“I really don’t think this is necessary,” I say with a laugh. If it were any other family, I could laugh it off and move on, but this is the King family, and I know if any of them get an idea in their head, they’ll be going for it within twenty-four hours.
“It makes total sense, Hallie. I mean, you’re here more than Madden even is,” Mr. King says, sending a glare to his son.
“I never asked you to build me that house,” Madden grumbles.
“Plus, you could help more with me!” Emma adds.
I turn to give her a soft smile, latching on to the one piece of leverage I might have.
It’s not that I wouldn’t love to live closer to where I work or to the Kings, since I love them all completely. It’s that I’ve learned my lesson over and over not to ask too much of anyone because when I do, they get tired of me. The second I become too much work for someone, they begin distancing themselves from me, and losing the Kings would absolutely destroy me.
“I love hanging with you, but I also don’t know if your dad—” I start, looking to Jesse for help, but he also surprises me.
“It would be a help, honestly,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders, and for a moment, a look of shock crosses his face, like even he isn’t sure why he said it. Still, he doesn’t backtrack. “I like to make sure there’s someone there to get her off the bus, but it’s not fair to always rely on my mom, so a lot of the time I have her walk over to Wren’s after school, who has to drive her up here.”
I bite my lip, knowing this is true and desperately wanting to encourage Wren to keep setting boundaries and putting herself first.
“I mean, I could easily get her off the bus, whether or not I’m living here. Most of the time I’m working in the office with Madden—” I start, which is true. Although I work for myself, I like working from the office at Three Kings so I don’t sit alone all day.
“You work from home some days, though, especially in the winter,” Madden adds, and when I turn to him, he has a smile on his face like he knows I’ve already long lost this battle and he’shappyabout it. “It would be an extra drive when there might be ice or snow on the ground. And the place is nice, Hal. Not too big, probably as big as the duplex. It’s perfect for you. The kitchen is huge and faces the woods.”
I scrunch my nose because he knows me too well. I like living in town, but Ilovethe woods, especially the woods out here on the farm. Being able to wake up and look out my window at them every day would be a dream.
“I don’t—” I start again, though even I can hear the fight is gone from my voice.
“Jess, do you think Hallie could move in tomorrow?”
My eyes bug out.Tomorrow?!Before I can argue, though, Jesse is answering.
“Yeah, it should be good now, but I’ll double-check everything later. I can show you tonight before you leave, if you’d like,” Jesse answers, looking across the table at me. I glare at him, a traitor, especially considering that just two days ago, he could barely even stomach the sight of me. Now he’s encouraging his family to move me in next door, basically.
“It’s settled. If you like the place, you can move in tomorrow,” Mrs. King says with an excited clap of her nails that are painted a pretty light green color with red tips for the holidays, a giddy grin on her face.
“I appreciate it, really, but I’m paying Colt rent for my half of the duplex—I can’t in good conscience?—”
“And you can keep paying him until he finds someone to live there,” she replies with a shrug.
I narrow my eyes, already seeing where she’s going with this. “Mrs. King, I can’t afford double rent,” I start, and she shakes her head, confirming my fears.
“You’ll only be paying rent to Colt. And I told you, call me Mom. My god, you’ve basically been my kid for years. This Mr. and Mrs. King thing has to die eventually.”
Warmth fills me at the common argument, but I push it back, trying to stay focused, knowing her goal is to distract me. “I can’t live in Madden’s place and not pay?—”
“If you try and tell me you want to pay rent, I’m going to be offended, Harriet Young.”
Mrs. King breaking out the full name makes me smirk a bit, but I force myself to stay focused. That fight isn’t one I’m going to win right now, but maybe I can table it.
“Okay. I’ll move in, but I’m not dropping the conversation about rent.”
“Yay! After dessert, Pete will give you the keys, and Jess will take you over to your new home. How exciting!” She claps her hands excitedly. “Now. Everyone, help me clean up. I’ve got an apple crostata waiting for everyone if things get cleared quickly!”
As I’ve witnessed happen a dozen times before, everyone at the table stands, moving efficiently to clean up the table, each person having their own task. I gather the plates and scrape them, which is usually my and Wren’s job, and it’s not until I’m laughing with Emma as she steals a scoop of whipped cream off my plate that I realize she never agreed to talk to me about rent later.
EIGHT
I’m lurking in the hallway like a creep as Hallie, Madden, and Emma play Uno. Simultaneously, I’m attempting to decode what the fuck I just did, not justagreeingbutencouragingHallie to move into Madden’s old place. She looked to me for help, for someone on her side to say the idea was bonkers, but in the moment, I couldn’t seem to think of why itwasn’ta good idea.
And now, watching the unwavering smile on Emma’s face and realizing I haven’t had any actual arguments with her in a few days, I can’t find it in me to say having Hallie closer and spending more time with my daughter would be bad. It’s mostly just for my own sanity, but I’ve been putting Emma above my own surface-level wants and needs since Kim left.
