Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(33)
“Delete number three,” I say before she’s even finished typing. “People who don’t understand our friendship don’t get to stick around. I have the same rule for people who have an issue with my other friends, so you can’t argue.”
“New number three: since this is for my benefit, I pay for everything,” she says, squeaking when I snatch the phone from her hands.
“Delete,” I grumble, tapping at the delete key aggressively. Halle moves onto her knees, leaning across, mumbling my name in a disgruntled fashion. My arms are longer than hers so all her attempts fail. “New new number three,” I say as she admits defeat and sits back on her legs. “Finance is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. I’m paying for our dates and other stuff, but if one of your experiences is that you want to go to Bora Bora on a private jet you can pay for that.”
“What if we fly coach?” A grin spreads across her face and I know she’s kidding.
“I can fly you coach to anywhere in the surrounding states.”
She laughs and it’s a sound I’ve grown to really like. “If you whisk me away to Reno, I may simply fall in love.”
“There’s rule number four,” I say, adding the number to our rule book. “You can’t fall in love with me. You’re going to want to. Anastasia tells me I’m very lovable, and the more time you spend with me the harder it’ll be.”
Now she’s really laughing, and I feel so relieved that I’ve managed to improve the sour mood she was in when I arrived. “I couldn’t fall in love with my actual boyfriend so I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of it anyway.”
“Yes, but he’s a dick. I’m not.” She pins me with a look that I can’t decipher. She looks both annoyed and amused. As bad as Will Ellington is, I bet it’s hard for him to know she never loved him. “Like I said, very lovable.”
“Okay, Mr. Very Lovable,” she sighs, gently taking the phone out of my hand. She maneuvers onto her butt, her body pressed up against mine as we sit side by side. I watch her fingers as she types number five. “Our final rule: Henry must break Halle’s heart if she falls in love with him. Hey, it’ll even double as a new experience! Give me plenty to write about.”
“You sound unusually happy at the prospect of heartbreak.”
“And you sound unusually confident that you’re going to be able to melt my ice cold heart,” she says, locking her cell phone now that our rule book is complete.
“There isn’t anything about you that isn’t warm, Halle.”
She doesn’t say anything at first. She just watches me, her face ten inches from mine and her body still pressed against my arm, taking slow and steady breaths.
“You know what isn’t warm anymore?” she says, quickly standing from the couch. “Our food. I’m going to go and heat it up for us.”
And with that, she disappears into the kitchen, takeout bag in hand, leaving me to wonder what exactly it was about Will that she couldn’t love.
Chapter Ten HALLE
IT TAKES ONE GOOGLE SEARCH to confirm with certainty that misogyny is alive and well in the world.
My first date—experiment? Experience?—with Henry will be starting any minute, and it suddenly occurred to me as I waited in my living room, possibly looking like Miss Honey, that I don’t have any idea how to go on a date.
After Henry and I confirmed today would be the first day of our—partnership? Scheming? Shenanigans? Whatever we’re doing—I made the choice not to tell anyone. I do honestly feel like that’s the right decision, but it’s forced me to consult the internet for advice rather than a person like Cami or Aurora. So when I typed “how to not mess up a first date,” links to articles by self-declared alpha bros wanting to share their “wisdom” were the first to appear.
Thankfully, I don’t have concerns about being a “low-value woman,” so I was able to swiftly move on to slightly less toxic results. I’m reading an article about how to keep the conversation flowing when Henry texts me that he’s on his way.
His looming arrival is enough to make me panic more than the alpha bros ever could, and I’m suddenly reevaluating all my choices.
HENRY TURNER
Ten-minute warning. Leaving my house now.
Not too late if you want to change your mind about this!
I know. I haven’t.
What are you wearing?
I think you’re supposed to save the questions for the date.
I just don’t want to be overdressed.
Impossible.
This conversation is very unhelpful.
I’ll make it up to you later.
There’s a ridiculous grin on my face when I lock my phone and catch my reflection in the screen. My phone buzzes again and I swipe up automatically, not realizing it isn’t Henry until I read the message.
WILL ELLINGTON
Have fun on your date
I choke on air so loudly that Joy jumps. I haven’t heard from Will since we broke up a month ago, and this is not the first message I was expecting to get from him. I mentally run through all the options, from psychic abilities to phone cloning, before eventually realizing the answer is my mom.
When she called earlier to talk to me about Thanksgiving next month, I was desperate to get her off the phone so I didn’t have to tell her I wouldn’t be coming home. I wasn’t exactly lying when I said I had to go because I was getting ready for a date.