Page 28 of Rewind It Back

“I’ll be honest here. I’m being nosy.” Miller hops onto the kitchen counter, taking a seat. “Spill it. Who’s the girl?”

That pulls a laugh out of me.

There’s something about my friendships with women, especiallythesewomen, that I value in a way that’s different from my male friendships. Sometimes, with the guys, we tend to shoot the shit and laugh off the hard stuff too quickly. But when I need to discuss a tough topic, I tend to find that I get a more empathetic and understanding approach from the women in my life.

So, if there’s anyone I’d be willing to open up about Hallie with, it’s these four.

With half as many eyes on me as there were in the dining room, I finally admit, “We grew up together in Boston. She was the girl next door.”

Too many knowing smiles reflect back at me in the kitchen.

“We have... asordidhistory and I unknowingly hired her to renovate the house. I didn’t know she was living here until last week, but once I realized it was her, I made it clear that someone else needed to be on the project.”

“That’s what happened outside of practice?” Stevie asks.

“She was there to ask me to reconsider. Said she was desperate to work on the house. Needed to show her boss what she could do so she could get hired full-time or something like that. I think she’s in an internship program but wants a permanent position.”

Kennedy’s smile turns sympathetic. “When was the last time you saw her?”

The images of those last days in Boston flood my mind. It was the worst time of my life, and I’ve tried my hardest over the last six years to block it out.

“Shortly after I had gotten drafted, before I moved here permanently.”

“What happened between you two?” Miller asks.

An odd surge of protectiveness coats my chest like a piece of armor. Though Hallie and I have a sordid history, it’s stillourhistory, and everything in me wants to keep it that way. Regardless that I got hurt, I don’t want my friends to have that first impression of her. I don’t want anything to skew their opinion of her.

“I’d rather keep that between her and me.”

Every single one of the girls’ shoulders drop, heads tilting with big sad eyes as if they’re playing out some kind of rom-com version of a destined reconnection.

“You four can stop looking at me like that.”

Miller’s smile slips into a smirk. “Like what?”

“Like you think this is it. As if she were the one who got away, and this is our second chance. It’s not going to happen, so get that out of your minds. Trust me, too much bad happened between us in the past for there to be any good between us now.”

Indy is the one I’m most reluctant to look at, because when I finally do, I see the realization all over her face. Without me saying anything, she knows. Maybe not all the details of Hallie and me, but I can tell she knows I loved the girl and got my heart broken over it.

Then she does the most Indy thing possible and finds the positive.

“Honestly, who better to design your house?” she asks. “She knows you.”

She has no idea how accurate that statement is.

“Whatever happened between you two,” she continues, “and I don’t know the details, but is there really no part of you left that wants to help her? If she’s coming to you like this, she must really need the job, and I can’t imagine you being okay withnothelping her.”

Fucking Indy.

My molars grind together, jaw ticking because once again, she doesn’t realize how truethatstatement is either.

I’ve had a soft spot for Hallie Hart since the day I met her, and as my resolve slips away, I realize that softness hasn’t changed one bit in the years since I last saw her.

Indy smiles proudly. “Just a thought,” she says before she and the other girls leave me in the kitchen.

Little shit.

My phone feels heavy in my pocket, begging me to pull it out and get ahold of her. I take my time finding Hallie’s new number in my contacts—the one I may have asked Wren for earlier this week—before shooting her a text.

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