Seems like it could be nice for you two to get out and do something, no?”
“What about your dual maid-of-honor proposals?” Hallie asked, suddenly exhilarated and terrified by the idea of spending the day with Brynn, out in the real world. So far, they’d been living in an insular bubble. Maybe this would be good. Or, at the very least, it would allow Hallie to get some clarity.
