Page 57 of Rewind It Back

All I see is red.

“What did you call her?”

“Rio, don’t.”

I keep my focus on him. “No. What the fuck did you call her?”

Hallie steps away and out of his touch, but the guy extends his arm, keeping his palm pressed to her lower back.

“Get your hands off her.”

He doesn’t listen to me. This time, he slides his hand over her hip, and I swear to God, if there wasn’t a bar top in my way and if I wouldn’t end up on the news for it, I’d punch him square in the face for thinking he could touch her like that.

“Do we have a problem here?” he continues. “Should I call the cops?”

“Oh, get so fucked right now.”

“You’re not calling the cops, Carson.” Hallie jerks out of his grasp. “You.” She focuses on me, her hazel eyes wide with anger as she points to the door. “Outside. Now.”

She says something to a different coworker, something about the drink orders she’s working on, before storming through the crowd and out the front door, expecting me to follow.

Which of course I do.

The chilly Chicago breeze hits me as soon as we’re outside. Hallie crosses her bare arms over her chest and, like instinct, I peel off my flannel and hold it out to her.

“I don’t want your shirt.”

“It’s freezing out. Take it or we’re going right back inside so I can punch Ken Doll straight in the face for calling you Hal.”

She rolls her eyes. “Why are all you men so goddamn dramatic?”

Taking my shirt, she slips her arms through it before cuffing the sleeves enough so that her hands peek through. “There. Happy?”

“What are you doing here?”

She exhales, collecting herself. “I can’t keep having this conversation. I’m working.”

“If you need—”

She holds out her hands to stop me. “I swear to God, if you say what I think you’re about to say, I’m leaving.”

“If you need help,” I repeat, “I can talk to Wren’s brother about your rent. He doesn’t even need the money. He would be happy for you to live there rent free.”

“God, you have no idea, Rio.”

“Of course I have no idea!” I hold my arms out wide. “Because you won’t tell me what’s going on!”

Her jaw hardens. “What’s going on is that we’re two completely different people now. I work five shifts a week here, after my full days at the design firm, because that’s what I have to do to make ends meet. I’m sleeping in someone else’s spare room, because that’s what I can manage, and I can barely afford to feed myself. Does that make you happy to hear?”

“Jesus. Of course not, Hal.”

“If I can get hired full-time at the design firm, then things will change, but for now, this is my reality and it’s very different from yours. I know that. Now you know that. And I swear to God, Rio, if you try to give me some kind of handout right now, I’m going to lose my shit. I’ve made it this far without your help, and I’ll be just fine going forward.”

Of course, she doesn’t tell mewhythings are as tight as they are financially, but I also know not to push it farther. She’s upset that I found out about her second job, and I think she’s also a bit embarrassed. But Hallie is a hard worker. She grinds when she needs to. She used to pick up babysitting hours and miss out on big social events when we were younger, simply because she wanted to save up so she could afford to put herself through design school.

So, her hustling isn’t what’s so confusing. It’swhyshe needs to hustle in the first place that I still can’t make out.

“Okay,” I say in defeat.

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