Page 15 of I Always Will

Hailey shook her head, at a loss at Esme’s choice to abandon the tills when they had customers, and confused at Alexandria being here. She stepped up to the counter to fill in for Esme. She’d only been standing there to listen to Esme talk and she was left wondering whether Esme often simply abandoned the tills while they had customers. She hadn’t seen anything about it in the reviews online, thankfully, but she’d have to talk to her about it.

But Alexandria was here. Really. Hailey wasn’t imagining her. Esme was talking to her. Real and in the flesh.

She looked beautiful. Of course. She hadn’t really changed. Still, forever, the put-together, beautiful woman she always had been, just a little bit older, but they all were. Alexandria wore it well.

She looked like she didn’t want to be there, and Hailey suspected it wasn’t just because she was half-drowned from the rain that had picked up again outside.

Esme embraced the man Alexandria had arrived with before Hailey’s brain could even consider whether he was Alexandria’s boyfriend. Or husband. They were thirty-five, after all, spouses were relatively common among her friends at this point in their lives. And Alexandria didn’t post that much online. She could easily have kept a whole relationship offline.

But this was clearly Esme’s husband-to-be.

Either that or Esme was just ridiculously familiar with every person she met. Which might have explained why she was getting married so quickly. However, she leaned in to kiss the guy, and, since Hailey had never seen her do that with anyone she wasn’t dating, she assumed it was safe to bet this was the fiancé, Dan.

Dan…

As in Daniel.

As in Daniel Daley.

As in Alexandria’s brother.

How had she not thought to put that together before?

Well, probably because Dan was a common name. But how had Esme not even mentioned the name of his sister in all of her tales from the night before?

Hailey cast her brain through everything she could remember Esme saying. She knew she’d been a little out of it, but she was certain she’d have paid attention to anyone named Alexandria being brought up. She’d only ever known one, and that one demanded all of her attention, even as she attempted to look like she was doing her job. Or Esme’s job, as she was actually doing.

Esme appeared to realise that she’d run off in the middle of her shift and, with her mouth open in shock and her eyes wide, she spun around, looking back at Hailey before bolting back behind the counter, shouting to Dan and Alexandria to join the queue and she’d get them some food sorted.

It seemed to be implied that the food was on the house. It was. Never in a million years would Hailey charge Alexandria for anything, no matter the history between them—orbecauseof it—but still, she needed something to put all of her nervous, confused energy into, and apparently, her vessel of choice was wondering why Esme thought she could give out free food.

“Sorry, boss,” Esme said, jumping back up to the till and taking over the orders again.

Hailey nodded. She would usually jump on helping assemble orders when they were busy, but she just did not have the wherewithal. If she tried, she imagined Homer would have been stuck re-making a bunch of orders she’d screwed up, and none of them wanted that.

“So, that’s my fiancé, Dan,” Esme said, beaming, as she punched in the orders for a group of teenagers.

Hailey almost couldn’t stand the symbolism of a group of teenagers standing between her and Alexandria. Luckily, Esme seemed not to notice anything was amiss.

As she thought about that, Hailey’s mind spun on what last night must actually have been like.

Esme was either oblivious or purposefully ignorant of anyone not automatically loving her and any situation they found themselves in with her. It was endearing and refreshing most of the time. But Hailey had just learned that the family she was marrying into—after only four months—was the Daley family. And she knew them well. She doubted seventeen years had done much to change them, and she doubted very much that they’d be happy with their child marrying someone he barely knew, no matter how sweet and lovely she was.

All day, Esme had insisted that things had gone well, that Dan’s family was a little shocked at first, but that they had come around. Knowing the Daleys, Hailey doubted that. She imagined Alexandria was worried about Dan but willing to go along with whatever made him happy. Their parents, however, were another story entirely.

A quick wedding and a mashed potato bar for dinner? She winced. Esme was probably lucky the Daleys didn’t die of shock at the dinner table.

She took a deep breath and looked back towards the queue, towards Alexandria.

It was a mistake.

Her eyes caught on far too familiar hazel eyes—a little older, but no less terrified than the first time Hailey had looked into them twenty-four years ago—and it was like time and space and sense and reason all ceased to exist. She was fourteen again and the only thing in the world that mattered was Alexandria, everything else be damned. It was the gut punch Sheridan had once been, turned up to maximum. It was a million times worse than every horrible imagining she’d ever had added together.

And it was oddly like coming home, even if she hadn’t lived here for years.

Alexandria turned beet red and looked away, breaking the moment. Hailey wished she still knew her well enough to know her every thought, but it had been a while, and, while Alexandria wasn’t looking at her, she couldn’t be sure of anything.

Though, having those hazel eyes on her wasn’t great for clarity of thought either.

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