Mature? No. Rational? Fuck no. But I’m doing it anyway.
“Want to see the house now?” That’s why I came here, after all, to show her the house. My sudden need to get out of the house has nothing to do with my lack of desire to watch Hallie and my younger brother flirt the way they always do.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Hallie says, gathering her cards and putting them into a pile before handing them to Madden.
“Can I come?” Emma asks.
Hallie looks to me, not wanting to answer before I do, and I shrug and nod. “Yeah, that’s fine. Say goodbye to your grandparents and get your boots and jacket on. We’ll head home after.”
Emma nods, then all three of them stand before Emma hugs her uncle and runs excitedly out of the den toward my parents.
“Later, Madd,” Hallie says as my brother moves to pull her into a hug, and I look away, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Later, Hallie. Let me know if you need pictures for the account this week. I know you like to get shots of everything covered in snow. I can take you out on the four-wheeler if needed.”
“All right, I’ll let you know. Though now that I’ll be living here,” she starts, excitement clear in her voice despite her previous hesitation, “I can just go wandering on my own.”
“Better get better shoes before you do,” I mumble under my breath without meaning to.
She turns to me with a wide smile, then rolls her eyes before turning away in the direction Emma went. Before she’s through the door, she looks over her shoulder.
“Come on, show me to my new home.”
TKBREAK
I walk in silence to Madden’s old place, which is basically a two-minute walk from my house, something I’m not totally sure how I should feel about. The girls chatter incessantly the whole walk. Emma is going on about how exciting it will be to havea girlnearby, and I'm staying silent. When we approach the small home, I take a wider step to unlock the door first, then turn on the light. Dad keeps the heat on all winter to avoid the pipes freezing, but it’s still freezing in here, so I find the thermostat and crank it up before looking around as the girls enter.
As Mom promised, it’s relatively clean, though it has a bit of that unlived-in house smell; that’s really the only issue. It’s not a huge place, intended just for one or two people to live in, but everywhere Hallie goes to inspect, her eyes light up, talking to Emma about decorations or design ideas. It seems she isn’t even formally moved in, and she’s already making plans with my daughter, promising to take her to one of those big-box home decor stores sometime so Emma can give her input on everything from lamps to throw blankets.
When they enter the kitchen, Hallie talks excitedly about going antique shopping for an old table to fit the small dining area and about finding gingham curtains for the big window over the kitchen sink. I have no idea what the fuckginghamis, but Emma seems to, and gasps, “Oh my god, yes. Totally!”There’s a single large bedroom with sliding glass doors that lead to a small patio facing the woods, where Hallie and Emma plan to get a little table, chairs, flower pots, and fairy lights to make anoasis.
The only moment of seeming disappointment is when she pokes her head into the small bathroom.
“There’s no tub?” she says, raising an eyebrow. I never really noticed this place had no tub, but suddenly, my mind is racing toward visions of Hallie, her hair in a mess on top of her head, sunk into a vat of bubbles, water steaming around her.
I clear my throat and shrug before answering. “Mom and Dad built this for Madden. Believe it or not, he’s not really a tub kind of guy.”
She scrunches up her nose, and I watch as the constellation of freckles across it shifts and changes.
“We have a tub,” Emma says while I’m distracted, and Hallie and I both turn to look at her.
“Lucky you,” Hallie says deadpan.
“You could come use it whenever you want,” I say without meaning to, and when her head snaps to me, the burn of a blush forms on my cheeks, and I stutter out an answer. “Because it’s closer than my parents. Or you could go there. Either way. Uh, you know. Wherever you want. I just mean…there are options if it’s a deal breaker.” A small smile plays on Hallie’s lips, typical since she loves to see people uncomfortable, especially me.
“We also have a hot tub,” Emma says, a calculating look written across her face.
“A hot tub?” Hallie asks before I can step in, raising a speculative eyebrow at me. “You have a hot tub? Where?”
I shrug, suddenly nervous. “Out back. It was a marketplace find that I was surprised actually worked. It’s nothing special, just a nice place to relax once in a while.”
“Youusea hot tub? To relax?”
My blush deepens, and her smile widens, but before she can continue her teasing or I can try and redeem myself, Emma speaks.
“You can totally relax in our hot tub whenever you want.”
Hallie turns to my daughter and grins, winking as she steps out of the small bathroom and toward the living room and back out the front door. It’s nearly pitch black outside, though I’m happy to see the front light works when I flip it on. Mentally, I think to look in the storage barn tomorrow and grab some ofthe solar walkway lights to add around her walkway and parking area.
