Page 96 of Daydream

Kris shrugs, and it’s clear he hasn’t thought that far ahead. “Anything can be made into a drinking game; you taught me that.”

Robbie turns back to face me and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I have to fly home in the morning. If I miss my flight, one of you is driving me to Colorado.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mattie says. “I’ll find the shot glasses.”

I stay in my seat beside the punch bowl and watch all my friendshead toward the dining table. I think half of them are following out of curiosity to see what Kris manages to come up with, and the others somehow believe Robbie is the key to them getting laid.

Halle sits beside me and watches in silence. I put my arm across her shoulders and she cuddles into me, smiling up when I kiss her temple. “You don’t want to play?”

She shakes her head and rests it against my shoulder. “I’m good here with you.”

“You don’t want to test if Robbie’s party game is the center of a happy relationship?”

“Nope. Like I said, I’m good here with you.”

“Halle?”

“Yeah?”

“Where did your eagle wings go?”

Chapter Twenty-NineHALLE

IFIEVER UNEXPECTEDLY FINDmyself in a position of any sort of power, there are a few rules I’ll immediately put into place:

1. You cannot answer the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” with, “Nothing. I don’t need anything.”

2. When someone says that they’re taking you away for the night and you ask, “What do I need to pack?” they cannot answer with, “Whatever you feel comfortable in.”

3. Christmas traffic is illegal.

When Henry told me that he wanted to take me away for the night because I’m now working double shifts from Christmas Eve until the day before New Year’s Eve, I didn’t expect it to result in this level of stress. I don’t even want to do double shifts, but when my manager asked me to because someone quit unexpectedly, I didn’t want to let him down when he said everyone else had said no.

As grateful as I am for the extra money, especially because nobody told me how expensive having a social life is, it’s really thrown a grenade at all the things I hoped to catch up on during winter break. I’dfully intended to get ahead, and now I guess I’ll have to work harder and stay up later to do it.

Something I wish I’d worked a little harder on is packing a bag for this trip. Joy is on vacation at Mrs. Astor’s house, living her best life getting all the attention from the visiting grandchildren. And here I am, on my bedroom floor surrounded by clothes.

After I spend five minutes staring at them, hoping they’ll compile themselves into some kind of outfit, Henry walks into my bedroom. “Wow, you’re messy,” he says, sitting on my bed behind me.

“I love it when you compliment me,” I drawl, rummaging through my clothes.Why is everything the same color?

“Your tits look great today, and I like your hair like that.”

It’s enough to get me to break the staring contest with my floor-drobe and look at him. “Huh?”

“You said you love it when I compliment you. I can keep going; I have a long list of things about you that I like.”

“That’s not… That’s… Thank you?” I say, unsure what there istosay.

He leans toward me from the bed, and I think he’s trying to kiss me until he starts to squint. “Why do you only have stuff on one eyelid?”

“That’s a really great question.” I cross my legs and try to sit back to look at him comfortably, but I can’t find a place to put my hands because of all the clothes, so I opt to climb onto the bed beside him instead. “Because my mom called when I was putting makeup on to beg me to book a flight home and call out sick. I couldn’t get her off the phone, and then I realized you were on your way and I hadn’t packed anything.”

Not that I’d admit it to Henry, but there was more than one time where Ialmostagreed to let my mom book me on a flight. She’s upset I’m not there, and as much as I’ve tried to make my peace with it, I’m upset I’m not there, too. “Was your mom okay? Are you okay?”

I nod, although it lacks conviction. “I knew she wasreallysad when she gave up on trying to make me come to Phoenix and started trying to convince me to go to my dad’s. She just doesn’t want me to be so far from people who love me on Christmas. I said no and stuck to my guns.”

Henry holds out his arm and I slide under it, breathing him in deeply when he kisses the crown of my head. “You won’t be. Do you think if you weren’t people-pleasing your manager you would have given in to people-pleasing your mom?”

---