“And what would be wrong with that?” Dustin asks, dropping the theatrics as quickly as he put them on.
I glance at Hallie. A shy smile fills her face. “I’d love to join you. Do any of you have my number?”
The girls all whip out their cells and start trading contact info. And just like that, Hallie’s in the friend group with the women who are all romantically attached to my co-workers and friends.
What would it be like to actually date Hallie—in public? To be known as her boyfriend?
We’d go to Cody’s barbecues at the ranch with Mia in tow. She’d run around with the other kids. And I’d stand in the group, my arm around Hallie, while she held conversations with whomever she liked. Dustin would tease us. But underneath that, he’d be glad I finally found the one.
Hallie smiles over at me. Then one of the residents from Sycamore Assisted Living, Loretta, approaches the booth. She’s followed by a group of elderly people who also live at the center.
“We’re here to throw some pies!” Harold announces. “Andmy first target is the new girl. Sit yourself down and get ready to eat pie.”
Hallie takes a seat on the stool while senior after senior throws pies at her. They insist they get a handicap of standing at the closer line. When it comes time for Wilma to throw, she doesn’t even lift the pie tin. Instead, she crosses the line, walks right up to Hallie and smooshes the tin into her face and rubs it around.
She steps back, beaming. “That’s for interruptin’ our card game. No hard feelings now that I got that off my chest.”
Hallie just laughs. “No hard feelings.”
Wilma smiles up at Hallie. “You really should come by and play cards with us sometime. Cody comes over on occasion. Don’tcha Cody?”
Hallie’s eyes go momentarily wide.
“Oh, goodness!” Wilma says. “We don’t play in the buff with him! And we’ll keep our knickers on for you. My gracious. I’ll just never live that down, will I?”
Hallie laughs. “Well, in that case, I’d love to.”
“And bring that little girl of yours.”
“We’ll come by,” Hallie says, reaching for a towel. “I promise.”
We spend the day getting pelted with tins of whipped cream. By late afternoon, we’ve gone through one hundred and twenty-three tins and raised six hundred and fifteen dollars for the Firefighters’ Relief Fund.
We clean up and drive back to the station to finish out our scheduled shift. After dinner, I pull Hallie aside.
She stands closer than usual. I take a step backward, maintaining the professional distance we usually keep between us at work. We’ve fallen into such a rhythm over our days off, it’s hard not to touch her or hold her gaze too long.
“What are you doing tomorrow on our day off?” I ask her, keeping my voice intentionally subdued.
“I’m taking Mia to school and then running some errands. Practice after school. Why?”
I glance around and then I run my hand down her forearm. “Want to come over while Mia’s at school?”
Hallie shivers at my touch, placing her hand over the spot and smiling up at me.
“I’d like that, Greyson. Very much.”
Chapter 24
Hallie
For me, love always means
spending time with people.
~ Damaris Phillips
“Bye, Mommy!” Mia jumps out of the car, grabbing her backpack and running toward her teacher.
