Hallie looked up and did a double-take. Seriously, universe? “Allison?”
Ugh. Allison Scott. They’d gone to high school together, and she was one of those girls who was technically super nice, but always managed to word things in ways that made people feel like shit. Hallie hadn’t seen her since graduation eight years ago and she definitely hadn’t missed her.
“Oh, my God, you are the most adorable bartender I’ve ever seen.” Allison beamed and gestured toward Hallie’s damp black tank top and black jeans. “Seriously, you’re, like, a cutesy-cute drink-maker in a movie.”
Allison was giving total Alexis Rose vibes, and Hallie pasted a smile on her face. “Can I make you something?”
“My boyfriend is one of the groomsmen,” she said, apparently not in want of a beverage. “And when he ran over and said there was a catfight at the bar, I never in a million years would’ve guessed it’d be my super anal, buttoned-up friend Hallie.”
Did she just call me super anal? Dear God. Hallie explained, “It wasn’t a catfight, it was more like a misunderstanding between a couple and I was collateral damage.”
“I caught the end of it.” Allison smiled, and it was kind of Grinch-like in the slow, satisfied climb of it. “So, what’re you doing these days? Besides tending bar at wedding receptions. Are you still with Kyle?”
A man behind Allison held up two empty Mich Ultra bottles, so Hallie grabbed two from under the bar, opened them, and set them down as she said, “Nope. I am finally Kyle-free.”
“Oh. Wow.” Allison’s eyes got big, like Hallie had just declared herself a serial killer because she’d had the audacity to break up with the guy who had once been considered their high school’s star running back. “So what’s your sister doing?”
Hallie wanted to scream when she heard the DJ announce the bride-and-groom dance, because it meant there would be no mad rush for drinks; people loved watching that sappy shit. Allison could loiter and make uncomfortable small-talk for as long as she wanted, and that made Hallie daydream about chandeliers accidentally falling from the ceiling and crushing annoying ex-friends.
“Um, Lillie actually just got engaged to Riley Harper. Do you remember him from—”
“Oh, my God—she’s engaged to Riley Harper? He was our homecoming king, right? He’s, like, a doctor now?”
Hallie nodded.
“Wow, good for her.” Allison looked impressed. “Does she work?”
“Yeah, um, she’s an engineer. She just got a job at Fyra.”
“You have got to be kidding!” She gave her chic bobbed head a little shake. “You guys are like Freaky Friday chicks now.”
“What?”
“You know. You were always the responsible, together one, and Lillie was the hot mess shitshow. Now she’s an engineer with a doctor fiancé, and you’re single and waiting tables and getting into bar fights.” She smiled like it was hilarious. “Crazy.”
Allison finally ordered a drink and stopped torturing Hallie, but as soon as she walked away, her words played on a continuous loop in Hallie’s mind. Hot mess shitshow. Hot mess shitshow.
God, had they Freaky Fridayed?
Hallie spent the next half hour freaking out in her head while she continued slinging drinks on autopilot. Hot mess shitshow. It wasn’t until “Single Ladies” came on that she embraced her inner Beyoncé and remembered that everything was going to be okay.
Because she wasn’t a hot mess shitshow at all. Rather, it was just her “winter.”
After she and Kyle split up, Hallie had decided to treat it as “the winter of her twenties.” A few dormant, cold months that would lead to a bountiful spring. She’d moved out of Kyle’s place and got a cheap apartment—with a roommate. She’d taken two part-time jobs, in addition to her career, to pay down her student loans in half the time.
The way she saw it, she was going to take advantage of her man-free time.
They were dark days, her winter season, but soon they would all pay off.
“YOU.”
Hallie looked up and the guy—Jack—was charging straight toward the bar. He looked intense—serious face, tie hanging untied around his neck—and his eyes were fixed on her. He reminded her of the Darkling in that show on Netflix.
Smoking hot and all powerful.
“Me?” She looked behind her.
“Yes.” He stopped when he reached the bar and said, “I need you.”