AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And I fucking grinned.
She might be late, and the look on her face might be frazzled…
But she was here.
“Sorry,” Hallie muttered as she slid onto the bench opposite me.
“What can I get you?” Natalie asked her, but not before giving me another amused smirk.
“Just a water is fine, thank you.” Hallie picked up one of the menus, not even bothering to look over at me until Natalie had walked away completely. “I’m sorry for being late. I lost track of time trying to unpack a bunch of my things.” Her voice was hard to read as she looked up at me, the pastel blue blouse she had on matching her eyes.
Fucking gorgeous.
“It’s all good. We could’ve canceled tonight if you were too busy,” I said coolly, trying to make up for how awkward I had been earlier in the day.
“I might’ve, but I don’t have your number.” She shrugged, going back to playing with the menu.
“We can change that,” I suggested, giving her a smile. “If you ever need anything—or if something goes wrong—I can be there for you or have someone there in nothing flat.”
Her straight lips turned downward. “Um, I don’t know. I don’t think that’s necessary.” Hallie’s whole body was tense, like she was waiting to get bad news. Things hadn’t ended that great between us all those years ago, but…
Itwas years ago.
I had accepted it as water under the bridge. “Do you remember that time we drove to Los Angeles and went hunting for celebrities?” I offered, thinking back to how carefree she had been.
“We weresodumb.” Her cheeks flushed with a crimson hue, but her shoulders seemed to relax a little more. “We didn’t seeanyone,and I thought for some reason they would just be everywhere.”
“You wanted to be an actress back then,” I chuckled, fighting back a smirk. “But you were a terrible liar.”
“I stillama terrible liar.” Hallie finally laughed, her sweet voice being music to my fucking ears. “My mom still sees right through me most of the time.”
“Okay, so give me two truths and a lie, and we’ll see if I can pick it out,” I offered, the goofy game causing her smile to widen—and her entire body relaxed entirely.
“All right, we can play.” She tapped her finger on her chin, narrowing her eyes as she appeared to think up what to say. “Okay, okay. Here we go. I got fired from my job because my boss hated me, my daughter’s birthday is April 8, and I… I can’t do a handstand.”
I erupted into laughter at the last one, her brows furrowing while she said it. “So, you can’t do a handstand, huh?”
She giggled, sinking down into the booth. When she did, her leg brushed against mine, and I caught my breath, a lightning bolt of excitement running through my body. It only got stronger when shedidn’tmove it away.
“I told you I’m terrible at lying.” Her eyes met mine and I nodded as we both went silent, tension rising between us. She had always had these dark, captivating blue eyes that I swore were stormy gray when she wasn’t okay. Tonight, they were a mixture of daphne blue and a tinge of gray…
And there was a visible lust just beneath the surface.
“Thanks for meeting me tonight,” I finally broke the quiet. “I think about you all the fucking time.”
Her lips parted, like she might say something, but she didn’t, nodding at me instead. Natalie interrupted the moment, asking to take our orders.
“I’ll just have the cheeseburger—no mayo.” Hallie’s expression lightened as she looked up at Natalie.
“And I’ll have the same,” I added.
“Okay, I’ll get this in and have it right back,” Natalie gave us both a bright smile and slipped off.
“So, how does it feel to be back in town?” I asked Hallie, bringing her eyes back to mine.
“Um, I don’t know, really,” she answered the question with a thoughtfulness in her voice, glancing around us. “It’s almost as if nothing has changed—but at the same time,everythinghas changed.”
“Very deep,” I chuckled.
