Page 30 of I Always Will

As they shared another look, Hailey couldn’t help but wonder whether the moment was sending Alexandria down memory lane, too. While this whole thing had Hailey living down memory lane, she’d doubted Alexandria was thinking about their past nearly so much. However, between this interaction and her name in Alexandria’s phone, she couldn’t help but hope she might have been wrong.

But, if Alexandria remembered, that meant she knew what this year was too. And that was dangerous.

Hailey knew she should leave well enough alone, but she wanted to throw oil on the flame.

“So,” she said, looking from Alexandria to one of the dresses beside her before Susan could return to discussions of how inappropriate a mashed potato bar was for a wedding. The wedding was two weeks away, the mash wasn’t going anywhere. And neither was Hailey. “Is this the kind of dress you wore when you got married?”

Farid had said they were both still single and she knew there was no ring on Alexandria’s hand—her eyes had been dragged there too many times for her to have missed it. But she knew a ring alone did not a marriage make. You could be wearing a ring and be completely checked out, or you could be missing a ring and blissfully happy. She needed confirmation. And not just from Farid. She trusted him but hearing it from Alexandria was just something she needed.

Susan barked a laugh. “Goodness, no. She’s not married, and she knows better than to wear something like that when she does.” She shook her head. “It’s ridiculous, really. She’s thirty-five with no prospects, while Daniel’s twenty-five and rushing down the aisle with someone he barely knows. Someone who isn’t even wearing a real dress.”

Alexandria rolled her eyes at her mother acting like they were in some kind of Austen period piece where she was supposed to haveprospects. The flickering moment of feisty Alexandria, of the soul that burned so brightly inside of her, made asking about her probably nonexistent wedding worth it. Even with the way she’d looked sick when the question had registered.

That was the thing with playing with fire—it could go well or it could go very, very badly, and you had to be willing to accept both.

“Mum,” Alexandria said, her voice stronger than it had been since she and Hailey had run into each other, “that’s a lovely dress, and Esme is allowed to wear whatever makeshercomfortable onherwedding day.”

“I’m just saying,” Susan said, sending her daughter a stern look, “it’s a wedding. They’re rushing it, havingmashed potatoesfor the wedding breakfast, and now, we don’t even get a real dress?”

Hailey grinned at the lazy hand waved in her direction at the mention of mash. She wasn’t sure mash had ever produced so much irritation from one person. It really was very amusing. “I’m pretty sure,” she said gently, placing a hand on Susan’s arm, “that any garment that functions as a dress, is a dress, and who really cares what she’s wearing, so long as she’s comfortable and feels good? You felt good in your wedding dress, right?”

Susan froze, her work up into anger disrupted. “Well. Yes.”

“I’m sure there were people who wouldn’t be happy with your choice of dress.”

She shuffled from foot to foot, looking around. “Well, yes. My mother thought it was a little too risqué.”

Hailey smiled. She’d known that already. Alexandria had told her once, a million years ago, but it was always helpful to remind Susan that you had to let people make their own choices. The dress she’d worn hadn’t even been particularly risqué, it was just in style at the time and her mother had wanted something more traditional. Just like Susan wanted with Esme. “Maybe we should give Esme’s choices a chance. Just have a look at them, see how she feels about them?”

The colour drained from Susan’s face. “Oh, God. That’s what I’d come to find you for. We need to go look at what she’s trying. She was in a turquoise dress with beading when I came over here.Turquoise. For a bride.”

“I’m fairly certain turquoise symbolises calmness, balance, and communication. All things that are helpful in a marriage, don’t you think?” Hailey tilted her head, smiling at Susan, who looked like she might be about to burst. “Let’s just go see how she looks and feels. I only have a few more minutes before I have to get back to work, anyway.”

Susan nodded, momentarily subdued, spun on her heel, and moved to lead them back to where Hailey presumed Esme and her mum were.

Before Hailey could go too far, though, Alexandria’s hand shot out and gripped her arm. Even through the layers of clothing she had on, Alexandria’s touch felt like a firebrand, like all of the things Hailey had been waiting on for the last seventeen years, and she could no longer remember or understand why they’d decided to go their separate ways at eighteen. They’d already had everything. What had they given it up for?

“How do youdothat?” Alexandria whispered, annoyed.

“Do what?” Hailey said, attempting to keep her eyes from being pulled to the place they were connected.

“Disarm her like that? Make her… reasonable with things she’s resolutely against?”

It was harder than Hailey would have thought to be with her like this—some middle ground between what they had been and what they were. A glimpse into something they didn’t have anymore, but how easily it came back to them. How natural it was, even now, for Alexandria to reach out and touch her. How they stood just a little too close together. How much Hailey’s body yearned to kiss her.

And how much none of that was who they were now. How many years there were stretched between them.

She forced on a cheeky smile. “Just a natural talent.”

She saw the moment Alexandria registered what she’d done, how close they were, how different this felt. Alexandria pulled back as she placed the carefully crafted barrier back between them, though Hailey doubted that the crack they’d just made in it was going away anytime soon. She’d be painfully aware of it, just as Alexandria would be, and they’d need to decide—alone and together—what they were going to do about it. And what they were going to do aboutthem.

“Sorry,” Alexandria said, looking down. “You really are going to have to tell me how you do that, though.”

Hailey grinned. She had something Alexandria wanted. Alexandria had everything she wanted. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. “Maybe you’ll just have to keep me around to help you out.”

She turned and walked away, following after where Susan had disappeared. Her heart pounded violently in her ears, her whole body felt alive and electric like it hadn’t done in seventeen years.

She knew she was playing with fire again, but what other choice did she have? Farid had told her to talk to Alexandria. They were talking now. Kind of. And she couldn’t get enough of it.

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