“I’m sure. I really appreciate you asking though,” she looked at her feet before bringing her eyes back up to Avery with resolve. “I guess what I’m afraid of is making the decision and if it’s the right thing to do ornot. And I hate the idea of being single when I’m surrounded by couples all the time.”
“I doubt you’d have to worry about that for long,” Avery added while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and looking anywhere but at her. He took a deep breath and brought his focus back to her. He gave her forearm a light squeeze. “Guys will be lining up and down the block for a chance with you.”
Hailey wasn’t sure if it was possible for a human being to melt, but she was suddenly afraid she would do just that, disappearing into a puddle at Avery’s feet at his kind words and concern. Lining up and down the block for her? He was out of his mind if he thought that. But, maybe if it was just one guy. The right guy… No, no, no. He had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend.
“Thanks.” She took a deep breath and smiled before backing away toward her car.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Goodnight, Avery.”
“Goodnight, Hailey.”
7
“I SHALL ONE DAY conquer you, Mt. Cotton!”
Hailey huffed while she approached the pile of clean laundry in her bedroom that still hadn’t been folded, judging herself out loud but not enough to actually do anything about it.
Folding laundry was one of those things that just didn’t get done in her house. If she needed to get the wrinkles out of something, she would just wet it and throw it in the dryer for a bit.
She tried to think about the last time she folded laundry. Maybe the month she moved into this place two years ago? Who knows? If it didn’t keep her from living her life, it did not get done in her house. Dishes? Only done when she ran out of silverware and only with her dishwasher. Food shopping? Only when there was literally nothing to eat in her house, and deliverieswere a life changer for her. Maybe she should buy stock in GrubHub.
But, putting away that Christmas wrapping paper next to her dining room table did not keep her from living, which is why it had stayed there since the holidays. Okay, fine. It was last year’s holidays.
Executive functioning skills were a favorite topic in her therapy sessions, at least when she wasn’t complaining about Gage. She tried habit trackers, alarms on her phone, and even sitting in video chats with friends where they tackled chores in their own houses as a team. Not much stuck, though.
Hailey stared at her pile of clothes, trying to summon her favorite top with magic, but, unfortunately, those powers still hadn’t manifested in her. Maybe one day.
After a deep sigh, she resigned herself to carefully move through the pile so it didn’t collapse on the floor. She had to meet Gage and his friends at some fancy bar and she was running out of time to get ready.
The challenge was finding a top that looked cute and sexy to Gage without somehow getting another man to look at her. It was a thin line to walk.
She went with a gray-blue, scoop-necked, flowy top that reminded her for a second of Avery’s eyes. Shaking off that thought, she pulled a pair of jeans off the floor, smelling them to make sure they were clean enough, then slipped into the denim. She double checked herminimum-effort makeup and ran a hand through her brown waves to give them some bounce. No idea if it actually did anything, but it was the thought that counted.
Hailey had considered canceling and spending the night wrapped in a blanket burrito, something she did often when she wasn’t up for socializing. It was tough, sometimes, to summon the energy to leave the house. It was easiest when it was an obligation that came with consequences, such as going to work. Canceling on her friends from time to time when her mind was a thunderstorm of feelings was easier to do since they’d still be there when she dug herself out of the mental clouds.
For some reason, part of her wanted to see if there was still anything to fight for with Gage. Was the sweet guy that lured her in during their first handful of dates still there? Or, was she just kidding herself?
Reluctantly, she dragged herself out the door to Gage’s waiting car.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Gage’s friends, it just wasn’t fun to hang out with them. Gage would get overprotective with his own damn friends. If you didn’t trust your friends to not try to hook up with your girlfriend, were they even real friends?
She also had to maintain a more resigned behavior so she didn’t embarrass him. God forbid.
Is this really what my life has become?
Twenty minutes later, Hailey was at the end of a table with Gage and his six friends, all of them still in suits from their work days. One of his friends, Isaac, had a date there with him. But the leggy blonde was unlikely to make it past the week. Isaac wasn’t exactly the monogamous type. The problem was, the girls weren’t always aware of that.
The bar was one of those pretentious places that pretended to be fancy and had high prices, but still housed patrons watching the game and yelling out their approval or anger at one of the TVs around a room that was almost too dark to read the menu.
Everything was trimmed in gold but otherwise looked like an Applebee’s. Suddenly, Hailey wished she was at Applebee’s because they actually had drink specials and food that took up the whole plate.
The conversation was currently on the Phillies, one of Hailey’s favorite subjects so she actually paid attention. It was so much better than when they were talking stocks and accounts, or the previous week’s hookups.
“You guys want to go to the game next week?” Isaac asked. “The Mets are coming to town and I got tickets to the game for getting employee of the month at work.”
“Wow! That’s an awesome bonus. Congratulations!” said Hailey. “What did you have to do to win?”
Isaac said thanks and started talking about what he had to do to earn it. Something about sales quotas. But Gage just turned to her while everyone else was focused on Isaac.
