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“I can’t imagine you ever settling down, Hallie.”
Her eyes shot to his. Probably because of the way he said her name. Like they were in bed together, tangled up in damp sheets. He could visualize them there so easily. Could feel himself liking what they did there. Loving it. To such a point that coming back down would be difficult. His reaction to her was flat-out difficult. It was too much.
“Um . . .” She wet her lips. “Well, she had a way of reining me in. Or maybe I just felt at home with her and I could relax. Focus. I’m a little untethered without her around. If she was there this morning for the cheese show, she would have said something like, ‘Hallie, all that glitters is not gold’ or ‘an empty vessel makes much noise,’ and I would have sighed or maybe even argued with her, because not every situation can be summed up with a proverb. But I probably wouldn’t have felt the need to steal cheese in the name of justice, either. Maybe I’ve been wrong all along and those proverbs are golden. Or at least a way of saving bail money.” She took a much-needed breath. Interested as he was in what she was saying, he’d actually started to get worried. “It’s terrible how you only realize these things when it’s too late.”
“It is. My father . . . he hasn’t passed or anything and God knows our relationship was never perfect. But I often find myself discovering meaning in something he told me, right out of the blue. It’ll just be relevant.” He went on speaking without considering his words. Odd behavior for him. Normally everything he said out loud was weighed and measured beforehand. “Your grandmother sounds like someone worth missing.”
He didn’t realize he’d stopped breathing regularly until a smile formed on her mouth again. Again, he had the sudden urge to touch, to stroke her cheek, so he slipped his hand into the pocket of his shorts.
“Thank you. I like that. And she is.”
They just kind of looked at each other, her face turned up to the sun in deference of his height. Maybe he should stoop down slightly so she didn’t get a crick in her neck?
“She never quite pushed me as far as she’d hoped. Or she left before she could. The library . . . you know the town library? They’d been asking her to landscape their courtyard for years. She kept saying no. She asked me to do it, instead. It would be the biggest project I’ve ever taken on. The one that required the most commitment. I think . . . I don’t know, she wanted me to realize my potential to knuckle down and nurture something. The topper on her master-plan cake.” She shook herself as if embarrassed she’d been speaking for so long. As if he wasn’t praying she’d continue. “Wow, I’ve definitely taken up enough of your time. You came into town for a quick stop at the store and ended up sympathizing with a burglar.” Abruptly, she held out her hand to him for a shake. “Friends, Julian?” When he didn’t take her hand right away, she shifted right to left. “I appreciate what you did for me this morning, but wow . . . it really did make it obvious that we should probably be the kind of acquaintances that wave at each other in the store, right?”
Yes. That was true. Totally true. That didn’t mean he enjoyed parting ways with her. Didn’t like it last time, either. But if it had to be done—and since it did—he definitely preferred it happening as friends. Unfortunately, she was a friend he suspected he’d be thinking about to the point of distraction for a long time. “Right . . .”
Finally, he took her hand.
“Would it make you smile if I gave you my Netflix login?” He was actually saying this out loud. “So you could watch Time Martians On with popcorn?”
The slow grin that spread across her face made the entire world feel brighter.
“I think that would elevate you from friend to hero. Twice in one day.”
How in God’s name did he forget being in the same place at the same time as her?
She must have been dressed up for Halloween at the time. Or been wearing a potato sack that covered her head to toe. Those were the only explanations he could muster.
“Then I’ll text it to you,” he said, shaking her hand. “Enjoy.”
Hands dropping to their sides, they hesitated a moment, then turned and walked away. And Julian continued down the path, not glancing at his watch even once. He was too busy (a) texting Hallie his login and password, double- and triple-checking his punctuation and briefly considering a flower emoji, because it reminded him of her. And (b) replaying the last hour of his life and trying to figure out how the whole Hallie business had been so completely peculiar and off-beat, while also . . . dangerously exhilarating.
