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“Cason?” she sighed, stopping before coming all the way down the stairs. “What are you doing here?”
Her mother answered for me, “He said he's here to take you to dinner, dear.”
Hailey shook
her head. “Uh no,” she said, stomping the rest of the way to door, a look of anger on her otherwise sweet face. “I cancelled. I can't go out tonight.”
“Why not?” both her mother and I said at the same time.
“Because I don't feel like it,” she said. “Do I really need any other reason than that?”
Hailey stood her ground in the doorway, glaring at me, arms crossed in front of her defensively. I could see why Quinn said she was so freaked out. Among a mix of emotions, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.
“Come on, dear,” her mom said placing a hand on her shoulder. “Cason is a nice boy, I think you two would have a great time. Getting out and about might even be good for you.”
She bit her lip and continued shaking her head. “I'm not dressed for a nice dinner out anyway,” she said. “And I don't feel well. I'd rather not get dressed up anyway.”
“You don't have to get dressed up,” I chuckled. “You look beautiful just the way you are.”
The look on Hailey's face – as well as the look on her mom's – was priceless. They both softened their expressions and smiled gently, as if they were reacting on cue. Hailey, however, still shook her head, quickly losing the softer expression.
“I have an idea then,” Mrs. Roberts said. “Cason, why don't you join us for dinner?”
“I don't think –,” Hailey said, just as I started to speak.
“I'd love to, Mrs. Roberts,” I said. “Are you sure you don't mind?”
“Not at all,” she said. “I always make way too much food anyway.”
“Well, thank you for having me then.”
Mrs. Roberts opened the door wide enough for me to step inside and as I passed Hailey, I gave her a smile, but she wasn't having it. She simply rolled her eyes and sighed loud enough to be heard.
She was definitely going to be a tough nut to crack.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - HAILEY
Not having time to change – and frankly, not having the inclination to – I sat at the table in my comfy clothes, not really caring what he, or my family, thought about it. Still, even though my parents were wearing casual clothes as well, I felt incredibly underdressed with Cason sitting there in a nice suit.
In front of us at the table was my mother's pot roast, potatoes, and cornbread. All homemade and honestly, one of my favorite family meals. But my stomach wasn't having any of it tonight and I picked at my food as my parents made small talk with Cason.
He kept trying to engage me in conversation, by asking questions that I really didn't want to answer just yet. I just wanted the meal to end so I could go hermit away in my room.
“So Hailey,” he asked, turning his light brown eyes to me. “What do you miss most about California?”
Choking down a bite of cornbread, I gave the most obvious answer I could think of, “The weather.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, cocking his head to the side with a curious grin on his face. “The weather here isn't all that bad. What's so great about the weather out there?”
He had a point. It's not like it got terribly cold in South Carolina, not compared to other parts of the country. But it was still an easy question to answer – one that didn't require a lot of mental taxation – so I went with it.
“The lack of humidity, for one thing,” I said. “I didn't have to worry about sweating all the time. Especially not in October, like we do here.”
“True,” he laughed. “But aside from the weather, what drew you out there in the first place?”
I took another bite of my cornbread and chewed slowly, giving myself a little time to think about my answer. I didn't want to open any doors I wasn't willing to walk through, but I knew if I didn't give him something, I'd be stuck there all night. And I was getting tired of the cat and mouse game we were playing.
“I wanted to act,” I said.
