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Her head jerked on her neck as her eyebrows slammed down.
“You’re, ah, you’re not wearing glasses like you sometimes do.” Like she had nearly every time he’d seen her before. Apart from the wedding, or that time at The Cheshire when Presley had first come to town.
“Do you need me to wear them? So that you don’t mistake me for Hannah?” One of those manicured eyebrows shot up and another rogue zing of awareness zapped his bloodstream.
Whoa. What the hell was that?
“No. Of course not.”
“Are you sure?” She didn’t wait for his reply, instead marching out of the conference room, her ponytail swinging behind her as she clipped down the corridor.
Well. His conversation with Hannah certainly hadn’t ushered Hallie into the friend zone. She’d talked to him, though, which was a step in the right direction.
He gathered the contracts and went to his office, passing Will’s closed door on the way and definitely not listening in case they were doing something other than business in that room. Like each other.
A few hours later, he’d successfully lost himself in work and was adding an item to his to-do list in his meticulous block lettering when a knock came at the door. “It’s open.”
Hannah let herself in and sat primly on the edge of the chair across from his desk, her smile both impish and knowing. Behind her hung a framed photo of her and Cash after one of their performances together. The big lights, the stage, the sweat on their brows. They were crazy talented. As proud as he was of both of them, he had never wanted fame for himself. He didn’t need adoring fans. Just happy clients.
“I was going to bring this up earlier, but then Hallie came in and I figured it would be more awkward if I did.”
“You told her.” He leaned back in his chair and tossed his pen on top of his journal.
Hannah pulled out her cell phone and read aloud, “‘You know I think Hallie’s great. Sorry if I acted like an ass.’”
“I know what it says, Han. I wrote it.”
“Yes, but what the hell does it mean?” Her eyebrows winged upward. “When were you an ass, specifically?”
“Last night. At The Cheshire.” As he spoke those words, he recalled Hannah’s flashing eyes and pointed glare...and the eerie way it mirrored Hallie’s reaction to him this morning. An unpleasant sensation slithered down his spine.
“I wasn’t at The Cheshire last night. Will and I were at your parents’ house picking up a quilt your mom sewed for us.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I had no idea how to respond to you. I thought maybe you texted the wrong person, or you were drunk or something.”
“I wish,” he muttered, coming to a conclusion that had taken its sweet time getting here. He’d been cataloging the subtle differences between Hannah and Hallie for months, but apparently not in the conscious part of his brain—which would have been damn helpful last night.
The glasses were an obvious difference, but Hallie hadn’t been wearing them today and he still couldn’t have mistaken her for Hannah. There was a slight difference in their eye color—both of them had hazel eyes, but Hallie’s irises held flashes of gold. Specifically, when she was angry. Like she was this morning...and when he’d mistaken her for Hannah last night.
No. No friggin’ way. He’d addressed her as Hannah and she hadn’t corrected him. Why would Hallie pretend to be her sister?
“Can you raise one eyebrow?” he blurted out. The woman under the stars at The Cheshire had done just that. He recalled the moment very clearly. He’d thought it was cute, and immediately dismissed the thought. Admiring his brother’s wife was poor form—especially if Will caught wind of it.
Hannah wiggled both eyebrows in a futile attempt to force one higher than the other. “Never could. Hallie can. She does it without trying.”
“Shit.” He’d felt the slightest hesitation when he’d said hello to “Hannah” last night. He should’ve never ignored his gut.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume you mistook Hallie for me?” Hannah gave him a dazzling grin, clearly enjoying this much more than he was.
He scratched his eyebrow. “That would appear to be the case.”
“You were bamboozled, my friend. Out of curiosity, what did you say to Hallie, about Hallie?”
“Nothing I would have said to her directly, but it wasn’t bad. I think she took it that way, though.”
Hannah glanced at the text on her phone. “I think it’s nice that you like her.”
