I turn fully to face him. “Archie, I’m not going anywhere. Even when we’re both settled with families of our own, you’re my brother.”
He smiles at me, but it’s a sad one. I wish I knew what was going on inside his head. I’m about to ask when Hayleigh jumps up. “Okay, who wants to come shopping for decorating stuff?”
Archie’s smile is back, if not a little strained, and he claps his hands together. “Shopping trip? I’m in.”
**********
Three hours.
Three hours of my life I willneverget back. That girl can shop, she’s like a woman on a mission and Archie and I? We ended up glorified bag holders, but seeing the smile on her face as she flitted from aisle to aisle made it all worth it.
Now we’re digging into pizza, sitting on the floor of Hayleigh’s living room while the log fire roars to life. I imagine what it will be like in years to come, whether she’d ever let me move in with her, and whether we would sit here like this.
Something bounces off my head, and I look up to find Hayleigh and Archie laughing at me. I wipe my mouth in case they’re laughing at pizza sauce being smeared on my face. “What?”
They look at each other and burst out laughing before Hayleigh says. “Wow, and I thought I zoned out. I was asking you if you had time tomorrow to help me decorate?”
I nod. “Sure, I have some time.”
She opens her mouth to say something else, but her phone buzzes. When she opens it up, she’s reading something, her eyes flitting across the scene. The colour drains from her face.
“Hayleigh, what is it?” Unease churns in my gut.
She looks back up at us. “It’s from my boss; they’ve arranged a disciplinary meeting for me for tomorrow.”
Archie and I exchange a worried look, Archie asks. “Have they sent that out of the blue?”
Hayleigh looks away as tears fill her eyes. She takes a deep breath. “I haven’t been going into work. I called in sick months ago.” She worries her hands in front of her, not meeting our gaze.
I crawl over to where she sits and wrap my arms around her. “Why didn’t you tell one of us?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know, shame, I guess? I couldn’t stand being there…everything was a reminder. People kept asking me what happened; they all said it couldn’t be true. Pete was such a nice guy after all.” She lets out a humourless laugh. “Little did they know he was a demon in disguise.”
“Then fuck them.” I spit the words out. “Quit, tomorrow. Don’t let them bully you into whatever they want. Quit and find a new job or take time out and redo your house.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “How am I supposed to survive with no job, Nate?”
“Work for me, I’ll pay you.”
She narrows her eyes, and I realise how that sounds. “Excuse me?”
I laugh it off, or try to, before pointing at her. “Come on, that’s not how I meant it to sound, but you’re wasted there, Hayleigh. Work for Cole, now that Emmy’s part-time, he could use the help, and I’m sure he could use the help with HR.”
She grimaces. “I don’t know, I don’t want to come across like a charity case…”
Archie laughs. “This whole family is a walking, talking charity case, Hayleigh. It’s called helping family out. Let us help you.”
I feel on top of the world when she nods. “Okay, tomorrow I’m quitting my job.” She stands up and dusts herself off. “I’m going to paint my book room.”
Archie gets up and holds his hand out to help me up. “Great, shall we do another room?”
Hayleigh’s smile wobbles. “I don’t expect you both to stay with me and help.”
I walk to her, cupping her cheek with my hand. “We know you don’t, but we want to help anyway.” I kiss her softly and hear Archie gagging behind us, muttering something about boundaries and no kissing.
I don’t care.
Hayleigh’s accepting help, and that’s all that matters.
